Say goodbye to our hotel, and watch the rot spread.....

Very sad news tonight... decided by a planning committee on which there was NO COUNCILLOR REPRESENTING THE PRINCIPAL TOWN IN THE DISTRICT!!! - the vote was made to allow the permission for 33 flats and 4 houses to be built on the site of Long Island.

Whilst we all know that the current hotel needed investment and refurbishment... the hotel remains 100% full during the week and weekend.

SO.... 

• LOSS OF JOBS, 
• LOSS OF A MUCH NEEDED LOCAL AMENITY, 
• LOSS OF REVENUE FOR THE TOWN CENTRE,
• LOSS OF VALUABLE PARKING SPACES FOR THOSE WHO WORK IN THE TOWN,
•  LOSS OF FOOTFALL ON THE HIGH STREET,AND
• LOSS OF A VITAL LINK IN RICKMANSWORTH'S ECONOMY..... 

EXACTLY WHAT PLANNING POLICY DOES THAT FULFIL.

DISGUSTING. 

And all done with NO benchmarking of local prosperity, NO measure of the impact on the local economy and NO survey into the number of hotel beds needed in the district.... perhaps they have a crystal ball?

Planning Meeting Alert - 17th July

The latest application by Keay Homes, to retain the fascia of the Long Island Hotel AND STILL BUILD FLATS,  is being heard at the Planning meeting at Three Rivers next Thursday 17th July - 7.30pm at Three Rivers House.

Having done a bit of digging we find out that Keay Homes are so sure of the fact that they will get this permission, they have set up a limited company:  Keay Homes (Long Island Exchange) Ltd – their profit (and Greene King’s too) at the expense of our community.  NONE OF THIS PROFIT WILL REMAIN IN THIS COMMUNITY.

The biggest show we can give that the community is totally against the removal of our hotel, is to turn up in large numbers.  This site should NEVER HAVE BEEN ZONED FOR RESIDENTIAL – and having spoken to Greene King, we were told they were  ‘pointed in the direction of residential development’.

We know that the hotel is 100% full 100% of the time, and that another hotel chain is very keen to open a hotel in Rickmansworth  This site is PERFECT for an hotel - hence the reason it has been there for 125 years....and it is full.... and it is used by the community!

Please, please, please come along if you can and share to all those that you think would be interested in helping to save Rickmansworth's diverse commercial heritage.

We're back! Update on current position of @SaveLongIsland_

Okay... we have managed to get around the login issues....

Here is the latest position regarding Keay Developments'  various applications for the demolition of our much used and needed hotel.

1.  Application for demolition and building of 92 dwellings Ref. No: 12/1794/FUL | Received: Mon 24 Sep 2012 | Validated: Thu 01 Nov 2012 | Status: Application Refused by TRDC

2.  Application & Appeal to the Planning Inspectorate  for demolition and building of 65 dwellings Ref. No: 13/0480/FUL | Received: Thu 14 Mar 2013 | Validated: Tue 02 Apr 2013 | Status: Application Refused by TRDC and the Planning Inspectorate

3.  Application for demolition and building of 31 dwellings Ref. No: 13/2277/FUL | Received: Tue 10 Dec 2013 | Validated: Mon 06 Jan 2014 | Status: Application Refused by TRDC
Appeal lodged with the Planning Inspectorate 2 May 2014.

4.  Application for conversion of the existing building of the Long Island Exchange to 8 apartments, and demolition of the hotel extension to construct 25 apartments and 4 houses car parking spaces and cycle storage. Ref. No: 14/0945/FUL | Received: Wed 14 May 2014 | Validated: Tue 20 May 2014 | Status: Pending Consideration

THIS FINAL APPLICATION NEEDS YOUR COMMENTS TO BE LODGED AT:

http://bit.ly/1nnvFtJ

BY 10 JUNE 2014

Here are copies of the relevant letters:
Appeal to the Planning Inspector

And here is the letter regarding the conversion....

Another success!! Local Listing for Long Island...

This just out from the Watford Observer....

Latest planning decisions from Three Rivers....

Just to confirm the details of the latest refusal of permission by Three Rivers District Council on the proposed demolition and redevelopment of Long Island Exchange.

http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=55ff99acc0accb4243107056d&id=b46878cdb7&e=8c765fd207

Good News at Planning meeting tonight

20th June 2013

The revised application submitted to Three Rivers District Council to demolish the current building and build 65 dwellings on the Long Island site - was tonight again refused with no objections,  by the Planning Committee.  The refusal was proposed by Cllr Shaw, seconded by Cllr Mediratta, supported by Cllr Lloyd and Cllr Sansom.

At Cllr Sansom's request, the committee agreed that the Archaeological officer at Herts County Council will be consulted further about the their statement on the archaeological value of the site.

Following the vote by the committee to refuse the application, Cllr Shaw requested that the Conservation Officer at Three Rivers District Council be asked to review the recent decision to refuse to list this building.  It was agreed by the committee that this be put to the conservation officer.

Local resident Peter Waters delivered a witty and succinct 3 minute speech against the application.

We have no doubt that this is not the end of this story... so please watch this space for more information.

