Fourteen Storey 'Affordable Homes' Tower For Bollo Lane Gets Go-Ahead

Developer Pocket granted permission to build flats on former G & R piano removals site

Artist's impression of development

Pocket Homes, a company which specialises in affordable homes, has been granted planning permission by Ealing Council to develop a site at 100, Bollo Lane into a fourteen-storey block of apartments.

Local residents had objected to the scheme and over 100 of them had signed a petition which was handed in at the planning meeting.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Gary Malcolm spoke at the planning committee and said: “There is already an overdevelopment in the area and this 14 storey monster of a block will dwarf the many hundreds of homes which are only 2-storeys high. The Council said the site should be used for light industry and so has not listened to itself! I am speaking to legal representatives about seeing whether a Judicial Review should be launched.” Lib Dem councillor Jon Ball voted against granting permission.

Some locals have also expressed concern about the loss of light industrial land for small businesses and for small and emerging enterprises as well as concerns over the height of the development and the potential pressure on parking.

The site, next to Chiswick Business Park, currently contains a warehouse used by G&R Removals, who specialise in piano removals and storage and are relocating. The site is bordered by railway lines from the tube and overground.

Pocket sought full planning permission to develop the site with 112 units, on a 3/8/14 storey development. The plan is for 91 one-bed, 11 two-bed and 10 three-bed flats.The plan contains a roof level amenity space, and 2,760 square metres of offices on the ground floor. There are nineteen parking spaces applied for.

Pocket say that three-quarters of the homes will be 'affordable intermediate' homes. They will be sold at a discount on the local going rate and can only be sold with a similar discount to future purchasers. They currently have two similar developments in Ealing and one near Waterloo where a one-bedroom flat was priced at £267,000.

The company say they are able to offer homes at cheaper rates partly because they build smaller flats with a clever use of space. They say local people will be given a priority. Resale is restricted to buyers who fall within the income criteria.

The average purchaser of a Pocket unit is on a yearly salary of £40,000-£50,000 according to the company.

The Mayor's threshold for the affordable homes criteria is a £90,000 salary.

March 16, 2017