Councillor Blasts Duke at Park Road Allotments Inquiry

Says community asset is being sacrificed to line 'already deep pockets'

Opponents of the Northumberland Estates plan

August 2, 2023

Local politicians have savaged plans to turn three acres of allotments into 80 new flats. Councillors, MPs and residents came out in force to voice their opposition to the scheme at a public inquiry accusing the plan of being ‘cynical’, ‘greedy’ and ‘out of touch’.

The inquiry was called by Northumberland Estates after its proposals were roundly rejected by Hounslow Council’s planning committee in October 2021. The appeal hearing against the decision to block the application was described by one local councillor as a ‘Dave vs Goliath’ situation for residents.

Those in opposition to the Duke of Northumberland’s plans packed the public gallery, bearing muted trio-coloured ribbons to indicate their solidarity. This included allotment holders, councillors, and residents who live nearby the potential building site.

During the opening statements the Duke’s team claimed that new buildings would not only be desirable but necessary.

Melissa Murphy KC argued that the rent from the new housing would provide crucial revenue for the renovation of Grade I-listed Syon House, a historic Hounslow landmark, as well as provide 40 per cent affordable housing and homes for key workers for nearby West Middlesex University Hospital.

The development in question comprises seven buildings varying between 2 and half and 3 and a half storeys, which will provide 80 flats and also includes a concierge building, car and cycle parking, landscaping and associated works.

However, Ruth Cadbury, the Brentford and Isleworth MP, told the inquiry that she viewed the application as ‘particularly weak’, adding that although she rarely speaks out against planning matters ‘the sheer weight of local public opposition’, compelled her to attend the meeting.

Councillors have reported receiving almost 1,000 letters from concerned parties requesting that the scheme be stopped, while a separate petition with 3,000 signatures has also made its way to the desk of local authorities.

An aerial view of a visualisation of the complete scheme from planning documents

The MP added that the borough has ‘generally exceeded its housing targets including for affordable housing, so this small site would make relatively little contribution to the overall housing supply’.

Ms Cadbury said she believed that the Northumberland Estate’s inclusion of the proposal’s plan to provide key worker homes was ‘merely doing so to garner local support not long after we had all been clapping for NHS workers during the pandemic’, because this feature was only added after a planning application was submitted.

Cllr Salman Shaheen, representing Isleworth and cabinet member for parking, parks and leisure, said that the plans would see the destruction of a treasured community asset simply to line ‘already deep pockets’.

He added that ‘a man richer than the king has shown no evidence to prove that the only way to fund the repairs to one historic asset is by destroying another historic asset’.

Cllr Salman Shaheen (centre) at the Inquiry

Ralph Percy, the 12th Duke of Northumberland, has a £400 million fortune, according to The Times, largely down to the fact that Northumberland Estates manages around 100,000 acres of land including Syon Park and Alnwick Castle.

King Charles’ private wealth is estimated to be much higher at £1.8 billion, according to The Guardian.

The councillor went on to label it ‘an ill-conceived plan designed not to support a treasured historic asset, but to destroy one for private gain’.

The Isleworth community has had access to the allotments since 1917, when one of the duke’s ancestors leased the land to the council to help in the aftermath of World War I.

Although the land has been in continuous use as allotments for over 100 years, Cllr Shaheen has said that if plans aren’t rejected ‘once it is gone, it is gone forever’.

He was also critical of the ‘quantitative improvements’ Ms Murphy had said the proposal offered, which included a section of the site dedicated to new allotments spaces. The ‘postage stamp plot’ as Cllr Shaheen called them would cover a significantly smaller area of land than the current allotments.

He told the inquiry that ‘studies show that 7, 000 people die every year in British cities due to a lack of green space, saving Park Road Allotments means saving lives’.

This is according to research from 2021 by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health researchers, which claims that green spaces help people exercise, reduce stress, and improve their sleep. Without which, one’s life expectancy can be reduced.

Park Road Allotments. Picture: Arianne Duch

This statement was followed up by an emotive speech from local resident Arianne Duch who tearfully described why she believed green, open spaces such as the allotments were so important.

“My mother-in-law has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer, this was tested and known to be from pollution,” she said, having to take a moment to compose herself.

She added, “We can’t just keep building and allowing more cars on the roads without having consideration for our green spaces.”

Claire Niven, for the Park Road Allotment Association, said that Northumberland Estates was proposing ‘sacrificing 71 per cent of allotments at the heart of a community they have served for over 100 years’.

“Over a century later, the site continues to be a haven for allotment holders, their friends and families.”

Ed Grant, the representative for the council, told the inquiry that the Northumberland Estates scheme states that it will provide ‘the same or nearly the same number’ of the 38 allotments that are currently available.

In response, Grant said ‘that is an assertion made possible only by providing very small allotments, suitable only for beginners, rather than an appropriate range of sizes’.

The inquiry has been adjourned until 10am on Wednesday pending a site visit from the planning inspector. A decision on the fate of the allotments is not expected until November.

Rory Bennett - Local Democracy Reporter