HURST MEADOWS AND RIVERSIDE - FOR EVERYONE, FOREVER
Application 2016/2760 for a large boathouse by the river in Hurst Meadows and a launch area has been withdrawn.
Tap here to see the notice from 1st Molesey Sea Scouts.
The Friends of Hurst Park OPPOSE this and any development at all on Hurst Park and Meadows, as we see it as the beginning of the end for one of the few remaining natural wildlife areas on the London Thames, with a critical function as undeveloped floodplain; it is our local flood defence. The applicants are Molesey Jaguar Sea Scouts, who plan a water and splash activity centre substantial enough to hire out widely as a hub for the region. The Friends fully support the scout movement - we have members with long experience of volunteering in local scout groups, members with children in the movement and members who are scouts themselves. This particular proposal, however, raises many issues of grave concern.
You can see the application in full here,
6 January 2017
Three statutory consultees have responded to late-submitted supporting documents from the applicants and all have upheld their initial objections to the proposal: the Planning Conservation Officer, the Thames Landscape Strategy and the Environment Agency. The Agency has gone into some detail on its grounds for objection in an 11 page document, which you can read here.
17 December 2016
Six revised/new documents have been submitted by the applicants to try to address objections raised by consultees to this application (see under Supporting Documents and dated 14 December 2016 through the link above). As a result, new site notices went up on 16 December 2016 and letters are being sent to all those who have commented on the application so far for further responses. The amendments principally relate to flood risk/river bank information, but given the number of documents that were changed in some way, the case officer has decided it best to arrange a full reconsultation, rather than just with the Environment Agency. There are also amended plans, and a press notice extends the consultation period until 13 January 2017. Consequently there will be no determination of this planning application until into the New Year. Elmbridge planning officers have already said they will continue to accept comments and there was an earlier statement from the Case Officer to this effect.
The Environment Agency has recommened refusal on three grounds: flood risk; risk to nature conservation and fisheries; inadequate buffer zone to the the Thames - tap to see report here.
Comments from Surrey County Council Countryside Access team highlight implications for the Thames Path National Trail and Public Right of Way: scores of boats emerging from boat house doors opening directly on to the path would have to cross this busy path at a narrow point to reach the river edge.
Importantly, the original planning notices which went up in the park on Friday 23 September 2016 pointed out that "The proposed development does not accord with the provision of the Development Plan in force in the area in which the land to which the application relates is situated".
Below we see the proposed location of the activity centre, in designated Public Open Space. This land is Covenanted and Held In Trust for the local community by Elmbridge Borough Council through a Deed of Gift dated 1946.
SOME OF THE ISSUES IDENTIFIED ARE:
- The proposal lies within the undeveloped functional flood plain of Hurst Park and Meadows which has never been developed.
- No case has been made for the applicants' need for a regional water activities hub of this size and scope, with unknown implications for traffic and parking. There is no imperative for this development, and no business plan or projections, although there are ambitions to hire it out far and wide. Because the application is essentially not local, we can expect major increases in traffic, including boat trailers, minibuses and cars. Visitors will use Sadlers Ride carpark and the Thames Path; disruption is likely to be frequent.
- The proposal sets an industrial-style building (30m wide by 10m and some 8m high, with fenced boat storage enclosure at the rear) in a protected historic landscape; the original proposal as first conveyed to local organisations was described as a "replacement boatshed" for a modest earlier facility at Molesey reservoirs.
- The development will be built on land covenanted for public open space and gifted in 1946 to all local people for their enjoyment.
- Meadowland and trees will be lost, and a mature riverside habitat stripped to make a boat launch area of over 30m - more than 60 boats will be kept within the facility.
The river's edge here will be stripped of trees and vegetation
- The proposal will require all boats from the boatshed to cross the Thames Path at a point where its width is only 7ft, impeding and endangering other users, many of them vulnerable as the Thames Path is a popular route for wheelchairs, pushchairs, elderly walkers; boatshed doors open directly to the towpath. The Thames Path is a national trail, used for charity/community walks, runs and cycling events.
- Mooring pillars and buoys are proposed out in the river navigation, at a pinch point on the Surrey bank where channels merge for vessels travelling to and from Molesey Lock.
- The Thames, the river bank and Duck's Eyot (in the ownership of the Environment Agency) are all a Site of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI). Noisy splash activities with scores of small boats at any time on any day will disrupt nesting and resident waterbirds - grebe, moorhen, coot, diving duck, mallard, mandarin duck, swans and geese raise young on this stretch; "splash and scream" will impact on all riverside wildlife and the health of the fishery.
- The proposal site is on the edge of another SNCI covering Hurst Meadows, which is also a Local Nature Reserve, where there are rare and unusual species. These Thames flood fields are widely recognised as particularly rare with an unusually rich and diverse habitat. The open land is natural flood plain, the first line in defence to protect our houses when the river overtops its banks, as happened most recently in 2013/14 when the flood plain worked extremely effectively.
- The proposal will endanger scores of children in small craft, out in a busy navigation channel along the Surrey bank to Molesey Lock, used by Hampton Sailing Club for racing and the practice reach for Molesey Boat Club, as well as all navigation in passing. The risks have been highlighted by the club's safety officer and regular river users.
The restricted width of the channel at the development site and Duck's Eyot nature reserve. This narrow width of river carries
all upstream and downstream navigation traffic
Local opinion and planning guidance informs us that building on public open space here is not accepted in principle. There are many feasible alternative sites, which have been rejected without due consideration relating to serious issues of flooding, nature conservation navigation and widder public use.
For the reasons above, the chosen location for this huge development is the worst one for local people who use and cherish Hurst Park and Meadows, and for the activities proposed.
Our film "The Nature of Hurst Meadows" shows some of the remarkable nature recently discovered in the meadows.
The Friends group, working with six other local associations on both sides of the river, will be submitting evidence-based objections to this proposal (Rivermead Residents, Hurst Park Residents, Hampton and Molesey Riverside Trust, Hampton Court Crescent, Hampton Society, Garrick's Temple to Shakespeare Trust).
All Friends of Hurst Park should continue to make their objections known to Elmbridge Council, perhaps based on issues identified here or on concerns of their own, and on the profound and irreversible impacts from this development.
The intangible benefits for every person - frequently overlooked - from a place that is universally accessible, tranquil, educational, spiritual and inspiring must be taken into account. The riverside here provides a unique opportunity for families, athletes, ramblers, the elderly, the disabled, and ordinary people, to experience the natural world and enjoy its astonishing - vanishing - variety.
The development site is located here by the Thames Path. This Lime tree is to be felled.
You can see more about the many designated nature conservation sites nearby - some of them of global and national importance, all are linked by the River Thames through Hurst Park. Please tap here.
There is more about revised planning policies relating to flood risk and building in flood plains here.
Tap here to see the full planning application
or go to Elmbridge Planning and Search for Application Number: 2016/2760
Tap here to respond to the application quoting no. 2016/2760
See the building's front and rear elevations here. The flanks of this development are likely to be highly visible on approach to the building along the Thames Path. An urban structure of this size within the historic Arcadian vistas will be seen from the river and opposite bank, but there is no photomontage nor any context with the application to visualize the setting of the development.
You can contact the Friends here: friendsofhurstpark@gmail.com