A planning application has been received to demolish the derelict Prince Regent pub and build a six storey block of flats.   The application (No. DM2020/00532) can be found on the Sutton Planning website here.

Residents will recall the previous history of the site.  An application (No. 2016/75941) to build a 6-8 storey block of 41 flats was turned down in February 2017.  An application (No. 2017/78658) for a 6 story block of 30 flats was also turned down by Sutton Council in April 2018.  The developer appealed against this decision, but the Planning Inspector upheld Sutton’s decision.

Any comments on the current application should be made through the Council’s planning website here.  Comments should be made a soon as possible.

The current application has a number of similarities with that turned down in 2018: it is six stories, the maximum Council policies allow at this end of the High St, and is for 30 flats.  Also, as in the 2018 application there would be a commercial unit (planned to be a café) at ground level; the currently vacant ground floor unit in Sovereign Apartments (which is owned by the same developer) would be extended to the rear to accommodate a new supermarket, and the parking space currently there would be relocated underground in the new development.  There would be 28 parking spaces at the back of the Prince Regent development for the customers using the proposed supermarket. 

The most recent planning application was refused by the Planning Inspector because of poor design and over provision of parking (the Mayor of London’s parking standards require only minimal parking for flats in town centres to reduce congestion and encourage use of public transport where it is widely available). There will be just three disabled spaces for residents. 

The developers have engaged a new local design team, Harp and Harp, responsible for the design of the new Sutton Green café.  As a result the new application has a much improved design.  It now includes chamfered corners at the front, and the frontage more successfully balances the mass of the blocks of flats in this area with the predominant Victorian smaller scale brick buildings nearly, with a range of brick and stonework.  At the ground floor level there is a set-back colonnade in front of the proposed café, to partly compensate for the narrow pavement in front.  The flats will have balconies set back behind the building line.

The development includes 13 one bed and 14 two bed flats at market prices, with just 3 three bed flats at an ‘affordable’ price.  Affordable is defined as 80% of the market rent.  There will be a small amenity space on the roof.

The parking spaces for supermarket customers would be accessed between the two buildings, and there is concern that without proper control, cars wishing to enter the car park would back up into the High St, causing congestion in what is a quite narrow part of the road.

There are some residents who would have liked to have seen the old Prince Regent pub retained and refurbished.  It was formerly The Cricketers, and parts of it date back to the 18^th/19^th century,     reflecting the time when cricket was regularly played on Sutton Green.  However it has become clear over the years that this will not happen, and the pub has been derelict for a number of years.

Residents often say they do not want any more flats in the High St.  But there is a national shortage of homes and all Councils have had to accept targets for new housing – and developments which are refused without good reason will be approved on appeal.  Sutton has decided to focus much new housing on the town centre, where pubic transport and community facilities are good, and to prevent back garden developments in the rest of the Borough.

Planning officers and ward councillors were consulted on the design before the application was submitted, and we agree that this site needs to be redeveloped, and this scheme is much better than previous applications.  But we still have concerns about the low number of affordable units, the impact of the access to the supermarket customer car park on congestion in the High St, and the need to ensure that residents would not be entitled to residents’ car parking permits.  As a consequence we have de-delegated this planning application requiring it to come to the Planning Committee for decision, rather than be decided by Planning Officers.  The Planning Committee has not been meeting due to the lockdown, but is about to start meeting again, via the internet.  We will keep you informed on this.

Ruth, Marlene and Steve