The Friends of Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Playing Field will be holding their AGM this Sunday 19th April in the Pavilion at 3pm. All are welcome to attend. Refreshments will be served at 2.45pm

There will be some official business, but a large part of the meeting will be dedicated to the challenges ahead: the gas holder development and proposals for an artificial grass pitch with floodlights.

There will then be time for attendees to ask questions or make comments. However, this will be limited to park matters: biodiversity, Metropolitan Open Land, play space, etc.

All local councillor candidates for the West Barnes ward have been invited. There will be an opportunity for them to state where they stand on the two key issues that face the park.

The meeting will include a report on the previous year and some of the things planned for the coming year. Recommendations from the audience on what else the Friends could be doing are welcome.

On 7 April the Mayor of London notified Kingston and Merton Councils that he would be calling in both parts of this cross-boundary application, and that the GLA would become the local planning authority for the whole scheme.

His reasons are twofold:

• The proposal would have a significant impact on the implementation of the London Plan, through its potential contribution to housing and affordable housing.
• Sound planning reasons: housing, public realm, transport, financial contributions, etc

The full Stage 2 Referral Report can be found here.

There has been much confusion about the call-in process and how to object to the GLA, not helped by both applications being listed on their planning portal with various inconsistencies. The GLA has confirmed the following to us:

• Comments can be submitted up until the hearing.
• All original comments submitted to Kingston and Merton should be made available to the GLA.
• Additional comments can be submitted to the GLA
• Identical planning applications have been submitted. All comments relating to this application are expected to be collated.

Although the Kingston application is currently closed for comments,  you can use the Merton listing. If you are interested in submitting additional comments, we would recommend reading our objecting page as new information is now available on each Council’s website.

More information generally on the call-in process is available on the GLA website or Planning Aid for London.

We must now wait for a public hearing at City Hall. Based on previous hearings, and an unusually large amount in the pipeline, it is reasonable to assume that ours might take place in the Summer or even Autumn.

We will be meeting with the various stakeholder groups over the next few weeks to discuss lobbying options and will keep you posted.

The application has now been referred back to the Mayor for him to decide whether to call it in.

Whilst objections and comments can normally be sent after a call-in decision is made, we have noticed several discrepancies between the two parts of the application on the GLA website.

In particular, the Merton application (25/P2859) has a closing date for comments of 06.04.2026.

However, the Kingston application (25/02562/FUL) has no date.

We have contacted the GLA for clarification on this, and several other issues regarding the cross-boundary nature of the application, previous objections carrying over and submitting new objections.

Last night the Planning Committee came to the same conclusion as residents and voted to refuse the application by 10 to 1. Despite the need for homes, the scale, height and massing of the development is not appropriate for this location and would cause substantial harm to Metropolitan Open Land. The proposed development is also out of character with the wider area.

Huge thanks to Anne Cabraal, Mike Freter, Councillor Tom Drummond and Councillor Richard Thorpe for their speeches.

The Committee thanked everyone who had contacted them directly and said that the information provided was really helpful. If you would like to watch the webcast you can do so here.

We’d especially like to thank Planning Aid for London and the Kingston Society for their advice and wisdom over the last year.

Also, all the groups who have collaborated on this; The Friends of Sir Joseph Hood, Station Estate Residents’ Association Kingston (SERAK), Marina Avenue Neighbourhood Group, Old Malden Residents Group Facebook page, Raynes Park and West Barnes Residents Association, New Malden Residents Association, Worcester Park Flood Forum.

Paul Kohler MP for holding a meeting with constituents and writing to Kingston Council Executives and Planning Committee Members on their behalf.

Individuals who gave up huge amounts of time include Sarah Henderson, Marisa Waymouth, Councillor John Oliver, Kirstie Wilkins, Sandra Holton, Barry Magee, Terry Paton, Nicola Albury, Angela Reed, Riona Woodman, Stacey Dix, Sue Bruley, Bob Smith, Ann Norman, Sarah McAlister, Sophie Cabral, Jonna Leigh, Rebecca Tate, Mehul Verma, Jerry Cuthbert, Mary-Jane Jeanes, Clare Townsend and Toby Ewin, and various architects and ecologists.

Thank you also to those who contributed funds, or their kitchens and living rooms for endless meetings, and all the local residents who gave up their time to leaflet and spread the word!

Two websites, one Facebook group and many hours of research, meetings and leafleting. What happens next remains to be seen but last night was a wonderful result we can all be proud of.