Tag Archives: Treasury Holdings

Scant evidence for destruction of Battersea Pumping Station

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The future of Battersea Pumping Station, located next to the Battersea Power Station, is in serious doubt. If the current planning application to redevelop Battersea Power Station and the surrounding land by REO / Treasury Holdings is accepted without alteration by Wandsworth Council in July, the Grade II listed building would be demolished under assertions by the developers that the scheme would not be economically viable with its continued existence.

However, evidence to support this claim is less than accurate. Neither in the private nor public domain have the developers or Wandsworth Council revealed the percentage split of affordable and luxury housing. Without knowing what percentage of the planned housing developments will be “luxury” or affordable apartments it is not possible for REO, let alone English Heritage, to know how much profit the developers will make, therefore arguments over the economic viability of the scheme are spurious. Assuming the developer calculated the minimum amount of “affordable” flats would be needed the issue is not the economic viability of the scheme but the size of REO/Treasury Holdings profit margin.

REO argue that the Pumping Station should be demolished for the “Community benefit” but what they mean is their profit. It is becoming depressingly common for developers to present their economic interests as a community benefit. In this case what is actually meant is that if the developer does not get its way and make a substantial profit then the scheme will not go ahead and the community will suffer decades more planning blight.

Despite formally submitting their application in November 2009 in which they declared that flattening the pumping station would be critical, in February the only definitive number of houses of the 3856 dwellings of the master plan given any ‘status’ whatsoever are the 245 build-to-let houses – classified as non-affordable. As recent as March this year, in a Q & A session with the Planning Director Jeremy Castle, the percentage of affordable housing against non-affordable had still yet to be decided.

English Heritage, an organisation whose official remit is to promote and protect Britain’s historical environment, have effectively given their blessing to REO by deferring any decision-making responsibility to the Local Planning Authority.

In a letter to the Local Planning Authority, Nick Collins stated that although the proposed plans “risk causing harm to the setting”, the decision ultimately rests on assessing whether or not the ‘substantial community benefit’ (community benefit in this case being  private gain) outweighs the loss of the building and whether or not the building could be bought up by another party and reused (you can see the new legislation PPS5 here).

Under this new legislation the council must establish no other organisations are interested in buying the building or that no alternative community use can be found. Battersea Power Station Community Group has registered its interest and is supported by  a number of  local and special interest groups.

The Victorian Society is one of a number of expert groups who are against demolishing  the Pumping Station, yet they have been ignored (see the interview with Alex Baldwin from The Victorian Society here).

Jeremy Castle plans to reveal the official percentage of affordable housing on June 15th – less than a month before Wandsworth Council make their final decision on the application. Aside from the absurdity of demanding a 150 year-old building be torn down because ‘it might be handy’, the relinquishing of accountability by organisations like English Heritage  demonstrates an alarming and depressing deference to private business when they are funded to enforce and support preservation.

The exhausting planning process and massive application documentation helps developers like REO / Treasury Holdings to wear down any resistance and bury the fact that they intend to destroy historically and culturally significant sites without open discussion. As English Heritage have in recent years funded the restoration of Cross Ness Pumping Station, their dereliction of duty and unfounded support for the vandalism of Battersea Pumping Station is curious.

Click Battersea Power Station for more blogs
Or visit PlanA our general blog on urbanism, planning and architecture.
See our Battersea Power Station project pages for more information and videos.

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Sufficient affordable housing in Battersea Power Station plans?

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The comments below are from Chelsea Bridge Wharf resident Mike O’Driscoll, who is one of a  significant number of residents to have lodged formal objections against the Battersea Power Station plans.

The issues mentioned in your post concerning formal objections by residents of Chelsea Bridge Wharf to the current development plans for Battersea Power Station are worrying for residents but what is more worrying for the area, and for London as a whole, is that Wandsworth Council and the developers are clearly trying to fudge the issue of how much affordable housing would be included in the development. When so many people cannot afford a home it would be obscene for this development to go ahead without insisting on 50% of homes being affordable.

The Council is however refusing to say how many affordable homes would be included and claims that it is unable to say how many there would be because it is not clear what the demand is! I suggest you write to Mr Bob Leuty at Wandsworth Council (planningapplications@wandsworth.gov.uk) and make it clear that you do not support any development unless it includes 50% affordable housing. You can also contact your Wandsworth Councillor, or your local MP, and ask them what their view is on this before deciding how to vote.

If we allow this development to continue without clarification on the issue of affordable housing then we are simply allowing the developers to make themselves even richer and making this area even less diverse socially.

Click Battersea Power Station for more blogs
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See our Battersea Power Station project pages for more information and videos.

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The Victorian Society Object to Power Station Plans

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The Victorian Society are the latest organisation to speak out against REO / Treasury Holdings‘ current plans for the re-development of Battersea Power Station. The Conservation Advisor of the organisation, Alex Baldwin, spoke in depth to Spectacle about their rejection of the assertion that the older structures, particularly the old pumping station, need to be pulled down despite their Grade II* Listed status, and her ideas on how the site could be regenerated. You can watch the interview here at Spectacle’s Battersea archive.

Alex also contributed her thoughts to a Planning Resource webzine article about the mixed response to the situation. Her comments are the latest in a growing number of objections to the plans (about which you can also see a presentation by REO here), and evidence that there is likely to be considerable formal resistance to the application.

Click Battersea Power Station for more blogs
Or visit PlanA our general blog on urbanism, planning and architecture.
See our Battersea Power Station project pages for more information and videos.

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Battersea Forum Q&A Available to Watch

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On Wednesday 31s March the DRCA Community Centre hosted the presentation of REO / Treasury Holdings‘ planning application for Battersea Power Station.

