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The Jolly Boatman and Station sitesAugust 2006 Statement from the MRA about the proposed Jolly Boatman redevelopment Molesey Residents Association wish to state our views on the indicative development proposals for the Jolly Boatman/Hampton Court Station site. Whilst the developer says he is consulting on options, the consultation is not based on any planning application or specific figures. There does not appear to be any real options presented other than one of massive residential development. Only three vague figures are given, that the buildings will more or less not exceed 50 feet in height and there could be 90 to 130 flats and/or one hotel instead of some of the flats. At the same time the emotional story is being pushed that this is an expensive site to develop and therefore massive residential development is needed to fund it. However, significantly, no financial figures of cost are given although it is clear to any layman that the sales value of the proposed buildings is between 55 and £60 million. In 1999 Elmbridge Borough Council revised the 1986 Planning Brief for the overall site. Against our opposition, the council inserted the possibility of 25% residential development on the Station site into the Brief on the basis that, to quote......'the levels of development provided for would be financially viable'. The Brief allows no residential development on the Jolly Boatman site but specifies 'Leisure/Tourist' uses, meaning pub, hotel, restaurant, or heritage facilities. The developer's response on the present plans is to ignore the Brief completely and go for some 85% residential coverage including the Jolly Boatman site. The Council writes very few Planning Briefs, only about 5 in the last 30 years, so one must expect that this Planning Brief has significant status, particularly as it was designed by able consultants, given full public consultation and passed at all levels of the Council. The Brief calls for an environmentally sensitive development with heritage, tourist and transport interchange facilities as prime requirements. The 25% residential development on the Station site was added in, because the owners and their prospective developers said it was necessay to make the site viable financially against the other less remunerative requirements of the Brief. So what has changed? No downsides but a plus for any developer, since in the meantime the increase in sales value of any residential development is more than the relative cost of building. The Molesey Residents Association emphatically rejects the present proposals which simply seek to rape the overall site for whatever financial value can be got out of it. The indicative proposals have not the slightest regard for the principles of the Planning Brief or the local environment, which in any case, is supposed to have Conservation Area protection. July 2006 The Molesey Residents' Association are currently considering the details for the proposed redevelopment of the Jolly Boatman Site. More information will be posted when it becomes available. June 2005 - Press Release A piece about the Jolly Boatman and Station sites giving their history over the last 20 years or so. Download the document here
November 2004 This site has been a thorn in our sides for many long years. There have been lengthy discussions with interested parties about the combined site (which is subject to a planning brief and is part of the Conservation Area). Developers have now put forward suggestions - not a planning application - that the site should be developed with two four-storey blocks of housing, one either side of the railway platforms and tracks, and a restaurant facing the river with three floors of housing above. This Association considers this a completely inappropriate proposal for this nationally important site, with no consideration to the wider needs of the area and we have written to the Council to say so with some thoughts of our own. June 2004 - Some ideas for a possible redevelopment of the Jolly Boatman and Station sites 1 History 1 HistoryThe Jolly Boatman and Station sites, have been a thorn in the MRAs side for many years. The Jolly Boatman was an entertainment site for many years until it fell into disuse and became derelict. In the 1980's several planning applications for this site, together with the Station Site, were received by the Council. Since the site looks across the river to Hampton Court Palace, one of the premier tourist attractions in the country, it was decided that any development of this site needed to be appropriate to its very sensitive position. Since the applications were for multi-storey office blocks, they were refused. Elmbridge Council (at the prompting of Molesey Residents Association) decided to produce a 'planning brief' to indicate the sort of development which would be likely to receive favourable consideration from the planning committee. This brief suggested sympathetically designed tourist facilities such as a smallish restaurant or hotel. More planning applications were received, some of which were considered appropriate and received planning consent and less appropriate others which were refused consent. None of the suitable ones ever came to anything - almost certainly because the price demanded for the land by the owners (Whitbread and Railtrack) was such as to make anything reasonable not a financially viable proposition. In the 1980's office building was where the money was, but later residential accommodation became more attractive. In view of this, the Council revised their planning brief (in consultation with MRA) to allow a small amount of residential accommodation to be included on the site as part of the development of the facilities suggested in the original brief. Since this still provided no suitable and viable applications, the Council called in consultants to produce a new brief in the late 1990's. The new brief reinforced most of the previous briefs' concepts and in order to make a development more financially viable proposed (against MRA's wishes) that up to 25% of the total site - Jolly Boatman and Station - could be residential. The residential development was not to be facing on to the Thames, but facing East onto Cigarette Island or South onto the River Mole. It also stated that the Station building should be retained (it is a William Tite building) but the station itself could possibly be moved down the line to the South of the site. Since then, to our knowledge, no planning applications have been received, although an application is always alleged to be imminent. It is very likely that Surrey County Council would insist on some road improvements around the site entrance to make the situation safer than it is now, and a developer would possibly be expected to foot the bill. While all this was going on, the old Jolly Boatman building fell into a very derelict state encouraging vandalism. To combat this, Whitbread applied to the Council for planning permission to erect a 2 metre high hoarding around their site. This application was permitted for a limited length of time (2 years?). At the end of