Developer ‘positive’ about Nine Elms towers handed symbolic refusal last week

Watkin Jones’ boss has said he is “positive” the firm will eventually get the green light for a three-tower student accommodation scheme in Nine Elms refused planning by the local council last week.

Wandsworth council has nominally turned down permission for the job designed by Howells, three weeks after it went to appeal.

The Battersea Park Road scheme was refused despite a recommendation from planning officers to approve it.

But the developer lodged an appeal against the application’s non-determination two days before Christmas, after eight months waiting for a planning decision.

The development will now head to a public inquiry expected to last around four days.

Located close to Battersea Power Station, the scheme consists of three buildings ranging from 12 to 22 storeys and containing 762 student bedrooms and 55 affordable homes.

Watkin Jones chief executive Alex Pease said Wandsworth’s decision last week “wasn’t a proper committee” vote.

He added: “Effectively, once you launch an appeal to non-determination, they have a vote on it anyway to sort of guide where they may have voted had it actually gone to a formal committee.

“[The scheme] is offering genuine affordable housing as part of it on site, which many, many schemes don’t and we think it’s meeting a very significant demand for student accommodation in that area.

“So we’ll run the appeal process and we feel positive we can get a good result.”

First submitted in May 2022, the job has undergone several design revisions including the addition of second staircases, the reduction in height of one building by two storeys, with the same building having its footprint reduced and rotation altered.

The number of student rooms across the scheme was also cut from 779 to 762 and the number of homes reduced from 81 to 55.

Councillors who refused the Howells scheme last week said its height was “excessive” and that a student-led scheme would be the “wrong balance” for the site given the demand for housing and affordable housing in the borough.