Resident group rallies against student flat build (From Kingston Guardian)
Contact us: Got a photo? Text SLPICS to 80360, click to upload your story or call
020 8744 4244
Residents establish 'Homes against Hostels' group to deliver alternate plans for Kingston plaza student accomodation site
7:00am Friday 13th July 2012 in News By Christine Fleming
Kingston University's Penrhyn Road campus
Plans to erect at least two new student accommodation blocks in Kingston have caused controversy.
A five-storey student accommodation for 130 residents, to go alongside a 120 flat build that already has planning permission, is currently in the pipeline for a site facing London Road, Station Road and Coombe Road, in Norbiton.
A campaign group called Homes Not Hostels is trying to block the student development.
Ian Hunt, chairman of the Chesham Road Residents’ Association, said those living opposite the Kingston Plaza site feared it would be a badly managed project with no connection to the university itself.
He said: “We are working on our own development plan in accordance with the Community Right to Build initiative.
“This area is overwhelmingly family-orientated.
"Everyone here has kids, they play in each other’s gardens they go to school together, we support each other and people stay here a long time.
“People live here 10 years or more. It’s very established. This is how a community grows and this community has been growing for 100 years.
“To introduce a transient population with no ties or attachments to the area will be devastating.”
Phase one of Kingston Plaza would demolish two buildings, including Norbiton Fine Cheese and flats above, on Station Road.
It is believed nine family homes with gardens, including the station road cottages built around 1860, will also be demolished.
Wahid Samady, director of CNM Estates, said that as a locally based company he was very familiar with the area.
He said: “This project has been seven years in the making and is not something we dreamt up over night.
“We know the group of residents have set up a campaign group and are not happy about the prospect of student housing.
"In my personal opinion, that is very short-sighted as the university is the lifeblood of the town in terms of the economy and so on, however, out of the 22,000 students the university’s own provision of student housing only totals 2,000.”
Meanwhile a developers application to demolish privately owned buildings in Penrhyn Road, near Kingston University’s campus, would demolish two empty office buildings and create 78 student study bedrooms.
Will you be affected by either the Coombe Road or Penrhyn Road developments? Tell us at newsdesk@surreycomet.co.uk or call 020 8744 4244.
Comments(9)
Jon Fray
says...
12:22pm Fri 13 Jul 12
kingstonpaul
says...
2:06pm Fri 13 Jul 12
My main reservation around this development would be the extent to which the criminal fraternity would see the hostel as a market opportunity. Norbiton has suffered badly over the years because of the high levels of drug dependency on local estates, coupled with the proximity of the Kaleidocope rehab centre, and all the associated human flotsam and jetsam attracted to it. There has been a lot of petty crime in the area, thefts from local shops, house burglaries, and the constant menace of a criminalised, benefits-dependent, minority.
I'd like to think that a student community might enrich the area, as well as generating some additional economic benefit. I'm sure that local publicans will be pleased!
N crew
says...
2:08pm Fri 13 Jul 12
UKIP Surbiton
says...
2:35pm Fri 13 Jul 12
Beverly RA
says...
12:32pm Sat 14 Jul 12
Officers of the Council have to much delegated to them, it time Councilors took back some of the powers and did the job they say they are elected to do, and in case they have forgotten that is to represent the residents before parts of Kingston turns into a slum and house prices tumble.
DB
says...
4:36pm Mon 16 Jul 12
UKIP Surbiton wrote:I agree. I expect it has something to do with the fact that CNM keeps running out of money, going into administration and starting up again.
Hats off to Homes against Hostels ! I find it odd that CNM estates have so many developments in RBK , most of which tend to stay ''brownfield'' for lengthy periods . Does anyone know why Kingston/Surbiton is becoming CNM estates town ?
I am not quite sure where Mr Samaday dreams up his ideas, but Surbiton Plaza in St Mary's Road has been built for several years now and it appears that some of the flats and the two shops have never been occupied in that time. There are several other developments in the same position.
DB
says...
4:49pm Mon 16 Jul 12
N crew wrote:I don't live in this part of the borough, so can't be accused of being 'nimby', but I think that this area of Kingston has had more than it's fair share of over-development. It started with the Cambridge Estate on one side, but when you drive up London Road from Coombe Road to the Kingston Hill roundabout it is totally unrecognisable to how it was even 5 years ago. A huge number of flats have been built without any corresponding development in the facilities in the area (apart from self-storage!).
The proposals are totally horrible and will destroy and cut off our lovely neighbourhood from our safe walk to school route and doctors surgery. This is a residential area with families, go and build multiple storey bedsits somewhere else and don't destroy norbiton village with greed. There are vacant derelict sites in other parts of Kingston that won't affect peoples quality of life and won't involve knocking down period properties. Norbiton has had too many flats built, apex and social housing next to asda, flats on yellow storage company. If the flats are really for students go and build near the university!
DB
says...
5:08pm Mon 16 Jul 12
kingstonpaul wrote:The problem is that Kingston was originally a family-orientated area, but the council seem intent on turning it into anything but.
I don't believe that a student hostel would blight the area. And it's clutching at straws (NIMBYIST even...?) to say that this development is a bad thing because there is a large family contingent. Come on, we're in London for god's sake, where many communities co-exist irrespective of their family status, ethnicity, creed, or whatever. Actually I'd be more worried if it were a Travelodge being built, because these places really do attract some weird folks. My main reservation around this development would be the extent to which the criminal fraternity would see the hostel as a market opportunity. Norbiton has suffered badly over the years because of the high levels of drug dependency on local estates, coupled with the proximity of the Kaleidocope rehab centre, and all the associated human flotsam and jetsam attracted to it. There has been a lot of petty crime in the area, thefts from local shops, house burglaries, and the constant menace of a criminalised, benefits-dependent, minority. I'd like to think that a student community might enrich the area, as well as generating some additional economic benefit. I'm sure that local publicans will be pleased!
I don't think you have to worry about a Travelodge being built, because the council have already approved TWO within about 150 metres of each other in the past few years.
I'd also like to think that an increased student community would enrich the area, but the evidence from around the current halls of residence sites and the town centre in the evenings suggest this would not be the case.
Kingston University showed much promise 20 years ago after it was changed from a Polytechnic. Unfortunately, they seem to have tried to expand at all costs, so are actually now attracting worse students than they were then, all to become bigger and attract more funding.
The council seem to be following a similar approach where every planning application to over-develop a site is approved. This has the dual advantage of helping the council meet it's housing targets and generate more council tax revenue (ten band C flats pay almost £15k to RBK compared to only £3.3k for one band H house with a reasonable garden).
I fully expect this to continue and Kingston will become a much busier and more diverse area. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I can understand why people are complaining. 20 years ago, Kingston was seen as one of the best places to live, and even won several awards. That would be unbelievable to people visiting many parts of the borough today.
Tony from Surbiton says...
9:43am Fri 13 Jul 12
Kingston Council and Kingston University have a lot to answer for.