Sellar Developments and Great Western Developments’ £775m Renzo Piano-designed Paddington Cube has passed a significant planning hurdle with secretary of state Sajid Javid withdrawing his Article 31 direction.
This hands control of the decision to grant consent back to Westminster City Council.
Last month the communities secretary issued the Article 31 direction to prevent the council from formally granting consent for the plans. The Article 31 direction allowed Javid more time to come to a conclusion on whether to direct Section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. This would have given him direct control over the application’s fate.
A letter to Westminster City Council from the Department for Communities and Local Government states: “In deciding whether to call in this application, the secretary of state has considered his policy on calling in planning applications. This policy gives examples of the types of issues which may lead him to conclude, in his opinion that the application should be called in. The secretary of state has decided, having had regard to this policy, not to call in this application. He is content that it should be determined by the local planning authority.”
James Sellar, chief executive of Sellar Group, said: “Naturally we are delighted that our planned £775m regeneration of the area directly around Paddington Station has cleared yet another major hurdle in the process of securing unconditional planning consent. In addition to delivering a stunning Renzo Piano-designed office building, as well as much needed restaurants and retail space, there will be almost £100m of public infrastructure investment including new Bakerloo Line entrances and ticket hall, an impressive entrance to Paddington Station itself and a public square.”
He added: “We believe the development will create a new destination hub at this key London gateway, which will also benefit from the new Elizabeth Line interchange opening in 2019.”
Groups campaigning against the scheme, such as Save Britain’s Heritage, the Georgian Group and the Victorian Society, will be disappointed after calling on Javid to launch an inquiry into the scheme.
The 14-storey, 360,000 sq ft development, on the site of a former Royal Mail delivery office was originally granted consent in December. Original plans for a 72-storey skyscraper with 339 homes were scrapped.
Additional reporting by Shekha Vyas
To send feedback e-mail paul.wellman@egi.co.uk or tweet @paulwellman eg or @estatesgazette
