Council wants to approve ANOTHER Putney tower

The Conservative council is recommending giving another green light for developers to build a 21-storey tower block - this time in the Riverside Quarter development.

Read the report recommending the plan here.

21 storeys is higher than Putney Wharf Tower by Putney Bridge and it's of comparable size to the Putney Place development that we saw off in 2008. It would, however, be dwarfed by the Ram Brewery towers at 42 storeys if the Conservatives get their way from the planning inspectors.

I wrote objecting to this latest tower - the summary of my concerns in the report is below; as did the Riverside Quarter Residents Association and there is not a single letter of support for the application on the council planning site (there is one comment recorded as in support, which is actually an objection as well!).



Even one of the Conservative councillors for the area has written in "with reservations" - he's been ignored, too! So much for electing councillors from the ruling party for their influence - but nonetheless I welcome his intervention because it is thoughtful, detailed and honest.

Remarkably, the report notes that this application is in breach of several of what exist of the Conservative council's weak, weak, weak development rules - but they still say it should go ahead because the regeneration opportunities outweigh the damage this will do.

I disagree. The Conservatives get it backwards. They think a plan - any plan - will supposedly be better than what's there now, and therefore that it deserves support. That's what's led them to support the 42 storey Ram Brewery towers It's why they've backed overdevelopment after overdevelopment. And it's an approach that is blighting our borough.

They've turned the Thames into a canyon with huge developments right along from Wandsworth to Vauxhall Cross. They've created massive problems for the residents of these developments: just look at the parking debacle they caused on Whitelands Park.

And spare a thought for the existing Riverside Quarter residents who bought their homes without realising the overdevelopment nightmare they were buying into. They've created substandard affordable homes, tacked onto the poorest quality parts of each sites; and still they're unaffordable to anyone on much less than twice the national average income.

I've pressed my Labour colleagues on the Planning Committee to argue for the defeat of this application on Thursday.

But come the elections later this year, you'll have to decide: do you choose overdevelopment by voting Conservative; or do you stop it in its tracks by voting for me and electing Labour councillors who'll introduce - as a priority - a proper Plan for Putney?