Former Watch Tower House & Kingdom Hall Sites, The Ridgeway

The Ridgeway London NW7 1RS. Application 22/0649/FUL

The scheme comprises the demolition of existing buildings and structures, and the redevelopment of the site including the construction of ten new buildings ranging from two to five storeys in height, plus some underground car parking in retained structures, and the refurbishment and extension of Bittacy Cottage. The idea is to build a retirement village comprising 175 units of specialist senior persons’ housing (Class C2) with ancillary communal facilities. Additionally there will be nine affordable housing units (Class C3) and a community facility building (Flexible Class F1/F2/E) alongside public open space with landscaping and the provision of car and cycle parking.

This application is the most important submission we have seen in NW7 for a while. We covered the preliminary design stages in our newsletter Autumn 2021. It is based on the ‘contentious’ draft Local Plan (Ref.19) that is now more or less approved subject to independent Inspector’s review. This local plan indicates that the residential capacity could be about 224 units with further space given over to community floorspace, which could be the equivalent of 5 further units, so this scheme with 175 units plus 9 affordable units is within that target. Since our coverage in the Autumn 2021 newsletter some changes have been made to the proposals and more detail is now available.

Originally we felt the scheme could be a lot worse, and the idea of an upmarket retirement village was likely to generate less traffic and daily upheaval compared with a residential scheme such as Ridgeway Views. On further examination we are, however, concerned about the height of some of the blocks and we need to ensure the landscaping proposals are sound. The number of affordable units is too low and there is insufficient parking for the staff and likely visitors and this may well cause overspill parking on The Ridgeway. The Mayor has examined the scheme and it does not meet the current London plan. He also considers the provision of affordable accommodation quite inadequate.

The images included here are of of the scheme are as presented in the Application documents.

MHPS feel the bulk and mass of the buildings will cause harm to the Green Belt and the Conservation Area. Whilst being labelled a retirement village it is not clear whether the flats in future might revert to ordinary residenses. The Society has objected to the scheme and our letter is posted on this website under the planning reports section. As at 28th June 2022 the application is undecided.

Update December 2023

The Mayor’s office confirmed that it had no objection to the scheme, the Section 106 Agreement was approved and hence the application is now formally approved and planning permission granted.