Former gasworks site in Mitcham could soon be home to new flats

The former gas works site in Western Road closed in 1960 after 93 years in operation and started to be dismantled at the end of 2021.

Developer St William revealed emerging plans for the new housing development at a public consultation event on Tuesday night. The company is preparing a planning application which is expected to be submitted to Merton Council this summer.

In the latest consultation the developer said it reduced the proposed heights for the buildings from up to 13 storeys to up to 10 storeys. Now the plans are for between 625 and 650 new homes, down from 700 put forward at a public consultation in January.

It is also expected to include a new public open space in the centre of the development and include 140 underground parking spaces as well as space for 1,000 bicycles. St William said there will be two “non residential” units which could include a cafe.

Tony Burton from the Mitcham Cricket Green Community and Heritage group said: “Mitcham Gasworks deserves better than a dozen new tower blocks rising to 10 storeys or more. This will swamp Mitcham’s village character.

“In two public events and after more than eight months debate we are still to see even a single image of the buildings planned across the whole site.

"We support Merton Council’s original policy for the Mitcham Gasworks site – providing up to 400 homes at gentle density and rising to no more than six storeys.”

In the consultation documents, St Williams said Merton Council is proposing to allocate the site for 650 homes in buildings of up to 10 storeys tall.

The developer wrote: “Our vision for Mitcham Gasworks is to transform the redundant former gasworks into a sustainable new neighbourhood, opening up a site that has been inaccessible to the public for over a century, whilst acknowledging the site’s important industrial past.

"The proposed development will provide a variety of new mixed-tenure homes and beautiful landscaping, that will be open to the community.”