Wandsworth Council is seeking planning permission for 81 new council homes and a 14-storey tower on the Lennox Estate in Roehampton, with public consultation running through Christmas and New Year.
The development at Arabella Drive (2025/4170) would be one of the largest affordable housing schemes in the borough for years: two new buildings providing 100% council rent homes, a replacement community facility, and new open space. It would also demolish existing community buildings including a youth boxing club, close part of Arabella Drive, and provide zero parking spaces.
Residents trying to respond to the 1,000-plus pages of planning documents – spread across 75 separate files including transport assessments, fire safety strategies, and a report on unexploded World War 2 bombs – face a consultation period that runs through Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
Extended but still over Christmas
After resident Tony Arthur complained about the original deadline of 29 December, the council extended the consultation from three weeks to six, moving the deadline to 19 January 2026.
But Arthur has written back to say the extension still falls short. He has done the maths: 42 days total, minus 11 days when council offices are closed and community groups don’t meet, leaves 31 usable days. Across 75 technical documents totalling more than 1,000 pages, that works out at 32 pages of planning material per day.
“No working person can read and understand all of this in 31 days while also living their life, working their job, looking after their family,” Arthur wrote.
He is now requesting a further extension to 16 February 2026 – six full weeks after the Christmas period ends. He has asked for a response by 20 December.
The double standard
Arthur’s case rests on how the council handled its own consultations. When Wandsworth consulted on its Local Plan, it deliberately avoided Christmas both times: the Regulation 18 consultation ended on 4 December 2023, three weeks before Christmas; the Regulation 19 consultation started on 13 January 2025, two weeks after New Year. Both were six weeks long with no holiday overlap.
“If Christmas was a barrier for the Local Plan consultation, why is it not a barrier for our homes?” Arthur wrote. “The council does not hold planning meetings between Christmas and New Year. Council offices are closed or on reduced hours. The council protects its own staff from working during this period. Yet you expect us residents to do this work, unpaid, in our spare time, during the exact same period the council shuts down.”
The council’s January 2025 Statement of Community Involvement promises to be “flexible” by identifying barriers to participation and overcoming them. Christmas is a barrier the council clearly understood when planning its own consultations.
What happens next
The current consultation deadline is 19 January 2026. Comments can be submitted through Wandsworth Council’s planning portal under reference 2025/4170.
Wandsworth Council is both applicant (through its Regeneration and Development team) and decision-maker (through its Planning department). Because the tower exceeds 30 metres, the application must also be referred to the Mayor of London before any final decision.
The boxing gym would be reprovided in new ground floor community space, though users face a gap during the estimated two-year construction period. A replacement Multi-Use Games Area is also proposed.
We want to hear from residents affected by this development. Have you had time to read the documents? Are you struggling to respond over Christmas? Email us your experiences.
