Stag Brewery development gets go ahead
Planning Inspectorate approves plan after the final appeal - story 73
This is the end of a long process.
The redevelopment of the former Mortlake brewery site has moved one step closer to reality after the Planning Inspectorate issued a final report approving the contentious project—ending nearly a decade of debate over the future of the historic location.
The £1.3billion scheme will create a new neighbourhood with 1,068 new homes and a secondary school for 1,200 pupils along with shops, offices and nine acres of green space.
The developers Reselton Properties are a wholly owned subsidiary of the international real estate company, City Developments Ltd (CDL). CDL is based in Singapore and has a significant global property and investment profile including the Teddington Riverside at the former Teddington Studios site in south west London.
To and fro now stop
Anheuser-Busch, the global brewing giant, vacated the site in 2015. Since then, the space was repurposed by Studio Works, a television production company involved in major projects including Downton Abbey 3 and Disney’s 1000 Blows.
Plans for the site were approved by Richmond Council in 2020. They were vetoed by the London Mayor, then Sadiq Khan due to a lack of affordable housing. Since then there have been amendments, re-submissions and further rejections.
Concerns were mainly about increased traffic and the amount of affordable housing. As the Evening Standard explains,
Under the current proposal submitted in 2022 only 7.5% of the homes, by habitable area, are set to be affordable although this can be increased “if the viability should improve during the rollout of the scheme”.
The homes will be built in blocks up to nine storeys tall, along with restaurants, shops, offices, a cinema, space for a hotel and a 1,200-place secondary school with a sixth form.
Two structures will be retained including the distinctive Victorian Maltings building which will be turned into apartments with riverside views.
The Planning Inspectorate began its enquiry in November 2024 collecting evidence from stakeholders from across London including Mortlake Brewery Campaign Group (MBCG) and Greater London Authority. In all there were over 1,000 objections to the two schemes - one for the new homes and the other for the school.
The final report by Glen Rollings, the planning inspector, runs to over 140 pages. This blog has produced another thirty minute audio summary. (This is the work of Ai. You are listening to chatbots, not humans.)
Inspector’s report
The final report summarised the concerns to be addressed on page 4:
The Inspector’s response to the transport challenges provides a good sense of the overall approach.
MBCG provided much of the typical detail on this aspect of the appeal. (Full disclosure: I made a financial contribution to the Group) For example, they questioned the traffic modelling saying there was a possible underestimation of future traffic volumes. MBCG argued that would mean the number of users at the Sheen Lane level crossing would significantly increase. Chalker’s Corner featured, heavily, too.
While the Inspector acknowledged the concerns, the final report concluded that proposed mitigations would prevent any ‘substantial harm.’ He concluded the proposals would not have an unacceptable impact on road safety or cause severe residual impacts on the road network. For example, the Inspector suggested the problems at Chalker’s Corner could be managed by the phasing of developments and TfL’s management of traffic lights. This would avoid gridlock. Similarly any potential problems with on-street parking could be mitigated by expanding controlled parking zones.
What next?
As the Barnes Bugle points out, the approval process might be over but there’s much to be worked out yet
The film studio using part of the site said last year that it had a lease for the 'foreseeable future'.
Additionally, there's a question mark over the building of the proposed secondary school on the site, given that the funding for new academy schools is under review by the Department for Education.
And, even though the developers have planning permission, there is no information about their immediate plans for the site after the adjudication.
Barnes and Mortlake continues to change
The Stag Brewery is one of three developments reshaping the area.
Work is underway at the former Barnes Hospital.
The development at Brewery has now been approved.
That leaves Hammersmith Bridge. Maybe there will be clarity later this year? If so, the broader shape of the area for the next decade or so will be much clearer. Now we need to decide how to make this an even better place to live and work.