Save the Godwin Trees
Campaign to save the trees at the corner of Godstone and Wi******er Roads
13/06/2023
Plea to save trees from the axe – Protected trees could be felled to make way for luxury homes Furious residents have condemned plans to topple a group of protected trees to make way for a luxury housing scheme.
On Friday 18th Dec Sheen Lane Development heard that their planning application for 4 houses was almost certain to be refused. On Monday 21st they arrived to build 8ft hoardings around the perimeter of the site which they said was to secure the area. They did not state what they are protecting the area from as it has been unmolested for 40 years.
We, the neighbours, pointed out that they did not own the site, and that our objections to the planning application was partly on 'loss of visual amenity', which they were now proposing to remove from us. In addition, there are 11 trees with TPOs on the site, and we fear that they might be damaged while hidden by the hoarding.
We negotiated with them to only fence one side of the site. They say they will discuss further with us after the New Year. We fear that if this ugly hoarding is erected, it will remain there until they can get some sort of planning permission through.
We have just heard today that the current planning application was refused on 5 grounds.
We believe this hoarding is unnecessary. The site has been a car park for 40 years without damage or incident. The visual amenity and value of this area for biodiversity is extremely important, and we ask for your support in any on-going negotiations with the developers.
22/10/2020
A planning application has now been submitted for the development of 4 townhouses on the car park at the junction of Wi******er Road and Godstone Road, we would like to thank those who have already made their objections (67 so far! ) - but we will need more to do so please, objections need to be made by Friday October 30th at :
https://www2.richmond.gov.uk
Planning application number: 20/2664/FUL
All objections should be made online using the "Make a Comment" button before October 30th and a list of the valid reasons for objection is shown below and can also be seen on the LBRUT Planning Portal
The trees and planting around the car-park were put in place to improve the appearance of the locality as a condition placed upon the business park when it was developed in the 80's.
There are (despite what the developer says in the application) confirmed Tree Preservation Orders (TPO's) on all the trees and the main fight will be to retain these trees on the grounds of visual-amenity together with the retention of the current boundary of the car-park (as formed by the pavement along Godstone Road and Wi******er Road) on the grounds of highway safety for pedestrians. There is abundant wildlife (including bats) which make good use of the current site and objections can also be raised along the lines of nature conservation.
We have commissioned our own Tree Survey and the key findings are as follows;
1. "as a group (the trees) are of landscape value and contribute to the character and appearance of the local landscape. The value of the trees is sufficient to justify their continued protection under the new TPO and the canopy values calculated are significant, implying significant loss to biodiversity, townscape, green infrastructure and likely to yield significant CAVAT values. In light of this and following analysis of the local and regional planning policy we think there is scope to put forward a strong case in opposition of development proposals requiring the loss of all or the majority of these trees."
2. “In support of an objection the canopy volume for all of the onsite trees which may be removed has been
calculated as this demonstrates the potential loss of the urban forest. The total canopy volume which could
be lost equates to 2,940.4m3…
3. “It is clear that the loss of canopy volume would be significant if these trees were removed and arguably,
contrary to local and regional (London) policy."
We have two weeks left in which to make our objections known and if we all do that then it will send the right message to the planning officers.
We are currently exploring the idea of having a Green Hub on the site of the car-park and how that can be brought about and will be in touch with any further developments in that direction when we have them.
For and on behalf of the Save The GodWin Trees Residents Group
https://e-voice.org.uk/godwin/about/
About Us - GodWin ResidentsSAVE THE TREES Local residents representing the area where Godstone Road and Wi******er Road meet (GodWin) in St. Margaret's, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.
17/07/2020
This is an image of the houses proposed for the site by developers, with all trees destroyed.
17/07/2020
Our vision of what the space could be, a green hub for the community
17/07/2020
Please join our campaign to save the trees
We are 11 protected trees on the corner of Godstone and Wi******er roads in St Margarets , Twickenham , we are facing destruction by a developer who wants to build four houses.