Ready for tomorrow night?

Here is the agenda for the meeting of the Three Rivers District Council Planning Committee meeting tomorrow night - Three Rivers House, Northway - 7.30pm
http://www.threerivers.gov.uk/Default.aspx/Web/PlanningCommittee-20June2013
Hope you can be there to help defend another of our historic buildings scheduled for demolition and our only hotel.

New application to be presented to the Planning Committee

Town and Country Planning  (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2010

Application: Demolition of existing hotel and restaurant and construction of 65 residential units with associated accesses, basement parking and communal amenity space
Address: Long Island Exchange   Victoria Close Rickmansworth
Application No: 13/0480/FUL

This application is due to be considered by the Council’s Planning Committee on 20 June 2013. The meeting, which will be open to the public, is due to commence at 7.30pm at  Three Rivers House, Northway, Rickmansworth, Herts. WD3 1RL

You can view the plans by visiting the Three Rivers Districts Council’s website and using the Planning Online facility at the following web address: http://www3.threerivers.gov.uk/online-applications/.

And... if you haven't written yet, you can still write, up until the time of the meeting.

New Flyer going out soon! Can anyone help distribute?

Final date for comments confirmed at 3rd May.

Closing dates for comments

It is not clear from various documents the exact closing dates, however being that the 2nd application 13/0480/FUL, was only lodged in the Watford Observer on 12th April and the closing date mentioned in that as the 30th April, this is the date that we are now working to.  We will double check... unless someone can confirm otherwise?

Refusal document for previous application

When writing your comments to Three Rivers we suggest that you use the reasons for refusing the first application as a basis for any further objections.  In our opinion these reasons are still valid for the second application.

Other historic properties saved from demolition

Not withstanding the fact that Rickmansworth needs a hotel and deserves a better offering than Greene King have given us in the last 25 years or so....

We cannot understand why the Victoria Hotel Building cannot be saved from demolition.

The Cross at Maple Cross was saved and sympathetically converted to residential houses..

And now this in the Watford Observer on 4th April 2013 where the Victorian Building that was Yorke Road School was saved from demolition by Three Rivers District Council....

2nd Planning Application Submitted...

The new planning application for flats on the site of the Long Island Exchange has been submitted to TRDC.  Comments must be in by 22 April 2013.   Details can be found on the TRDC website, looking for application No 13/0480/FUL.

The expected Plan B... full details. #savelongisland #Rickmansworth

For those who managed to get along to Watersmeet to see the first round of planning designs - you will already have received a copy of this brochure in the post.  For those of you who didn't,  here it is.

Following the rejection of the previous planning application, these renewed plans were expected. 

You can view them here....
In Standard pdf.... Long Island Plan B
In flip format.... Long Island Plan B (flip)

We would encourage you to email & write to Framptons Planning and also get as many others to email/write as you can.  enquiries@framptons-planning.com. 

We need as many people as possible to write for this to be effective.  Re-blog, facebook and re-tweet as much as you can.  The local community's voice is probably the strongest weapon we have in the fight to keep our local hotel and one of the last remaining, historic community buildings in Rickmansworth.

From this:

 

Avoided this....

To this....

 

The dreaded revised planning application has arrived!

More to follow - but as suspected a new application has been submitted - this time only 5 storeys high!  In our opinion - it still looks hideous, and even the attempts to use yellow bricks on Nightingale Place so the buildings are sympathic with the surrounding victorian, red brick conservation area, doesn't cut the mustard - just looks like it!

Application Refused - Good News

Application 12/1794/FUL for the 'demolition of existing hotel and restaurant and construction of 92 residential units comprising 87 apartments and 5 townhouses with associated accesses, parking spaces and communal amenity' was refused planning permission on 21 December 2012 under delegated powers.  The full decision notice with reasons for refusal can be viewed via Planning Online http://www3.threerivers.gov.uk/online-applications/

This does not mean that the developers will not appeal... so we still need to keep our eyes on this.  Suggestions for the next course of action...

1) Include the site in either the Town Centre conservation area or the Upper Nightingale Rd conservation area.
2)  Appeal to Greene King to keep the site as a much needed hotel and amenity for the future economic health of the town.

We will keep you informed!

Happy New Year everyone....

Planning Meeting

It appears that the application for demolition of Long Island is not on the agenda for the Three Rivers Planning Meeting on 13th December.  We assume therefore that it will be on the agenda for the meeting planned for 24 January 2013.  We will post the date as soon as known

With regard to actually writing to Three Rivers District Council, we understand that every letter up until the planning meeting has to be logged.  So PLEASE KEEP WRITING!  If you know someone who you think would like to write in, please encourage them to do so.  We need as many letters to be sent as possible.

There is also a petition to sign at Riverside Pharmacy in Rickmansworth we would encourage you to sign - but letters work better and are logged individually!

Thanks for your continued support - you can also head on over to twitter and follow us there at @SaveLongIsland_

Newsnight

Very interesting discussion on Newsight tonight about '... ugly buildings'  - will tweet Nick Boles MP Planning Minister (if he does)-think he may agree that the proposed site at #SaveLongIsland fits the bill! #Rickmansworth