Heath Lodge site should remain as accommodation providing care to Hanwell’s elderly population
- Target:
- London Borough of Ealing
- Region:
- United Kingdom
A new planning application has been submitted to Ealing Council for the Heath Lodge site on the corner of Church Road and Cherington Road in Hanwell W7.
Heath Lodge is derelict 1960s building which was used as a Residential Care Home for the Elderly until it closed in 2003. The land is still classified as C2: Residential Institutions, which is a community use.
The new application by the land owners, Leo Developments Ltd, is to demolish the existing buildings and put up a four storey, flat roofed, block of 20 flats on the corner of the site, with a further row of 9 x three bedroom mews houses along the land which runs between the rear garden walls of 1-27 Balfour Avenue (odd numbers) and 5-19 Church Road (odd numbers).
The design of the block of flats is high, angular, flat roofed and ultramodern. Proposed materials are dark brick with some wood cladding, with aluminium window frames (wood internally).
The mews houses have two storeys with the lower ground floor sunken in order to reduce the height of the row. The design of the mews houses is also ultramodern with external materials comprising block cladding and aluminium framed windows (wood internally).
The maximum capacity of the proposed number of habitable rooms is 122 persons which comprises a high density use of this land.
The properties surrounding the site are mainly residential, and largely comprise two storey Victorian and Edwardian houses, with a small number of 1960s semi detached houses along the Church Road. Roofs are pitched and originally of slate or terracotta tile.
Exterior materials are predominantly aged London stock brick, red brick or stone highlighting, with some render.
The proposed entrance/exit to the new development is narrow (for one vehicle), and emerges onto Cherington Road, a one way street, close to one of Hanwell’s busiest junctions which is on one of the Borough’s key north south routes between the A4/Uxbridge Road/A40.
Parking for residents is already at a premium, with single and double yellow lines restricting parking at different times of day on both roads adjacent to the site. It is planned to have spaces for 18 cars when there are 29 units proposed.
Change of use:
Local residents are OPPOSED to BOTH the change of use from Residential Care Home for the Elderly to residential dwellings AND to the proposed development of the four storey block of 20 units plus 9 x two storey mews houses on the following grounds, and want Heath Lodge to be redeveloped as a site dedicated to the support and care of Hanwell’s elderly population:
Change of use from C2: Residential Institutions to C3: dwelling houses
• The Council’s own Local Development Framework 2011-2026 (LDF) currently in development, is setting challenging targets for population growth including an increase in older people in the borough.
• Ealing Council’s own policy document – Ealing Supporting People Commissioning Strategy 2008-2012 – clearly identifies that we do not have enough appropriate accommodation for the frail elderly and for older people with dementia.
• We believe that the elderly population of Hanwell, when no longer able to remain in their own homes with external help from social and other services, should be able to find suitable residential accommodation, care and support within Hanwell and not be forced to move away from an area they know, or from friends and family
• This site should remain dedicated to housing for the elderly
Four storey block of 20 flats:
• We believe that the increased and excessive scale, bulk, massing and footprint of the main block of flats, is overpowering and would cause unacceptable, detrimental visual harm to the architectural heritage and character of the surrounding area, and to the visual amenity of the local residents
• The high density approach to maximising profit from the site is inappropriate for this area of predominantly two storey, Victorian/Edwardian family housing. The previous application for a House of Multiple Occupancy (refused at Appeal) would have housed 57 people. This proposal is to house up to 122 people on this site.
• The external materials are unsympathetic to the local housing stock. The architects seem to have taken their ‘local’ cue from the design of the social housing (Nightingale Road) and Hanwell Health Centre, both of which buildings were given planning permission in a decade when architectural heritage was not respected, and which are now universally abhorred
• Inadequate amenity space, and insufficient greenery planned
9 x mews houses:
• Too many houses are proposed, which are too small for family living
• Unsympathetic external appearance and materials would be out of harmony both with the proposed block of flats and the surrounding brick-built Victorian/Edwardian/1960s housing
• There would be inadequate amenity space for three bedroom ‘family’ housing
Overall:
• Inadequate parking would be provided (18 spaces for 29 units) when the adjacent roads have single/double yellow line restrictions; parking in the surrounding residential streets is at a premium
• The narrow site entrance exits too close to a busy junction into a one way street. Additional traffic caused by a cars accessing this site, at peak times, would exacerbate the congestion
• There is inadequate amenity space and it is a considerable walk to the nearest green space
PETITION
We, the undersigned, believe that the Heath Lodge site should remain as accommodation providing care and support to Hanwell’s elderly population, and therefore OPPOSE the application for change of use from a care home (class C2) to a site comprising 20 units in a four storey block of flats and 9 x three bedroom mews housing.
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The Heath Lodge site should remain as accommodation providing care to Hanwell’s elderly population petition to London Borough of Ealing was written by Jill McCarthy and is in the category City & Town Planning at GoPetition.