In their reasons for refusal, the Kingston Planning Committee minutes state:

“The proposal, by reason of its layout, orientation, scale, appearance and shape, would constitute an incongruous and discordant form of development, that would be out-of-character with the prevailing built form in the surrounding area, failing to respect local distinctiveness, and failing to comply with the
provisions of Policy D3 of the London Plan. The development would not constitute good design and accordingly fail to comply with Policies DM10 and CS8 of the Kingston Core Strategy, the Kingston Residential Design SPD, Chapter 12 of the NPPF and Policy D3 and D9 of the London Plan”

While development should optimise site capacity, it should do so within the context of the surrounding area and be of appropriate form and land use for the site. Density should be proportionate to infrastructure and incremental. These proposals fail on all these counts and conflict with the London Plan Policy D3 (Optimising site capacity through the design-led approach) and D2 (Infrastructure requirements for sustainable densities).

This is urban scale development, completely out-of-character with the suburban grain. It has visually jarring juxtapositions with the neighbouring area and ignores established massing practice by placing the tallest tower next to low rise homes.

Berkeley claim “the site itself is distinct: isolated from the immediate grain of housing, enclosed by green and infrastructural edges, and therefore capable of accommodating buildings of a larger scale”. However, the gas holder site, along with Kingshill Avenue are part of the same land parcel that previously belonged to Malden Green Farm. The site is also next to Marina avenue.

The gas holders are in the historic Parish of Malden. To the south of the site is the Station Estate, and to the west Motspur Park. Both were built in the 1930s, built of the same deisgn and described in detail in Kingston Council’s character study of Old Malden. The clue is in the name. To the north and east lies West Barnes, some of which was built in the 1920s.

The Old Malden Character Study states ” Views to the north of the gas holders have a significant impact on the character of the area”. This implies the site IS part of the area. If their visual transparency and smaller footprint impact the character of the area, then solid buildings with greater volume and a larger footprint will impact character even more.

The National Planning Policy Framework paragraph 129 states “Planning policies and decisions should support development that makes efficient use of land, taking into account the desirability of maintaining an area’s prevailing character and setting (including residential gardens), or of promoting regeneration and change.”

Kingston’s Site Assessment 2019 calculated the site suitable for 78 to 166 homes based on Suburban character.