High-rise developments will cost more all round (From Surrey Comet)

High-rise developments will cost more all round

5:06pm Tuesday 11th November 2008

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I am writing regarding the recent news that the appeal for the original high-rise plan for the Skerne Road power station site has been upheld.

This is a disappointing decision because the high-rise plan is, in my view, completely out of keeping with the Thames riverside setting in Kingston.

Unfortunately, the landscape of the Kingston riverside may now be changed irreparably without any control over the final decision from Kingston Council or residents.

Against this background, it is worth reflecting on how it is that we have arrived in a situation where the necessary development of this important site has been delayed for so long and has ended with a risk of a high-rise development proceeding against the wishes of the council and many in the local community.

When the original plan was being discussed at the Kingston town neighbourhood committee, I asked the developers why they had come forward with a high-rise plan expecting the answer that it was due to the greater profit potential coming from a higher density development. To my surprise they countered that the high-rise nature of the plan was not important to them and actually leads to higher construction costs compared with low-rise plans of similar density.

The implication, which was not refuted by answers to my later specific questions addressed to the final planning committee meeting, was that the developers came forward with a high-rise plan because they had been encouraged to do so by a desire within the Lib Dem-run administration for an iconic high-rise building and that such a development was likely to meet with approval.

The unsuitability of a highrise development for this site and the likely objections, should have been made clear from the start of the planning process.

If it had, the developers would have been quite happy to come forward with a lowrise plan, which would have more easily met with local approval.

This would not have suffered the expense and lengthy delays which have occurred. The Liberal Democrats running the council who have been quick to express new found moral outrage at the appeal decision should perhaps reflect more on these failings which have led to the weak position in which the council now finds itself.

COUNCILLOR DAVID GLASSPOOL
Canbury ward

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