charlton conservative club – The Charlton Champion

Charlton Conservative Club flats proposal to go to planning inspector

February 15, 2023June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

Google image of the Charlton Conservative Club — The old Charlton Conservative Club (image: Google)

The drawn-out saga surrounding whether the old Charlton Conservative Club can be turned into seven flats will be decided by a planning inspector after Greenwich Council turned down the latest proposals for the site.

Permission was given in 2015 to demolish the club’s rear hall to provide a two-bedroom flat and a three-bedroom maisonette together with a new block of three two-bedroom flats, along with construction of a terrace of four two-bedroom houses on land at the back of the property. Work began but was never completed after disagreements with the council during construction.

That was followed by a plan to convert the building into 26 bedsits, which was quickly withdrawn.

Developers then proposed seven flats – three of which have already been built as part of the first proposal. The club’s billiard hall would have been retained and turned into housing. But those plans were thrown out in February 2022, with planners citing “inadequate bathroom provision” and a lack of privacy for neighbours and potential occupiers.

A rejigged proposal was submitted – but has been thrown out on the same grounds.

The club closed in 2012 and formed a pair with the Charlton Liberal Club, which finally succumbed six years later. A plan for six flats on the site of that club has also been thrown out.

To make a comment to the inspector, visit the Planning Inspectorate website by March 9.

Charlton Conservative Club: Seven flats to replace scrapped mega-bedsit scheme

December 31, 2021June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain1 Comment

A property developer has applied to build seven flats at the former Charlton Conservative Club, a year after plans to build 26 bedsits there were scrapped.

Permission was given in 2015 for flats and a terrace of three houses on the site, but work was never completed and in 2020, a new application was submitted for the bedsits, to accommodate 49 people, as part of a “co-living” development.

That scheme was quickly dropped, and now developers have scaled back their original plans to just seven flats – three of which have already been built as part of the first proposal.

While the club’s former billiard hall would have been demolished, it is now to be retained and converted into homes. Developers say: “It is not sustainable to remove the rear building to build another almost identical one. Therefore, it is proposed to retain the rear building and to simply convert it. There would be no terrace houses proposed in the back garden and the submitted plans show communal garden space with cycle stores.”

In September 2020 plans to demolish what is left of the Charlton Liberal Club were refused by planners, who said there was no evidence that the club was unviable as it had only been on the market for one month.

Plans to build a “luxurious” 49-unit co-living development at the old Antigallican pub further down Charlton Church Lane were withdrawn in March, just weeks after plans were submitted.

The latest Conservative Club plans can be seen on the Greenwich Council planning website.

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Mega-bedsit plan for Charlton Conservative Club withdrawn as Liberal Club development refused

October 22, 2020October 22, 2020Darryl Chamberlain

A developer has withdrawn plans to turn the former Conservative Club on Charlton Church Lane into 26 bedsits to accommodate 49 people.

The club closed seven years ago and permission was given in 2015 to demolish the rear hall to provide a two-bedroom flat and a three-bedroom maisonette together with a new block of three two-bedroom flats, and construction of a terrace of four two-bedroom houses on land at the back of the property. Work began but was never completed, and construction workers have continued to arrive at the site.

Greenwich Council confirmed that RIU Management (UK) Ltd, a company based at the former club, had withdrawn its application in a letter to people who had objected to the plans. The company is controlled by 58-year-old Sanjai Dhar, who is also registered at the club; however it was originally set up by a British Virgin Islands-registered company, Riu Management, which had a correspondence address in Switzerland, according to Companies House records.

“The proposal is a form of residential accommodation aimed at providing affordable and high quality accommodation in the form of co-living arrangement,” planning documents said. “With the average house price in Greenwich at a value of £554,000, co-living which is a house in multiple occupation, offers an affordable alternative of living accommodation whilst retaining the luxury. Therefore, this a growing trend and co- living arrangement caters for young professionals who struggle to afford London’s increasing property prices.”

Meanwhile, plans to demolish what is left of the Charlton Liberal Club and build a three-storey building with eight flats have been refused by Greenwich planning officers. The scheme had been submitted by an Enfield-based company, Liberal Ltd, controlled by property developers Can and Kerem Yavuzarslan.

The council said there was no evidence that the Liberal Club was unviable as it had only been on the market for one month, and that the loss of the club would deny the area a community facility and a source of employment. It also said the “proposed design is excessive in scale and poorly sited, such that it appears cramped with its plot and creates an uncharacteristic terracing effect”.

The main Liberal Club building was converted into flats in 2016 and a new building erected next door, but the club closed two years later.

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