Poets’ Estate resident Cllr. Jill Whitehead says: 

“Your councillors have been advised that a planning application (no. C2013/67749) has been received by Sutton Council for the variation of planning conditions for the redevelopment of Westmead House as a 74-bed care home between Kingsley Avenue and Cowper Avenue on the edge of the Poets’ Estate.

Westmead House, 123 Westmead Road

We have also been advised that there have been no approaches so far to the council planners about alternative uses of the site as houses, contrary to some local rumours.  The latest planning application is to carry out various changes to the extent of the approved obscure glazing to the upper floors of the proposed new multi-storey building. These measures were ordered by the planning inspector based in Bristol, to prevent overlooking to existing residences.  These are changes to condition 20 of planning application no. C2013/65431/FUL that was allowed on appeal that stated all windows on the first and second floors to the western and northern elevation should be obscure glazed up to a height of 1.5 metres above floor. Residents may wish to object by visiting the Council’s Web Address: – http://5.150.92.212/FASTWEB/detail.asp?AltRef=C2013/67749.

Cllr Hamish Pollock says: Alan, Jill and myself as your local councillors worked alongside numerous local residents to ensure that the Council’s development control committee unanimously refused the care home application in June 2012. Alas the council’s decision supporting local residents and councillors’ views was undemocratically overturned by the decision of the unelected planning inspector based in Bristol, in the autumn 2012, as we reported in FOCUS at the time.