A car park in Staines Road will be demolished to make way for the warehouses
Proposals for the construction of four commercial warehouses and a café in West London have been given the green light by the local council.
Hounslow Council’s Planning Committee voted in favour of the plans on Thursday (March 5). The four units will provide 17,498 square metres of “flexible workspace” at the Central Park Estate, on Staines Road in Hounslow.
Alongside this, a new “al fresco-style” café will be built, in addition to a new cycle hub where people can repair their bikes, store them, and use changing rooms. For local residents, an accessible community amenity space with seating and landscaping will be built in the north west corner of the site.
The largest unit is 5,952 sqm, with the smallest being 3,054 sqm. The seven-storey buildings will each have their own dedicated service yards, parking, and servicing areas.
It is expected to create 131 jobs during the construction phase, and 254 permanent jobs once the warehouses are officially up and running. Additionally, the developer will pay £500,000 toward ‘affordable’ workspaces.
The existing 238-space car park on the site is set to be demolished, with a smaller car park built to replace it. The new car park will only have 104 parking spaces, with almost a third reserved for electric vehicle charging.
People working on site will be encouraged to walk, cycle or take the bus rather than drive to work as a result. To accommodate this, the developer intends to build a new 3-metre wide shared path for walkers and cyclists.
Additionally, there will be 131 cycle parking spaces provided, including special spaces for large cargo bikes and a dedicated charging station for e-bikes. As part of a legal agreement with the council, the developer will pay £690,000 to fund extra bus services in the area for three years.
While the site is technically designated as Metropolitan Green Belt land, it qualifies as ‘grey belt’ – effectively green belt that’s of lower quality – as it has previously been developed. It was considered green belt land because the site consists of “undeveloped grassland area with boundary trees” and sits immediately nearby a much wider network of protected green belt land.
Specifically, it is located just north of Hounslow Heath and east of the River Crane corridor, both of which are major, designated Metropolitan Green Belt areas. The council concluded that the site fails to serve the purposes of a green belt, and thus can be developed on.
All councillors present voted in favour of the proposals. It will now go before the Mayor of London for stage two approval.
Have a story you want to share? Email philip.lynch@reachplc.com
Don’t miss out on the biggest West London news. Sign up to our MyWestLondon newsletter HERE for all the latest daily news and more.
