What councillors have signed off
Plans for the long-running redevelopment of Chelsea Barracks have been reshaped once again, with Westminster City Council approving changes that will see as many as 515 homes built on the site rather than the 448 originally agreed more than a decade ago.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, councillors gave the green light to a significant revision of the scheme in the hope of coaxing the developer, Qatari Diar, into completing a project that has been repeatedly held up. The most visible change involves the fifth phase of the build, where 20 townhouses previously granted permission will be replaced by 87 apartments arranged across three blocks.
The final phase of the development is set to include 119 homes for private sale alongside 126 affordable units, as well as a sports centre and medical facilities.
Why the developer wants to change tack
Qatari Diar told the council that the housing market looked very different now to when outline consent for the masterplan was first secured in 2012. It argued that switching from townhouses to flats would allow the scheme “to better meet changing demand and housing need”, noting that “market conditions have changed significantly” in the intervening years.
As part of the revised agreement, the developer will be required to contribute £3.6m to Westminster’s Affordable Housing Fund and a further £655,413 to its Carbon Offsetting Fund once the new stage of construction begins.
Local frustration over a project years in the making
For some who live nearby, the redesign has done little to ease concerns about how long residents have been waiting for promised amenities and social housing to materialise. Geoff Simpson, who has lived opposite the barracks since 1988, told the planning committee that the council needed to hold “developers deliver what they have promised”, pointing to repeated delays affecting both community facilities and affordable housing.
Councillors on the committee voiced similar unease about the pace of progress, but concluded that they had no mechanism to impose a firm deadline on the delivery of Phase Six, the concluding stage of the development.
The 13-acre site has had a long journey through the planning system. The Ministry of Defence sold the former army base for £959m in 2007, and consent to demolish the barracks and replace them with homes, shops and a sports centre was first granted in 2011.
