Plans to re-open the former Ariadne Nektar as The Volunteer are turning into a long-running saga. The building owners Wentworth Andersen were granted a fresh licence by the RBKC Licensing Sub-Committee on August 1st 2024. The refurbished pub was due to open in the first few months of 2025. But the building remains with a hoarding at the front and with works continuing.

Wentworth Andersen have submitted a planning application to install ducting and cooling plant in the newly constructed basement of the building. This application has prompted numerous objections from neighbours. There has been no planning application to convert the original low height cellar, into what is now proposed as a kitchen for the pub and relocated customer toilets.

Similarly there was no planning application to alter the layout of the property, change the staircases and fit out the first floor as a residential flat rather than the previous dining room and kitchen.

The planning issues are complex, in terms of what may need planning consent and what may be ‘permitted development’ or internal works not requiring permission. Hence the StQW Forum has submitted an objection to this latest application, asking that RBKC planning officers provide the Planning Committee with a full report explaining what has been done to the property, and what works remain.

We are disappointed that Wentworth Andersen has not approached the Forum to explain it proposals and provide assurances to neighbours on the impact of ducting and extract works which are not a ‘like for like’ replacement of what was there before. We had one online session with WA’s project manager last year.

The Forum’s aim has always been to support the re-opening of a well-managed family pub that will be an asset to the street and the neighbourhood. We welcomed the condition imposed by RBKC that the pub should provide a food offer, rather than operating as a ‘wet only’ establishment. We hope that The Volunteer will re-open within a few months, and that the owners intentions coincide with what local residents seek as an outcome. A copy of our latest response to the Council, setting out the detail, can be read and downloaded below:

An open meeting of the StQW Forum/St Helens Residents Association held on Monday 9th December 2024 discussed the planning application for this scheme. Forty five members attended including ward councillor Portia Thaxter. We looked in detail at the plans and CGI images of the proposals.

The meeting agreed to a set of grounds for an objection to the application, in its current form. While the Forum continues to support the introduction of mixed use buildings at Units 1-14, these need to take full account of the set of policies for the street that are included in the 2018 version of our neighbourhood plan.

The current proposals from the applicants Rathplace Developments fall short of meeting these policies, and also several RBKC Local Plan requirements (in our view). The three main grounds for an objection that we discussed are:

• Height does not conform with StQW Policy LR5 and should be reduced by one floor.

• Massing and height create a ‘sense of enclosure’ in the street

• Architectural design is out of character with the Oxford Gardens Conservation Area, over-complex and incongruous, and will not harmonise with further developments in this row of light industrial units.  The Design Code ‘elevation principles’ need to be reviewed.

A full and detailed draft objection (warning – 10 pages) has now been prepared and is posted below to give opportunity for comments from all our members. The deadline for representations as shown on the RBKC website is 13th December, but planning officers have accepted that they were very late in adding to their online file important copies of pre-application advice. So we have some more time.

Views and suggestions on this draft objection, from StQW/SHRA members and others are welcome via email to sthelensassn@aol.com. We will need to submit it to RBKC by Monday 16th December.

After our meeting we learned that the developers had raised with the Council in pre-application discussions the possibility of E1 class floorspace on the ground and first floors being granted permission for Live/Work use. This form of planning permission has been resisted by RBKC for many years, because of the perceived risks of misuse as a backdoor means of obtaining residential use of commercial premises.

We think that the Council should be willing to be more open-minded on this issue. Latimer Road has always been a street in which ‘living’ and ‘working’ from the same set of terraced properties featured in its 19th century origins. We hope to persuade RBKC and the developers to discuss possible forms of Live/Work planning consents, including an element of ‘affordable workspace’ coupled with affordable housing. A major benefit could be a reduction in overall floorspace from the present plans, allowing for the removal of one floor and a building height that matches StQW policy for this row of units.

CGI image of Unit 9 proposals, with CGI of Unit 10 (consented July 2024) on the right

The former Ariadne Nektar Bar at 274 Latimer Road closed its doors a couple of years ago, after its licence was withdrawn by Kensington and Chelsea Council. The building was acquired in May 2023 by local developers and property agents Wentworth Andersen.

Since then various internal and external works have been carried out to the property. The building is a 19th century purpose-built public house, on three floors. Earlier this year Wentworth Andersen applied for a premises licence. Following a hearing on August 1st 2024 the Council’s LIcensing Sub-Committee has granted a licence, including a series of conditions on the operation of the new pub.

The pub was called the British Volunteer in a previous incarnation, and is due to re-open as The Volunteer early in 2025.

The StQW Neighbourhood Forum has long supported the case for retaining as a pub this last set of previously licensed premises in the neighbourhood (the Pavilion in Wood Lane being the nearest pub in the wider area). The Forum applied successfully for the property at 274 to be registered as an Asset of Community Value.

We were disappointed that the licence application and proposals from Wentworth Andersen were for a ‘wet-only’ pub with a reduced licensed floor area, removing the first floor dining area. Our greatest fear has been that these owners may open a pub for a few months and then argue that the business is not financially viable. The could pave the way to a planning application for change of use of the property to residential flats or a ‘family house’. This route was attempted by previous applicants at No.274 back in 2012, and has been the fate of many pubs across the country and in the Borough.

