A report has been published setting out proposals to regenerate the 299 railway arches that extend all the way from Waterloo to Battersea Power station.

In 2019 Wandsworth Council - then controlled by the Conservative Party - commissioned a study of an industrial and commercial area to the south-west of Nine Elms and the Power Station.

In the Local Plan submitted to the Secretary of State in 2022 and finally approved in 2023, Wandsworth Council committed itself to developing a masterplan for an Enhanced Urban Heart to Clapham Junction.

Overall we welcome this application. Further toilet facilities in this area are desirable, and the design of the proposed extension should blend in tactfully enough with the existing building.

The Battersea Society objects to this application to demolish an 18th century cottage, the sole survivor of that kind and period of building facing onto Clapham Common.

Many people will have seen the announcement in the weekly Brightside Online newsletter about the Council’s plans to increase safety for pedestrians and cyclists on the northern part of Queenstown Road, from Queen’s Circus to Chelsea Bridge.

The Battersea Society strongly objects to this proposal to build a 38-storey tower on a prominent site facing the Thames next to the Grade 2 listed Battersea Bridge and close to the Grade 2* Albert Bridge.

The Battersea Society objects to this application.

One of the Government’s many recent consultation documents was about the reform of local planning. The stated aims of its proposals were to

The Centre for London has recently published a report on street clutter, the problems it causes and how to reduce it.

We broadly welcome the thrust of the draft, on tenants and leaseholders, building more homes, improved standards for private renters, homelessness and rough sleepers, and residents with additional needs.

We wrote in January about the long process involved in establishing the new Local Plan, and the Examination in Public in which we participated in November last year. In the succeeding months, several changes to the daft Plan were considered by the Council and the Inspectors, and the final version was formally approved at a meeting of the full Council on 19 July. We regret that many of the changes weaken policies of which we approved: in countless cases ‘must’ has been changed to ‘should’, with the result that developers have been given much more wiggle room on matters such as tall buildings, for example. The final version of the Plan is here, and we shall be keeping a close watch on how individual applications are dealt with in accordance with the new policies.

The appraisal is incomplete as it lacks guidance for those wishing to alter their property, concentrates too much on the Square and its buildings and does not set out details of current issues and how the Council plans to manage these.