As part of our ongoing Battersea Power Station project, we have edited together the charged question and answer session between the planning director, Jeremy Castle, and members of the local community which you can watch on our Battersea Power Station archive. Topics raised included affordable housing, schools, parking, fencing and the iconic chimneys.

The current plan, which you can read more about at our Battersea Power Station blog, includes the construction of 3,700 luxury flats, a riverside park, a hotel, and a new tube station surrounding the Grade II* listed Power Station which could itself become a retail centre. Wandsworth Council are set to make a decision in July.

Free No Pain Gain Guide to Gain Download: A Community Guide to Planning Obligations

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Planning applications are often a very private collusion between local councils and private developers and it is difficult for local residents to involve themselves in, let alone influence, the decision-making process. With plans to redevelop Battersea Power Station at a delicate stage and three months left to make objections to the current plan (see REO’s current application here), we have uploaded a pdf copy of the ‘No Pain Guide to Gain’ booklet. Produced by the Ethical Property Foundation, the pamphlet details how residents can make full use of the ‘Section 106 agreement’, which is a legal agreement obligating the developer in question to provide beneficial services and schemes for the local community.

This article from the Battersea Power Station Community Group website in 2006 demonstrates REO / Treasure Holding’s attitudes towards section 106 and community participation.

WPCT Consultation Thursday 29th April

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Battersea Power Station

Primary Care Trust Consultation

at

DRCA Community Centre

Behind TESCO Metro in Battersea Park Road

Charlotte Despard Avenue SW11 5HD

Thursday 29th April 2010 – 12 noon to 2.00pm

There will be 3,700, luxury flats, riverside park, hotel, tube station surrounding the Grade II* listed Power Station which will become a retail centre.

Real Estates Opportunities Socio Economic Survey shows there will be “negligible” impact on health provision in Wandsworth from the redevelopment (also “negligible” impact on education and open space)

Tell Us What You Want So See Provided on the Power Station site

Wandsworth Primary Care Trust/ National Health Service

elaine.curley@wpct.nhs.uk

WRUG – Wandsworth Rights Umbrella Group

Hosted by DRCA – Doddington & Rollo Community Association

You can also download a pdf of the ‘No Pain Guide to Gain’ booklet which gives information on how to become actively involved in planning developments here at Spectacle’s planning and commissions blog.

Planned Red Bull X Fighters event at Battersea Power Station is illegal

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Steven Goldsmith of the Wandsworth Green Party and Battersea Power Station Community Group has formally submitted an objection about the Red Bull X Fighters Event (Application No 2010/0925) to Wandsworth Council on the grounds that it is illegal. The event, a petrolhead’s dream of the best FMX riders in the world and unlikely to be frugal in parading its use of energy resources (see Red Bull’s official artist’s impression below and an article about the event here) , is scheduled to take place in and around the station for the second successive year but its noise and light pollution breaches legislation that that was passed to safeguard the protected species of black redstarts and peregrine falcons which have now colonised the station. The objection has since interestingly been placed as a ‘support comment’ on Wandsworth Council’s planning applications site. This is another example of money spinning private hire of the station following David Cameron’s mainfesto launch here last week (which you can read more about here at Spectacle’s Battersea Power Station blog), and a further contradiction to assertions by owners REO that the chimneys could be unsafe and may need to be pulled down.

Restoration of Ellis Island an example for Battersea Power Station Owners

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The rejuvenation of Ellis Island provides a concrete and successful testament to the possibility of community led re-development for Battersea Power Station, and evidence that existing derelict structures need not be pulled down in their entirety to proceed with restoration.

12 million immigrants were processed at Ellis Island by the U.S. Bureau of Immigration between 1892 and 1954, but the island since fell into disrepair. Although attempts at restoring the site were initially unsuccessful, the island was proclaimed a part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, and its listed status led to proposals to refurbish the buildings and adapt them into a museum. Run by the National Park Service, the museum hosts exhibitions, houses additional community film theatres and also a library thanks mainly to the fundraising of the not-for-profit organisation Save Ellis Island.

Battersea Power Station Community Group have been championing similar ideas of a public heritage and programme space in and around the old pumping station for years that could serve the local area without the necessity of tearing down the chimneys, which seems to be the desire of the current developers REO despite public declarations to the contrary. Click here to read more about the latest developments at Battersea Power Station, its significance and Spectacle’s Battersea project.

Cameron Braves ‘Dangerous’ Battersea Power Station for Manifesto Launch

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David Cameron’s decision to invite little old you and me to run the country at the big boys’ table at Battersea Power Station was no accident, because you see, he wants to FIRE UP the nation. Y’know, like the station. Because it’s stopped working. FIRE UP the power because the country is derelict and…ok he wants to REGENERATE the station, no wait, I got that wrong, regenerate the NATION, because England is like a dilapidated…oh I don’t know why I bother.

Anyway, if he was going to recklessly bounce loaded metaphors around the inside of the power station he should have been wearing a hard hat – that structure is dangerously unsafe according to REO. At least that’s what was told to Battersea Power Station Community Group, unless they were to have the required clout which presumably comes with a ‘no topple’ guarantee.

The key point of all this is that Cameron’s ability to bypass this regulation demonstrates that REO’s persistent claims that the chimneys must be pulled down due to their perceived danger is most definitely a falsehood, and it highlights the superficiality of their concerns over safety at the station which very clearly are being raised as an excuse for their desired re-development. Once the chimneys are down they will never be put back. You can read more about it here in Spectacle’s Battersea Power Station blog.

‘Play Boy’ Owner Spending Spree Scandal

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An article in the Evening Standard today reveals the huge spending sprees of one of the ‘play boy’ owners of the Power Station, while the building itself is lacking funding to keep it standing.  Article features interview with Battersea Power Station Community Group member Brian Barnes.