I have written this item for the summer edition of the Roehampton Voice:Alton Regeneration - a planning application at last!The long-awaited planning application proposing the redevelopment of the Alton Estate has, at last, been made. It has being submitted by Redrow, the borough council's development partner in this redevelopment process. It will now be for the council, as the freeholder as well as the local planning authority, to decide whether or not to grant planning permission. In the circumstances, there can't be much doubt what the decision will be!The submission of the planning application has been delayed for almost a year and a half. It had been promised for February of last year.As I understand it, the delay has been due to Redrow being unable to get its act together in assembling all the material needed for the application. So, the question might be asked: 'Are we right to think that the council made an unfortunate error in selecting Redrow as its development partner'? And, how confident can we be that Redrow will be capable of seeing the redevelopment project through? We will have to wait and see.The application is particularly complex, involving a huge number of documents and plans. It will take a very long time for anyone to study it all.All the application material is being made available for us all to see, in hard copies, in Roehampton Library during the period of public consultation on the application. The application can also be studied online - an almost impossible task, given its scale! It is to the council's credit that planning officers are being made available in the library on three dates to answer our queries on the application. Do go and have a look at the application - and be sure to get your views on it sent in to the town hall before the end of the consultation period. Comments should be sent to the council by 22nd July 2019.At the June meeting of the Roehampton Partnership, the 'Planning Application Newsletter', sent out by the council to 8,200 local addresses in the Roehampton area, came in for some strong criticism because of the computer generated image on the front page. It shows the proposed 'village square' at the centre of the Alton Estate, at the junction of Danebury Avenue and Roehampton Lane. Danebury Avenue appears to have been turned into a pedestrian precinct with no vehicular traffic or buses at all! In reality, after regeneration, there will be even more traffic passing through this junction! And where is this view taken from? No-one would ever see this view - unless you are flying over Roehampton in a helicopter! The image was accused of being very misleading. It will be some ten years before all the buildings shown on the image have been constructed. It is expected that the council will be granting itself planning permission in the Autumn.
John Horrocks ● 2684d