Major Windmill Road Development Poised for Go Ahead
74 flats to be built in buildings up to eight storeys high
Overview and scheme from the planning submission
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March 1, 2024
A forthcoming meeting of the borough planning committee will be presented with a report recommending approval for a major new housing development on Windmill Road.
The proposal (P/2021/0584) is to demolish Churchill House, the single storey commercial building at number 114 and build 74 flats in two blocks ranging from four to eight storeys over two phases. The site is located near St. Faith’s Church to the south-west of Windmill Road, north of the M4 and A4 Great West Road. It is accessed via a small service road off of Windmill Road and is rectangular in shape, located behind a group of semi-detached houses fronting Windmill Road.
View of the site from the M4 flyover
The council’s planning team are recommending that councillors vote to approve the scheme at a meeting due to take place on Thursday 7 March.
15 of the flats would be classed as affordable of which 10 would be provided at a social rent.
An earlier proposal consulted on in November 2018 by Merchant Land Ltd was for 90 flats. The latest plan was originally submitted in 2021 but is only now being considered for permission but appears to have been delayed by the pandemic. Consultations were held in 2018 and by letter in October to December 2020 resulting in 27 objections on a range of grounds including the height of the buildings, the impact on the nearby nursery, the existing congestion in the area and problems with parking.
Visualisation of proposed entrance to the scheme
Much of the surrounding area is made up of two storey Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses. The applicant argues that the increase in height is justified because of the size of nearby buildings including the university accommodation which ranges up to 17 storeys. There is a 4-9 storey residential block called the Ladakh building close to the southwest boundary corner.
Visualisation of part of the proposed development from planning documents
Brentford Voice submitted a comment accepting the principle of a mixed used development on the site but requested that this application be refused because of the loss of employment and the lack of independent assessment of the applicant’s view that it was no longer viable for commercial or industrial use. In addition, the group said, “The pressure on-street parking in roads such as Eastbourne Road, Avenue Road, and Whitestile Road will be unacceptable. This will be greatly exacerbated by the proposal to introduce ‘At Any Time’ double yellow lines along the section of Windmill Road to the north of the A4.”
In their report the councillor planners disagreed with the objections and concluded, “The proposal would deliver a high-quality scheme, including a significant number of new homes that would transform the currently underutilised site. Whilst the development is of large scale, it is considered that its form, height and massing responds appropriately to the local context and the opportunity the site presents.”
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