Author: Cyril Richert
Wandsworth Planning Application committee has refused, on Thursday 11th April 2013, the proposal to extend and refurbished the Mosque in Falcon Road.
By 8 votes to 1 (Cllr Billi Randall who thought that the principle of redevelopment was more or less agreed in 2010) following a successful motion to refuse, the planning permission 2012/3747 for the Islamic Centre, 75 Falcon Road was refused on the following grounds:
- The proposed extensions by virtue of their increased size and siting would introduce unacceptable bulk to the property and the streetscene of the location to the detriment of their visual amenity. As such, the proposal is considered contrary to Policy IS3 of the Wandsworth Core Strategy 2010 and Policy DMS1 of the Wandsworth DMPD 2012.
- The proposal would result in the unacceptable intensification of an already intensively used site, resulting in a harmful increase in noise levels and general disturbance when accessing and leaving the facility during peak times, while failing to demonstrate that the transport impacts of the development could be managed satisfactorily without resulting in an unacceptable impact on the local highway network. As such, the proposal is considered contrary to Policies DMS1 and DMT1 of the Wandsworth DMPD 2012.
The decision goes against the recommendation of the officers that we reported at the bottom of our previous article: Proposal to refurbish and extend the Mosque in Falcon Road.
It follows the main reasons (1. Scale and Design) for objection raised by the Clapham Junction Action Group.
Following a meeting that we attended a few weeks ago with local Councillors and people from the Mosque, it was said that in case of refusal, they would pursue with the granted application that they have from 2010 (ref: 2010/4850).
However, conditions apply, including that work shall begin with 3 years from the date of this permission, i.e. 18 February 2011. The money raised for the plan is currently only covering half of the cost (estimated to be about £300k) and time is running out. A new application will have to be submitted if nothing moves by 2014.
See below a drawing of the 2010/4850 proposal that was approved in February 2011.