At the licence hearing, Wentworth Andersen and their agents and solicitors gave assurances that their pub proposal is is business venture that aims to succeed rather than to fail. They say they will select a suitable management company to run the pub. A kitchen is to be installed in the former cellar/basement (for which no planning application has yet been submitted).

The presence (or absence) of a resident landlord, using the ‘ancillary’ accommodation on the second floor, remains an open question at present. We continue to see the presence of a landlord onsite as important to a well managed pub operation. There is the original second floor flat available for this purpose. To date, both the first and second floors have been fitted out as flats. These are not yet let commercially, as there is no planning permission for C3 residential use other than ancillary to a pub.

The licence conditions are detailed. They include a series of requirements designed to avoid risks of noise and nuisance for neighbours. We welcome the fact that the Sub-Committee chose to add a further condition, requiring the pub to provide a ‘substantial food offer’ alongside serving alcohol. In our written representations to the Council and at the licence hearing, we argued that a pub serving food is much needed in a neighbourhood with little choice of places to eat out. A pub that attracts a regular customer base of local residents and their families we see as being more likely to succeed financially.

For those who wish to see the ‘full reasoned decision’ of the Licensing Sub-Committee and the details of opening hours and conditions under which the pub will be required to operate, these can be read and downloaded below.

This newsletter for January 2024 gives useful information on crime and antisocial behaviour in Dalgarno ward. We have asked the Safer Neighbourhood Unit if there is an equivalent newsletter for St Helens ward.

Signs of the times are that the newsletter says that the Police response to shoplifting is now that ‘an ASB warning will be issued’. StQW was successful in obtaining NCIL funding from RBKC for a third CCTV camera in North Pole Road. Tesco North Pole has had to introduce new security screens and anti-theft protection for its more expensive meat items.

These proposals for a major development at the Kensal Canalside Opportunity Area were submitted to Kensington and Chelsea Council in October 2023. The public consultation period advertised by the Council runs until January 12th 2024.

The application will remain ‘under consideration’ by the Council for many further months and possibly until late in 2024. There remain issues to be resolved with the applicants. The Council needs its Draft New Local Plan to be adopted and in force before deciding the application, if it wishes to avoid potential policy conflicts with the current 2019 Local Plan.

There will be a further stage of public consultation on ‘Major Modifications’ to the New Draft Local Plan, before this updated version can be adopted,

Meanwhile several hundred responses have been submitted on the Ballymore/Sainsburys application. Many are very brief comments supporting the proposals on the basis that Kensington needs to see more homes being built. The applicants have used two PR firms to collect such responses from shoppers at the existing Sainsburys store, and from door-knocking in the surrounding area.

Responses from local community organisations and amenity groups in the area, and from many individual residents, object to the application. Objections relate to the high housing density of the proposals, the insufficient public open space, building heights up to 29 storeys, and the impact on traffic in Ladbroke Grove. The housing numbers involved (at 2,516 units on this part of Opportunity Area) are near double what the Council envisaged back when it consulted on options in 2012.

Previous ‘development capacities’ for this site assumed a new Crossrail/Elizabeth Line station at the heart of this development. The Council and the developers have now accepted that there is no prospect of this happening, within the 2022-2042 period of the New Local Plan. Levels of access to public transport will remain low for a site in inner London. Ladbroke Grove will be the nearest Underground station, a 16 minute walk from the new development.

For these and other reasons, the StQW Forum and St Helens Residents Association are submitting an objection to this application. A final draft of our objection letter is below. This will be submitted on January 12th subject to any last minute edits or additions.

Our forum was first designated by RB Kensington and Chelsea in 2013. Designation under the 2011 Localism Act last for 5 years at a time. We applied successfully for ‘redesignation’ in 2018 and applied a second time to the Council in mid 2023.

RBKC consulted on our application from late August 2023 until October 6th. A total of 75 representations were received. Of these 72 supported the redesignation.

The Council has now formally confirmed the decision to redesignate via a ‘Key Decision’.

The documents involved can be downloaded below. We are grateful for the support shown by our members and other in the neighbourhood.

The Forum is now embarking on a review and update of our neighbourhood plan, which was adopted by RBKC as part of the development plan for the Borough in 2018.

The Greening your Home event on September 14^th at West London Bowling Club was very well attended.   Seventy local residents came along on a sunny evening to hear short talks from The Lady Linzie on growing heritage vegetables, and Aimee Spanswick on sustainable gardening and permaculture.

Robert Pereno from LancWest Grows Best started the evening with his presentation (a memorable performance) on the Club’s terrace. Preeti Gulati Tyagi, from RBKC’s Planning Department explained the Council’s new policies to support sustainable retrofitting of homes. 

PDF versions of slides from the presentations by Aimee and Preeti are available to download below. These include useful information for those wanting to do some ecological gardening, or thinking about what needs planning permission when retrofitting a home.

