New dementia care home in Chiswick gets the go-ahead

Image: New residential care home elevation from Acton Lane 

‘A very impressive development’ says Cllr John Todd

A new residential home in Chiswick for people with dementia has been given planning approval. The six-storey specialist care facility will be built alongside The Old Pack Horse pub at Chiswick Terrace, from 1-15, requiring the row of seven shops which occupies the land currently to be demolished.

Chiswick councillor John Todd, who is one of the members of Hounslow’s Planning Committee, told The Chiswick Calendar it is ‘a very impressive development’ and that the developer had worked very closely with the Council to produce the new development in what is ‘a very tired looking bit of Chiswick.’

Councillors voted unanimously for the scheme.

Shop holders have been expecting to have to relocate as their leases come to an end, as part of the redevelopment of the area, which has already seen the construction of the larger Empire House redevelopment beside Sainsburys.

The new care facility will provide 85 bedrooms above a 172 square metre retail unit at ground and basement level. It will cater for residents requiring 24-hour support within non-self-contained/non-independent accommodation.

In their application for planning permission the developers said all residents would be screened to prove that they require personal care for all activities of daily living before being offered a bed-space, and five bed-spaces will be reserved in perpetuity for London Borough of Hounslow residents at a reduced rate (20% discount).

Planning permission had already been granted in 2023, for a five-storey building on this site, with a proposal for a mix of commercial, retail and residential use, but the project did not go ahead.

Image: New residential care home elevation from Essex Place 

Hounslow Council received 25 objections to the new development and eight letters of support. The objections complained of a ‘lack of visual interest and innovation in design’ and ‘excessive height and scale, disproportionate to, and overbearing on, Matcham House and Old Packhorse Pub’.

The current block of shops with residential flats above them, is three storeys high. The new Empire House development which has been built beside it at Essex Place includes seven, eight and five storey buildings as well as four three storey town houses.

Image: Chiswick Terrace / Acton Lane from the junction with Chiswick High Road; Google Street View

One objection complained the use of the building as a care home was ‘out of character with the area and inappropriate / undesirable in such close proximity to standard residential buildings.’

There were also complaints about the loss of light to back gardens on Chiswick Road, and ‘harmful overlooking and loss of privacy to neighbouring occupiers,’ as well as light spill and noise, dust and congestion during the construction process.

Image: Plan of the site

The demolition of the existing row of shops also results in the loss of seven, three-bedroom flats on the upper floor levels.

In their report to the committee, recommending approval, Hounslow’s planning officers concluded:

‘Noting the scheme already consented for the site, the town centre context, and the many planning benefits of the scheme, the minor harm to neighbouring living conditions would be justified on this occasion.

‘In light of the Borough’s high housing targets, its increasing elderly population (already above the London average), the growing need for care home accommodation, the lack of any equivalently sized sites in this part of Hounslow … it is considered that there are no reasonably available alternative sites in the borough to preclude the application site from redevelopment.’

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