Notes of the meeting held at Crown House Morden on 11 November 2005
Present:

Stephen Hammond MP
Steve Clark London Borough of Merton
Richard Rawes London Borough of Merton
Marcus Beale Wimbledon Civic Forum Urban Design Task Force

Steve Clark gave an update on planning matters in the Wimbledon area.

Wimbledon Town Centre - Hartfield Road - the P3 site. A preferred developer for the site has been chosen - Foinavon [www.foinavon.com]. Foinavon’s bid includes mixed use retail/commercial/residential development and includes a hotel. A car park will be beneath the development. Expect a planning application early in 2006. The initial planning brief allowed mixed uses including a hotel. There will be pre-application consultations, and SC has suggested that the Civic Forum Urban Design Task Force facilitate community involvement in this. MB suggested workshops involving members of the public at an early stage, along the lines of the Nelson hospital workshops. [See below]. SC will ask Foinavon to contact the Civic Forum.

WCF noted that there are potential conflicts of interest when the Council is selling land and acting as Planning Authority. RR said the Council is aware of this and will manage this, balancing and separating Property and Planning interests.

All England Club - new roof. This will be installed in 2006, and the steelwork delivery will involve road closures in Wimbledon. There will be formal notification and publication of this nearer the time.

The Francis Grove/Alt Grove scheme is complete. WCF has received positive feedback about the way the scheme tackles the change of scale from residential to urban in a cascade manner. It is generous to Francis Grove with the scale of the new buildings and the set back from the street. It incorporates changes of material to break up the massive scale - a technique that should be used sparingly - there are many disparate materials being used in Wimbledon Centre. The courtyard, open to the south, creates problems with train noise. Acoustics is often unconsidered, but should be an important aspect of urban design. The building has some fine materials demonstrating care and attention to detail.

6-10 St. George’s Road. this development is well underway, filling a gap between the Nat West Building and Elys. A simple curtain wall facade introducing green infill panels. WCF commented that the materials bear no relationship to their surroundings, which are already compromised by the quality of Argos, Natwest, and HSBC buildings at the junction adjacent.

7-11 Worple Road is now occupied. This does some good things, unashamedly urban and pointing in the right direction, it creates additional pavement space and the entrance is open and welcoming, adding a dimension to the street. A building with high architectural ambition and some good details. The pink granite is a material which does not relate to the palette of materials nearby and the material cannot be curved easily resulting in faceted stone corners.

Development at the top of Wimbledon Hill/corner of Ridgway. This is nearing completion. SH commented that the quality of the ground floor shop front must be appropriate to Wimbledon Village and not a standard illuminated shop front. WCF commented that the building is gateway to the village, and whilst not as glorious and finely detailed as the bank diagonally opposite is better for being more assertive and more expressive than the original design.

Broadway House. A new development has been granted detailed permission for a mixed use scheme including retail at ground floor, office and residential. The scheme will probably be sold on and no doubt modified proposal will come through in due course.

Wimbledon Park Hall. The council are seeking an alternative developer, because the originally selected developer is offering a poorer deal and has reduced the extent of community space. LBM will be re-approaching previous tenderers. Wimbledon Park Residents Association are being kept in the picture. There were concerns about the back view of the development.

Wimbledon Station Precinct - the P1 site. There is renewed interest in this, a major building-over-the-tracks development that will allow rethinking traffic flows through Wimbledon, including the possibility of anew road bridge from Queen’s Road to Alexandra Road.

Plough Lane Site. Planning agreement has now been signed for: 570 dwellings, 170 of which are affordable, office and light industrial use, GP surgery and community room with computers/copiers. The development has unusual transport features, each resident is given a bicycle and an Oyster card with £100 credit. There is a city car club for car sharing. This is one of the biggest housing developments we will see in this area, and is at an important stretch in the Wandle, where it becomes more urban as it runs north. South London Partnership are developing the vision of the Wandle being more canalised as it goes north, and the river increasing connects areas of parkland to the south. New landscaping in this development will adjoin the river, with parking underground.

Atkinson Morley Hospital site. The Council has approved a scheme in principle, subject to signing the section 106 agreement, for a scheme which reuses the hospital buildings, provides 94 dwellings, and creates a new 20 acre public park, to be managed by the Morley Park Trust. There are possible synergies with the Wimbledon and Putney Common, for expertise in landscape and wildlife management. The PCT is expected to sell the development on to a developer, who will produce a revised scheme.

B&Q development on the Home base site by the A3. This site incorporates some residential, smaller shops, and a wind turbine. WCF feel that these elements are treated a wallpaper around a shed. Mixed use development might have been more integrated providing a better quality of residential use, for example above the shopping, a podium development.

In the south of the borough, the Mitcham Town Centre scheme continues to evolve.

The Brown and Root Tower - the scheme is to be sold on. A developer is in the wings.

Wimbledon Civic Hall/Auditorium Arts Centre. LBM are revising the
accommodation brief and the design brief and will be updating the business plan to take account of Wimbledon Community Centre’s decision to stay separate. Envisaged is retail on the ground floor, 600 seater auditorium above, community rooms, office and some residential on top. LBM are weighing up the merits of different procurement mechanisms, given that the council wishes to retain the freehold, in order to ensure best design quality and balance the risks. WCF recommended speaking to Sir Jack Zunz re selection of architect/developers and procurement plans - JZ has been WCF representative on the steering group. WCF also keep recommending a Public Subscription, to promote genuine local ownership as well as to raise funds. It is important not to squeeze the community/arts space since this can be seen as having no value in commercial models, when in fact it is the whole reason for the building.
Nelson Hospital Design workshops held on 9 November, 80 + attendees and at an early stage, so the process has a real opportunity to influence the design. Notes were tabled. MB will be meeting the architects , with Gabby Walters of SMPCT, on 25 November, to take the agenda forward. Notes are at: http://www.wimbledoncivicforum.org.uk/forums/urbandesign/nelson/051109.shtml

Street Clutter. There is concern that Highways and Planning are pulling in different directions and too much clutter is being introduced. MB passed to SC a note from LBM stating that all parking bays will require a post - a cheaper and less obtrusive approach might be to paint notices on the pavement kerb - more hardware should be a solution of last resort. The LBMerton Highways Design Guide is nearing completion and planning and transport will be meeting and co-ordinating within LBM, with Ged Lawrenson as Design Champion taking a close interest.

Morden Park. London Playing Fields Association are not renewing their lease which expires on 31 December 2005. The Council is seeking expressions of interest and AFC Wimbledon are amongst those. The decision who to proceed with will not be purely financial but will take account of community matters. SH would like to see youth facilities on the site. There is not envisaged to be any development, just sports facilities.

Next meetings:

SC will circulate dates of proposed meetings, next in February 2006. To be held quarterly on a Friday at 2 pm in LB Merton offices.