HEW: The Campaign to Protect Hamilton Road Electricy Works This campaign was organised by a group of local residents who hope to prevent overdevelopment of this Victorian industrial site. The group does not seek to prevent the development of this site; rather we would like to see these historic buildings tastefully converted into attractive flats to fit in better with the surrounding area, comprising primarily Victorian cottages and terraced housing.

The existing buildings were once warehouses for the Twickenham Electricity Works, which closed in the 1960s. None of the buildings is higher than three floors, yet, under recent plans to replace them, the highest building would be a height of 5 stories.

21st April 2006: Plans to Demolish HEW Rejected

Luckily, these plans to demolish the Electricity Works have fallen foul of Richmond planning department guidelines on a number of criteria, and the large number of objections received from local residents definitely helped to force this decision.

This is a major victory for the campaigners but the group is not resting on its laurels: any future plans to demolish or radically alter these historic buildings will be met with the same level of resistance.

4th December 2006 - New plans appear on the Richmond Council planning website for 31 flats and an office building, followed by an application to demolish the Electricity Works buildings. (06/4229/CAC)

19th March 2007 - The latest planning Application (06/3890/FUL) to demolish and replace HEW is refused by the Planning Department of Richmond council on several grounds, including the fact that the proposed buildings would have been out of scale and "an obtrusive form of development detrimental to the visual amenities of the Conservation Area". Also, insufficient evidence was presented to justify the demolition of these buildings of townscape merit.

If you would like to find out more about the campaign or register your support, visit the group's website: www.hew.org.uk for updates and contact details.