Kingston Riding Centre

On behalf of the residential developer London Square Developments, our Carter Jonas London planning team has secured planning permission for 52 new apartments at the Kingston Riding Centre site in Norbiton, Kingston upon Thames.

We began advising London Square Developments on this site back in 2017. Since then, the riding centre has secured planning permission at an alternative site in Chessington and the existing site has been marketed for alternative recreational uses to demonstrate that the land is surplus to local recreational requirements and therefore suitable for redevelopment for residential use. The application comprised a range of apartment sizes across two buildings and provides 32.7% on-site affordable units, with private and communal amenity space.

This complex, back-land site sits across several levels. The design has overcome a few of the complexities associated with back-land development to provide a scheme that is mindful of the neighbouring contexts. The design evolved throughout the course of the application period following feedback from officers, local residents and the Design Review Panel.

Carter Jonas represented London Square Developments at the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames’s first virtual planning committee in May 2020. During the discussions, Councillors took a particular interest in the relocation of the riding centre and the marketing of the site. However, given the sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the facility is no longer needed following the robust marketing exercise, the resolution was ultimately to approve the application with nine votes in support of the development and only one abstention.