Thamesfield Councillor Calls On Appeal To Uphold Democracy

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Levellers Court public inquiry is being held by the Planning Inspectorate

CGI of building as it would be seen from Putney Bridge Road

Thamesfield councillor Mike Ryder evoked thoughts of Oliver Cromwell and the Putney Debates when he spoke this Tuesday (18 June) at the opening of the public inquiry at Wandsworth town hall into the council’s decision to reject a planning application for 45-53 Putney High Street and 327-339 Putney Bridge Road.


Cllr Mike Ryder

The scheme, called Levellers Court, had proposed buildings between two and 10 storeys high to provide 123 residential units plus a public courtyard on the first floor. The council rejected it on the grounds of it being too tall and overbearing and because it did not have a proper public square.

Councillor Ryder, at the start of the four-day inquiry, said Thamesfield councillors fully supported the council decision. He said the fatal flaw in the scheme was that ownership of that crucial site was split between two owners, so the developers of Levellers Court had been forced to squeeze too much into the part they owned and had come up with the “bizarre” idea of a public courtyard on the first floor which nobody would know about.

As he ended, he told the planning inspector: “This site is a stone’s throw from St Mary’s Church, where Oliver Cromwell and his army held the Putney Debates in 1647 which laid the foundations of modern British democracy. In your deliberations I hope you hear a faint echo of those debates and uphold local democracy by supporting the council’s rejection of this application.”

Two residents from nearby Burstock Road also spoke against the plan, and John Horrocks from the Putney Society is due to speak later.

June 20, 2019