Aimee Spanswick (Westway Trust) presentation

Preeti Gulati Tyagi (RBKC) presentation on Sustainable Retrofitting of Homes in RBKC Part 1

RBKC kas also published a  Householder Guide to the Council’s Greening Supplementary Planning Document. This can be dowloaded from this page on the RBKC website

https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/planning-policy/greening-spd

THURSDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER
6:30 – 8:00PM
WEST LONDON BOWLING CLUB
112A Highlever Rd, London W10 6PL

The Climate Crisis is one of the greatest challenges of our times. St Quintin & Woodlands Neighbourhood Forum & St Helen’s Resident Association are hosting an event that explores what we can do to reduce carbon emissions within our homes and create a greener and healthier environment.

Along with brief presentations, there will be people with expertise on hand to answer your questions. We look forward to seeing you there.

The sessions will cover:

Greening your Garden

With advice from local gardeners and horticulturalists

Greening your Home

RBKC Planning Officers will explain what the new Borough policies mean in terms of retrofitting our homes and greening our neighbourhood.
Send your questions in advance and we will answer them on the night: sthelensassn@aol.com

Refreshments

Meet and chat to neighbours who have experience in greening their homes and gardens. There will be refreshments on hand and the Club pay bar will be open.

Please register via Eventbrite or email sthelensassn@aol.com

The joint AGM of the StQW Neighbourhood Forum and the St Helens Residents Association was well attended on June 8^th. A headcount recorded close to 70 members during the meeting, held as usual at St Helens Church hall.

The following members were elected as officers and management committee members:

Re-elected committee members

David Marshall, Finstock Road
Fiona Withey, Kelfield Gardens
Tania Martin, Highlever Road (Secretary)
Catherine Mannheim, Highlever Road
Pat Healy, Oakworth Road
Henry Peterson, Highlever Road (Chair)
Steve Divall (St Helens Church)

New committee members

Kim Evans, Dalgarno Gardens
Stephen Duckworth, Pangbourne Avenue
Nathanial Gee, Oxford Gardens
Ben Martinez, St Helens Gardens
Jeremy Raphaely, Highlever Road
Co-opted members
Jenny Harborne
Maggie Tyler

The constitution of the Forum was amended (see earlier post for reasons for the changes). The updated constitution is below:

The Council’s preparation of a new Local Plan for the Borough is now at the stage when the Draft document is being ‘examined’ by Planning Inspector Louise Nurse. She is holding a series of public hearings in June and July 2023.

Organisations which submitted representations on the Regulation 19 Draft (along with any individuals) have been invited to attend relevant hearing sessions. These involve the Inspector asking questions on representations made. Additional submissions were invited with a deadline of June 5th.

All the background documentation on the Examination is on the RBKC website under Local Plan Review. This material includes the full draft of the proposed New Local Plan, along with recent further submissions made to the Inspector.

The StQW Forum has made four further submissions, following up the previous post on this website and our Response Form on the Regulation 19 Draft. This was sent to the Council following discussion our open meeting in St Helens Church hall on November 29th 2022.

Our four further submissions cover these issues:

• a response to the Inspector’s question on whether RBKC has correctly categorised ‘strategic’ and ‘non-strategic’ policies in is new Draft Plan (this is technical issue which affects the extent to which Borough-wide policies can in future be varied or refined via a neighbourhood plan). Hearing date scheduled for afternoon of June 21st.
• a response to several of the Inspector’s questions on the Site Allocation and policies for Kensal Canalside. Hearing date scheduled for all day on June 22nd, with many parties attending including several local community groups.
• A response to the Inspector’s questions on the Local Plan’s draft policy for Tall Buildings
• a response on Draft Site Allocation and Policy SA9 on Units 1-14 Latimer Road. This requests deletion of the last part of the following sentence in bold, requiring applicataions with High quality design that reflects the mixed character of the area and respects the Employment Zone identity. This row of light industrial/warehouse units is already the subject of a RBKC Design Code and a set of StQW Policies. The wording ‘respects the Employment Zone identity’ appears to refer to planning officers seeking building designs that look ‘commercial/industrial’ in some undefined way. For mixed use redevelopments, what is the merit in including such unclear wording?

Copies of these four submissions to the Inspector can be downloaded below.

Nursery Lane and the application from Northcare

Developers Northcare (Scotland Ltd) have made submissions on the need for extra care home spaces, under the Housing section of the Examination (scheduled hearing date the afternoon of July 11th). We will attend this hearing, but the further evidence which we submitted on why the land at Nursery Lane should remain as designated Local Green Space has not been published by the Inspector.

The Inspector’s note on the Examination states Representors should be aware that it is not my role to examine the soundness of any omission sites. Such sites will not be discussed at the Hearing sessions. An ‘omission site’ is one not selected by RBKC for a site allocation. but now promoted by a developer. We have to hope that the Inspector does not allow Northcare to attempt to challenge the Local Green Space designation via these forthcoming hearings.

Strategic and non-strategic policies in a Local Plan

Kensal Canalside Opportunity Area

Local Plan Policy on Tall Buildings

Site Allocation SA9 Units 1-14 Latimer Road