Wandsworth’s heritage committee has recommended refusing plans for a 14-storey tower on the Lennox Estate, citing clear violations of the council’s own planning policies.
The Conservation and Heritage Advisory Committee voted on Wednesday evening to oppose the Arabella Drive development, which would be more than double the six-storey height limit set out in the local plan.
“The tower is inappropriate in that setting because of its impact on all sorts of conservation and view settings,” said Andrew Cato, representing the Putney Society. “As a conservation and heritage body, we should be opposing the idea of anything taller than the six stories that is in the local plan.”
The council’s housing department is seeking permission to build 81 affordable homes on protected open space at the northern end of the estate. The site was never allocated for development in the local plan, and is designated as protected open space under policies LP 20, 53 and 54.
Cart before horse
Planning officers revealed during the meeting that the housing department had determined the 81-unit target before checking whether planning policy would allow it.
“It’s really something that they’ve come forward through from the housing department,” an officer explained. “They ran with the scheme in terms of the number of units they wanted to put on their site.”
Peter Farrow, representing Wandsworth Society, said planning policy should have constrained what the housing department could propose.
“My view would be that if the planning policy suggested or required a limit of six stories, that should have been a governing factor which limited the amount the housing department were allowed to require,” he said. “It is not clear to me why it was suddenly decided that 81 units should be provided on this site.”
The committee heard that the council’s own Design Review Panel had suggested a six-storey scheme that would comply with policy, but the housing department rejected this because it would take up more open space.
Obeying the law of justice
Councillor Finna Ayres acknowledged the tension between housing need and planning rules. “81 affordable units is something to die for,” she said. “I think it’s a balance between obeying the law that we’ve all agreed, and obeying the other laws of justice for people who don’t have homes.”
But the committee ultimately concluded that the tower violated clear policy limits and would be visible from conservation areas across Richmond and from as far as Chiswick Bridge.
The recommendation is advisory only. The final decision rests with Wandsworth’s Planning Applications Committee, which could approve the scheme despite the heritage body’s opposition.
Other problems
The application has already drawn criticism over fire safety concerns, with residents pointing out that the proposed closure of Arabella Drive would restrict emergency access to hundreds of homes on an estate where six fire engines were needed to tackle a blaze last March.
The same land was successfully defended from development by residents in the 1990s, when a Planning Inspector ruled that housing need could not override open space protections.
The site also sits in a medium-risk zone for unexploded Second World War ordnance, based on German records showing multiple high-explosive bombs fell on or near the proposed building locations during the Blitz.
Public consultation on application 2025/4170 closes on 19 January 2026.