this time Whitbread applied for an extension, which was granted as a planning application was said to be imminent. After more than one extension, the MRA councillors decided that enough was enough and that it was time for Whitbread to demolish the old building and remove the hoarding - which had been there for several years and was an eyesore with alleged drug related activities going on inside. The Council went along with the MRA objections and the extension was refused and Whitbread was given 9 months or so in which to carry out the work. Whitbread then, at the last minute just before their time was up, lodged an appeal against the Council decision. There was then a delay of a few more months before the appeal was heard and the appeal inspector found for the Council, but gave Whitbread another 6 months or so in which to comply. Whitbread also withdrew from a court hearing against the instruction to demolish the building. The hoarding was eventually removed and the building demolished and we learnt at the same time that Whitbread had sold the site to a developer. The site was left in a terrible mess after demolition and then the travellers moved in for several weeks and, to be fair to them, they did clear a lot of the undergrowth and mess that had been left behind. The travellers were eventually evicted and the new owner then asked for permission to put a short fence across the gaps in the surrounding short wall to prevent more travellers getting in and this was agreed. Of course, a planning application was said to be imminent. To the best of my knowledge, none has appeared. During this period Railtrack was put into administration, which no doubt inhibited any possible application for the whole site. The other thing that has happened two or three years ago is that the complete Jolly Boatman/Station site has been included in the East Molesey Conservation Area. As you can see from the above, the whole saga has been going on for many years, but we are anxious to ensure that when the site is eventually developed, the development is appropriate to its special position as the 'entry point' for so many foreign visitors who come by train to see Hampton Court Palace. It is a terrible eyesore at the moment, but that is not a reason for allowing an unsuitable development to take place - once a development is there, it will stay forever. 2 Some ideasby Molesey Residents Association Councillors Mick Burgess and Ian Donaldson. See the proposed plan here
When considering the idea of making Bridge Road into a partly pedestrian way it became clear that this would be far more viable if it was considered as part of a comprehensive re-development of the whole area. Hampton Court Palace is one of the major tourist attractions in the whole of the UK. Some say that it is the second most visited site. This is very good for English tourism and the Royal Palaces but Molesey and the shops in Bridge Road in particular hardly benefit from this major attraction that is right on their doorstep. What makes matters even worse is that the Jolly Boatman site has been allowed to deteriorate into a disgraceful eyesore that only encourages tourists to get back into their trains and coaches as quickly as possible after visiting the Palace. Not only does Molesey not benefit from tourists but it suffers from increased car and coach traffic particularly during the Flower Festival and local residents have now even been asked to pay to visit the Palace gardens and for some this is the thin edge of the wedge and effectively severs the long standing connection with the Palace for many local residents that can not afford the fee. So how can this situation be turned round so that Molesey benefits from all these tourists? We put forward a possible plan:- In order to attract tourists to the delights of the interesting shops, pubs and restaurants in Bridge Road it must be made very easy and safe for them to cross Hampton Court Way. Bridge Road itself would also benefit greatly from being partly made into a safe walking street with Continental style café seating that looks inviting and visually attractive when viewed from the station side. We think that there should be pedestrian bridges over the main road and possibly an underpass as a continuation of the tow path below Hampton Court Bridge with a new roundabout to ease the traffic flow at peek times. This roundabout might have an illuminated statue of Henry VIII. or a modern piece of sculpture. It is unlikely that Surrey County Council would provide the resources to pay for such improvements so we think that a substantial Conference Hotel development should be considered and the Developer should be required by Elmbridge BC to fund the improvements as Planning gain in return for granting Planning permission. We believe that a well designed Hotel and Conference centre in this location with views over the Thames towards the Palace would be greatly sought after and a commercial success that would create a secondary spin off success for both the Palace and Molesey. We suggest that the design should be mainly low rise on a series of off set floors rather like the decks of a liner with car parking on the lowest deck. It might also be possible to consider the idea of a slim and elegant communications tower with a revolving restaurant and bar on top where visitors could enjoy the fantastic views over Hampton Court, Home Park, Bushy Park, the Thames, the Mole and Ember and with Sandown Park and the Reservoirs in the background. It would also be possible to see right over to the skyline of London including the GPO tower, the wheel etc. This view can already be seen from the roof of the Palace. We have held discussions with the Real Tennis Club at Hampton Court Palace and they have an urgent need to find a place to build additional Real Tennis courts for their growing membership that currently stands at 600. We would like to incorporate two Real Tennis courts into the Hotel complex and we believe that this could become a major attraction for visitors as it is a fascinating and visually interesting game and if the courts were designed with glass walls in appropriate locations it could even become a TV attraction. We would also like to create an easy access way to the little used Cigarette Island, behind the station, and to create a pedestrian bridge over the mouth of the Mole so that residents and visitors could enjoy walks along the towpath along the South side of the river into Thames Ditton. We believe that this project is both viable and attainable and would be a considerable benefit to the area in creating smoother traffic and pedestrian movements and a much more attractive and commercially successful milieu for Bridge Road. 3 Current SituationAt long last national government, in the guise of the Commission for
Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), has taken a positive lead in
getting together the major players to commence putting together a meaningful
plan for the whole area. Pedestrian zones, walkways and a sensible traffic management plan were all issues raised and noted by CABE. Watch this space! |
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