Dear Neighbour

More from Redrow’s Brief to Architects (above) competing to design a development of 1500 to 2000 dwellings at Kempton Park.

The plans above show some of Redrow’s conceptual thoughts about how the site will be divided up. Note the high density blocks of flats pencilled in for the area bordering the racecourse. Shops and  community buildings will be in the south near the present entrance to the western part of the Kempton Park estate. Substantially more money will buy you “larger properties set within generous plots” to the north of the site.

But take a look at that northern area, and compare it with the initial plan of the site (below) included in the one of the many presentations that The Jockey Club made to Spelthorne Council in 2013.

The yellow area on the 2013 plan labelled the “Area of Research” stops just south of Half Moon Covert and the small lake immediately to its north. The hatched area in the middle of that green area is labelled “Site of Nature Conservation Importance”.

The Brief to Architects from 2014/2015, however, shows dwellings more or less enclosing that “Site of Nature Conservation Importance” on three sides. Short of bulldozing that Covert, we can’t think of anything more likely to drive into exile whatever wildlife lives there.

Meanwhile, in another part of the Borough, three councillors have been helping the police with their enquiries into the potential sale of the Bridge Street car park in Staines. Click here and here .

Kind regards
Keep Kempton Green