Controversial tower opposed by Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton and Felicity Kendal rejected
Plans for a 29-storey mixed-use tower at the southern end of Battersea Bridge have been unanimously rejected by Wandsworth Council.
The 110-home Glassmill scheme was voted down at meeting of the authority’s planning committee on Thursday night.
The decision follows months of local opposition to the project, with more than 2,000 objections from members of the public and over 6,000 signatures on petitions.
Mick Jagger, guitarist Eric Clapton and actress Felicity Kendal have all come out against the building, as well as Historic England, the Chelsea Society, the Battersea Society and the neighbouring borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
The regeneration of a 1980s office block, which was first submitted early last year, has been criticised as inappropriate for the area due to its height and style.
Wandsworth’s planning committee has described the site as “an unacceptable and incongruous transformative change”.
Councillor Caroline de La Soujeole said that approving planning for the building would “make a total mockery” of the council’s policies, adding the scheme was “quite simply the wrong building for the wrong site”, according to Building.
Councillor Ravi Govindia said: “The applicant, having paid an enormous sum of money for the site, is then recovering that investment by jacking up the building and I think it’s right that the applicant should get the message that it is not for us and the local community to bear the negative side of their bad economic decisions.”
Council leader Simon Hogg added: “The committee is responsible for the scrutiny of applications and considers the merits of an application on paper as well as the voices of residents.
“The committee were unanimous about the harms of a 29-storey tower in this location, in breach of Wandsworth’s Local Plan which sets out acceptable heights for the area.”