Local developments

Motspur Park Gas Holders

The Proposed Redevelopment

Report by John Elvidge and Jerry Cuthbert

The Committee held a meeting on Tuesday 11^th February 2025 to discuss the proposed plans by Berkeley Homes to build on the site of the Motspur Park gas holders. The meeting was with Tom Fox, who is the Senior Development Manager of Berkeley and was attended also by some of our members from Marina Avenue, and Councillor John Oliver.

Tom Fox explained that the proposals were at an early stage and the company was due to have pre-application meetings with the planning departments of Kingston Council, where the gas holders are situated, and also with the planning departments of Merton and Sutton Councils, which form part of the wider site.

After these, the company would engage in a public consultation, which would include, if we wanted it, a public meeting. We stressed that we would wish this to be a genuine consultation, and not one that set out what had already been decided and could not be changed.

Tom Fox would not disclose at this stage the number of properties to be built or the scale but did say that it would be apartments and not houses, and that the intention was that 35% of them would be affordable. The affordable apartments would be in a separate block and be managed by a housing association.

He said that the properties would be designed by respected architects, principally in brick, and would be situated in a woodland setting. Berkeley’s plans include a foot bridge over the Beverley Brook to allow public access to the Millenium Wood and to the Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Playing Fields.

The intended timetable was that a planning application would be lodged towards the end of this year.  Removing the gas holders would take 12 to 18 months, before any major building could start.

We were naturally concerned about the access to the site for the dismantling of the gas holders and building for the construction phase, and the major disruption this would cause to the surrounding residents. We also asked about the vehicular access on completion.                                       

 Tom Fox produced a map which shows an existing, gated, narrow service road running down to the site from West Barnes Lane, close to the Motspur Park level crossing.

There is another gated private access road connecting the gas holders to the south. This runs parallel to Beverley Brook and has another gated access, into Kingshill Avenue , Worcester Park. This runs north to south past the gas holders into a wider track which can take two-way traffic, with passing places.

Tom Fox confirmed that the plan for the construction period was to have a one-way system with lorries turning left from West Barnes Lane at the Motspur Park level crossing, and exiting south, into Kingshill Avenue, Worcester Park. However, he said that after the construction period, all vehicular traffic would use the road from the south, leaving the access to Motspur Park for the sole use of pedestrians and cyclists.

There would be a limit put on the number of cars that future residents could have on the site, but that there would be a car club.

The developers were liaising with the Environment Agency to check the quality of the river, and with various wildlife organisations, including the Friends of Sir Joseph Hood. There would be an Environment Impact Assessment. The plans had to be discussed also with the GLA ,TfL, and Network Rail.

For further information, go to  Motspur Park Gas Holders

Workspace to sell Rainbow Ind Est

We have received a press release from Workspace Group PLC, dated 8 November 2024, announcing that the company has exchanged contracts for the sale of its “Rainbow Industrial Estate”. 

This industrial estate is located between the railway lines, adjacent to the the south-west side of Raynes Park Station. Its access is down a private road at the junction of Grand Drive and Approach Road. (SW20 0JY). 

RPWBRA members may recall that, back in 2015, Workspace secured planning consent for a mixed-use redevelopment of the industrial estate comprising 224 residential units and 37,000 sq. ft. of new light industrial space (Merton Planning Application: 14/P4287). 

Included as a condition of the consent to the application was the provision of a “Kiss and Ride” drop-off and pick-up area on the south side of the Station (Application: 14/P4288) 

As reported in last month’s Guide, the progress of the development was discussed at our recent open-meeting in West Barnes Library, together with the problems caused by vehicles being left parked in the “Kiss and Ride” bays and obstructing the pavement. 

Whilst Workspace has now constructed a number of the new industrial units on the site and completed most of the work for the “Kiss and Ride”, much the scope of the planning application has yet to be constructed, including all of the 224 dwellings and the mini-roundabout at the “Kiss and Ride”. 

Currently, we do not know who the new owner will be and what their intentions will be for completing the scope of the two planning consents. 

Hopefully, they will exert better control over the misuse of the “Kiss and Ride” by long-term parking. 

Jerry Cuthbert