Stag Brewery Scheme Gets the Go Ahead
1,000 flats to be built at riverside development in Mortlake
CGI of the revised scheme for the former Stag Brewery viewed from across the river in Chiswick. Picture: Reselton Properties Limited/Squire and Partners
February 1, 2024
Controversial plans to build a huge new neighbourhood in Mortlake with more than 1,000 flats, shops and offices have been approved after years of delays. The scheme for the 22-acre former Stag Brewery site was approved by Richmond Council in July last year, but changes had to be made in response to proposed new fire safety rules.
The scheme from developer Reselton Properties would see 1,075 homes built in tower blocks up to nine storeys tall on the site, which was home to beer-making from 1487 to 2015, including 65 affordable homes. The plans also include new shops, restaurants, offices, a cinema, space for a hotel or pub and a 1,200-place secondary school.
The council originally approved an 813-home scheme for the site, with 17 per cent affordable housing, from Reselton Properties in 2020. The decision was called in by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan over a lack of affordable housing. The developer increased the number of homes to 1,250, with 28 per cent affordable housing, but this was thrown out by the mayor in 2021 due to concerns including height and scale.
Reselton Properties then revised both planning applications making up the scheme to propose 1,068 homes, including 65 affordable homes, which were approved by the council in July last year. It had to make slight changes to the residential and commercial application after Housing Secretary Michael Gove announced all new residential buildings taller than 18 metres would need a second staircase. The second approved application is for the 1,200-place secondary school and remains unchanged.
The council’s planning committee approved the revised application on Wednesday evening (31 January). Apartment buildings taller than 18 metres have been redesigned across the development to add second staircases, leading to changes in the proposed layout of some homes, waste stores and ground-floor fire escape routes. Overall, the number of proposed homes has risen to 1,075 – with the same number of affordable homes. The height of one of the buildings was cut by 2.6 metres and the scheme includes fewer offices, along with a reduction of 15 car parking spaces.
The overall scheme has attracted fierce opposition from residents. Their concerns include the scheme’s proposed level of affordable housing, its scale, density and height, along with fears about its impact on traffic levels.
Student Georgiana Cox lives on nearby estate Chertsey Court and told the committee she faces many issues, including disrepair, anti-social behaviour and drug dealing. Ms Cox said her family has “wanted to transfer for many years, but the lack of housing stock has made this impossible” and slammed the reduction in proposed affordable housing at the site. She described feeling “excluded from the development at the end of my own road”.
Ms Cox added: “Buying an affordable home in Richmond will be out of my reach, as it will be for the majority of my generation without parental help – one which people like myself will not be afforded. I want the council to invest now in the future of my generation through affordable housing.”
Mortlake Brewery Community Group (MBCG) after the refusal of previous scheme in 2021. Picture: MBCG
Green councillor Niki Crookdake urged the committee to reject the plans and slammed the “woeful number of affordable homes” proposed. She said: “Mortlake is the biggest ward in the borough, with the second highest level of social housing. We need affordable homes and community facilities there so that residents can grow up and grow old in the same community.”
Green councillor Richard Bennett described the proposed number of affordable homes as “a drop in the ocean”. He said: “There’s such a tiny percentage that even if we can’t change it, it doesn’t mean to say I find it anything other than unacceptable in terms of what we wrote and what we produced in our Local Plan. It is so far adrift that it really, really worries me the state we’re in.”
CGI of the revised scheme for the former Stag Brewery. Picture: Reselton Properties Limited/Squire and Partners
But Guy Duckworth, on behalf of Reselton Properties, argued the scheme “delivers for the local community” and provides the highest level of affordable housing possible. He said 80per cent of the affordable homes would be available at social rent for families, while sports facilities at the school could be used by the public outside of school hours and in the holidays.
Mr Duckworth said the scheme would also provide a new public park, improved accessibility in Mortlake and work to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists at Mortlake Green, Sheen Lane, the Mortlake level crossing and Clifford Avenue.
He added: “Throughout history, the brewery site has been a barrier along this part of the Thames. But this scheme opens up the site to full public access and gives the Mortlake community multiple safe access points to the river, and let’s not forget the road improvements which will improve the congested local road network.”
Rebecca Brook, associate at architects Squire and Partners, also said the scheme offers “strong public benefits”, including 400 new trees and open spaces. She added it would improve a “publicly inaccessible, underutilised brownfield site, providing a sense of place and a new heart to Mortlake”.
While councillors expressed disappointment at the proposed level of affordable housing, they said they were grateful it had not been reduced further in the revised application and that the scheme would improve the site.
CGI of the revised scheme for the former Stag Brewery. Picture: Reselton Properties Limited/Squire and Partners
Lib Dem councillor Julia Neden-Watts said: “I think the development is an improvement to the existing state of affairs on the site and I don’t believe it is wholly out of character. I think it’s of high architectural quality and it’s transforming a brownfield site which, again, I think is welcome.”
She added, “I think it remains the case that this is a high-quality design which is a successful response to the constraints on the site and the constraints further imposed by the changes in the building regulations.”
The committee voted 8:1 in favour of the plans. The scheme will now be referred to the Mayor for a final decision, who can let the committee’s decisions on both applications stand, direct refusal or call the scheme in. It will also be referred to the Secretary of State.
Mr Ducrs, added, “What most disappoints me about the council’s current attitude to the Stag Brewery planning applications is their refusal to acknowledge the widespread opposition from local residents many of whom have a high level of relevant expertise.”
Philip Carter, who lives and runs a business in Mortlake, said the scheme is “flawed” due to the site’s limited position between the River Thames and Lower Richmond Road. He said, “Losing the open playing fields and building above and beyond the restricted heights will only exacerbate this, plus the ensuing increased traffic mayhem will create intolerably high air pollution.”
A total of 1,346 residents signed a petition last year calling on the council to investigate measures to tackle congestion in areas such as Mortlake, including by considering the Stag Brewery plans. Green councillor Niki Crookdake said the lack of a transport strategy to “accommodate the unprecedented level of development in the area is shocking” and claimed residents who had “petitioned the council to come up with a cohesive transport plan were ignored”.
Charlotte Lillywhite - Local Democracy Reporter