As you may be aware yesterday evening Wandsworth Borough Council’s planning committee voted to refuse permission for the outline planning application and listed building consent submitted by South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS trust. The detail of the reasons for refusal are unclear at this time but rest assured the community will scrutinise closely the reasons for refusal, and if deemed necessary will make further representations to the relevant authorities to ensure that all concerns and objections are acknowledged and responded to.

Although we should feel great joy and pride in what we achieved in terms of ensuring that our voice was heard loud and clear, there is also a real sense of sadness. With the admirable aims of the health trust seeking to improve the facilities and with it the quality of care for some of the most vulnerable members of our community, once again it has gone through a long, expensive, and painful process only to be met with even greater public opposition to its proposals than last time.

The community need to now make representations to the trustees of the South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust not to pursue an appeal against the decision, and spend more public money, and waste time. But rather admit that errors were made, and to engage meaningfully with the community that will result in a proposal for the site that we can all be proud of that will not result in the community’s quality of life being damaged.

For such a complex scheme it is felt that a real shared vision is required to realise it. That approach needs to be taken on board not only by the health trust and the community but also the planning authorities and all of our elected representatives. Just because an all inclusive approach may take a little more time and effort from all those parties involved does not mean that they should not be prepared to go “the extra mile” to deliver a proposal of excellence on all fronts.

The steering committee of Neighbours of Springfield acknowledge and give our heartfelt thanks to:

• MP Sadiq Khan and his team for their support throughout the campaign.
• Ward councillors (Councillor Boswell, Clay, Daley, Heaster, Johnson and Tracey) for meeting with, and listening to, the community aswell as making powerful representations on the community’s behalf.
• Our Road Reps who pounded the streets night and day to spread our message.
• The biggest thanks though goes to each and every member of our community that sent letters and e-mails of objection to the planners, and members of the planning committee, (over 4000 and counting!!), and finally to all of you (over 300) that turned out to the committee meeting yesterday on a bitterly cold night, it did have a huge impact.

See more information on www.neighboursofspringfield.co.uk.

Members of Parliament and many Council members will be present to receive it and an invitation has also been sent to the Mayor of London, who promised in his election manifesto to oppose developments of this nature.

The developers want to build 1200 new residential units, bringing in up to 3000 new residents

and over 1700 cars. Their plans would see the cathartic calm of the site replaced by the frenetic transport of up to 1,000 lorries a week, bringing chaos and danger to the surrounding roads and nearby schools, overwhelming the already creaking public transport infrastucture and changing forever the character of the local communities. The developers claim that this level of development of the site is needed to generate the revenue required to pay for the improvement of the mental health facilities.

The local community – which is whole-heartedly in favour of bringing the mental health facilities at the site into the 21st Century – is up-in-arms at the scale and greed of the proposed plans, which they believe goes far beyond what is required to pay for the improvement of the mental health facilities.

Springfield Hospital was built in 1840. At that time it was established as a self-sufficient sanctuary of calm, treating deeply disturbed people and helping them recover according to the best medical practices of the time. Since that era it has continued to serve the most vulnerable members of our community and has become a much-loved symbol of Wandsworth.

Its grand buildings and sweeping gardens now give onto a 9-hole golf-course (one of the very few in central London) and this use of the open land in front of the buildings complements the aura of calm and peaceful tranquility so much needed by the patients treated there.

But this peace is now threatened by the arrival of a monstrous new development plan. Sprawling over 10 years, ripping down the beautiful, listed Victorian buildings and rising up to 8 storeys in height in places, the development threatens the very nature not only of Springfield Hospital but the local residential communities which surround it.

Local resident Thom Reilly said “We love wandering through the grounds at Springfield. Last week, when it was covered in snow, it felt like a little haven of peace, far away from the bustling noise of London. It would be unforgiveable if this sanctuary was destroyed by excessive and unnecessary development out of keeping with the local area and in the face of fierce local opposition. We all support the up-grade to the hospital, but not at the expense of this beautiful, peaceful area which is so important, not only for the local community but also for the recovery of those patients being treated at the hospital.”

Notes to Editors:

Further information can be found at http://springfieldhospital.googlepages.com/home and on the Wandsworth Council website athttp://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/Home/EnvironmentandTransport/PlanningService/Majordev/mds