No to Lodge demolition

Walking up Putney Hill, or along Upper Richmond Road, in between the ugly apartment blocks that have sprung up since the 1950s you can still catch glimpses of old Putney: the few surviving beautiful, imposing old houses that haven't been sold off and then demolished.

One such is the gothic lodge in Upper Richmond Road at the entrance to Putney Park Lane. I find it extraordinary that with all the evidence we have along this road and Putney Hill of the scars we have inflicted on the area with ugly, bland blocks of flats (not least right next door to this Lodge) anyone is contemplating continuing this damaging trend.

Unfortunately however, the chance of making a quick buck by demolishing our landmark historic buildings and replacing them with stack 'em up, pile 'em high monstrosities is evidently still a greater motivation.

It seems that something odd is going on here. On the face of it, the Council has a plain and simple duty: to review the planning application and reject it. Laudably the Council sought to list this Lodge. However, it is reported in this week's Wandsworth Guardian that the moment they tried the developers threatened a High Court case and the council promptly lost its nerve. Why? I'm not saying there weren't good reasons - but someone should tell us all what they were.

Either way, that change of heart is not relevant to the planning decision the council will soon have to make. There are countless justifications for turning this building down - if it is not listed, it should be a local building of merit. If it is not a building of merit, it is surely within a conservation area. Make the developers prove their case for demolition at a planning inquiry. Turn this application down - on the basis of strong planning grounds - and defy the philistine developers to appeal. I think they'll lose. If there's any justice in the world they should.

Over to you Wandsworth Council.