Housing secretary rejects planning inspector鈥檚 recommendation to approve 32-storey scheme
Housing secretary James Brokenshire has refused another London scheme planning 鈥� his second high-profile rejection in recent weeks.
Brokenshire told retailer Sainsbury鈥檚 last month that it would have to ditch its plans to build nearly 500 homes on the site of a supermarket in Whitechapel.
Now he has pulled the plug on plans by architect Studio Egret West for a 327-home scheme at Chiswick in west London.
His decision means he has flown in the face of a planning inspector who recommended the Chiswick Tower scheme be approved after developer Starbones, a subsidiary of Galliard Homes, appealed a decision by Hounslow council to turn it down two years ago.
The Studio Egret West scheme proposed a mixed-use scheme of 25 and 32 storeys.
But Brokenshire said the proposal鈥檚 impact on the Kew Gardens World Heritage Site, and the Strand-on-the-Green, Kew Green and Gunnersbury Park conservation areas needed to be given 鈥済reat weight鈥�.
Historic England regional director Emily Gee welcomed the decision and added: 鈥淭his building would have had a serious impact on areas in west London whose historic character has remained largely untouched for centuries.鈥�
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