Councillors said last week that height of 22-storey scheme was ‘excessive’
The chief executive of Watkin Jones has said he feels “positive” about the firm’s prospects as it seeks to win a ruling in favour of its 762-bed development near Battersea Power Station.
Last week, Wandsworth council nominally refused planning permission for the three-tower student accommodation scheme three weeks after its developer lodged an appeal against the application’s non-determination.
The appeal was put in two days before Christmas, after eight months waiting for a planning decision on the revised scheme.
Speaking to Housing Today, Alex Pease said the decision last week “wasn’t a proper committee” vote.
“Effectively, once, once you launch an appeal to non determination, they have a vote on it anyway to sort of guide where they may have voted had it actually gone to a formal committee,” he said.
The proposal, which was recommended for approval by planning officers and is described by Pease as a “cracking piece of regeneration”, features three buildings ranging from 12 to 22 storeys and contains 762 student bedrooms and 55 affordable homes.
First submitted in May 2022, the Howells-designed scheme has undergone several design revisions including the addition of second staircases, the reduction in height of one building by two storeys, with the same building having its footprint reduced and rotation altered.
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The number of student rooms across the scheme was also cut from 779 to 762 and the number of homes reduced from 81 to 55.
“It’s offering genuine affordable housing as part of it on site, which many, many schemes don’t, and we think it’s meeting a very significant demand for student accommodation in that area,” said Pease.
“So we’ll run the appeal process and we feel positive we can get a good result”.
Councillors who refused the Howells scheme last week said its height was “excessive” and that a student-led scheme would be the “wrong balance” for the site given the demand for housing and affordable housing in the borough.
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