A new proposal for 15-27 Falcon Road (currently occupied by Tesco at ground level) will replace a series of two-storey maisonettes with a five-storey building to create 25 new homes, including one-, two- and three-bedroom flats, two new retail units, cycle parking and space for a gym (with low membership fees). No parking spaces will be provided for new residents, and resident permits will not be available for street parking.
The proposals match the height and scale of the neighbouring buildings on Patience Road and Khyber Road (three storeys to the top of the roof), stepping up to five storeys on Falcon Road.
Walters Properties owns the building and is seeking to redevelop and retain the site on Falcon Road. The company is also proposing to rename the building Walters House and will seek approval for this from Wandsworth Council.
We attended the exhibition organised at York Gardens Community Centre on Wednesday 3 February 2016 to discuss the proposals.
The development will be of similar size to the site across the road (redevelopment of the Princes Head pub site), which already has approved planning permission for a five-storey building (December 2014).
In its objection to the Prince’s Head redevelopment, the Battersea Society stated that the visualisation showed the proposed building would be substantially taller than neighbouring buildings and would be overly dominant in the streetscape. That was true at the time. However, since 2015 and proposals for the redevelopment of York and Winstanley Estates consisting mainly of five-storey buildings, the size of the 15-27 Falcon Road proposal is becoming the norm for the area’s future.
Regarding style, similar modern façades already exist on the same street, closer to the bridge, although these buildings do not exceed three storeys.
However we make 2 comments:
- There is no current specification on the amount of affordable accommodation proposed. Wandsworth planning policy IS5 specifies that a proportion of at least 33% of homes should be affordable (although new developers always raise the viability argument to safeguard their comfortable profit margin!)
- Developers nowadays frequently use good transport access (and environmental friendliness) to justify the absence of car parks. In reality, they save money as building car parking is expensive. This approach ignores the obvious need for occasional vehicle access to the building (for families, visitors, builders, deliveries, etc.) and the cumulative effect that such an approach by ALL new developments will have on the area. This is particularly concerning as, despite the proximity of Clapham Junction, public transport is already stretched and congested, as acknowledged by TfL.
To find out more about the plans for 15-27 Falcon Road you can email will@snapdragonconsulting.co.uk.
The reality is that fewer and fewer people have cars to park, or even want to have cars. There is no car parking in Venice, and that’s a lovely place. Forget the addiction to car use-far too much space is given up to the use of cars and their only partial use.