Tim Harvey the Chairman of the Ravenscourt Gardens Residents has made the following query with me about Ravenscourt Park Hospital:“As you know this has now been empty for some years. Is the planning consent for conversion to a specialist cancer centre still valid – by now it may well have expired? As the years tick by it would seem that the possibility of converting this beautiful Grade II* building to a modern facility gets more and more remote. On costs, the last I heard it was £100m, with no takers. What powers do the council have to force the issue here, or even to reconsider its use, with reference to its sister building Ashlar Court, for instance?
Under a general heading of ‘regeneration’ isn’t it time that something creative was done to this huge building and very large area of the RP ward?
The buildings behind the hospital in the roadway between Ravenscourt Gardens and Ravenscourt Square continue to be a particularly squalid part of our conservation area. The Chiswick Nursing Centre have now been forced to lay huge concrete blocks on the pavement alongside the very dilapidated boiler house to prevent illegal parking and flytipping. It is a really horrible area, and we tend to avoid it at all times, especially at night.”
The Council has responded as follows:
“With regards to Ravenscourt Park Hospital, we have been advised that negotiations with a new investor and operator that runs a number of hospitals are at an advanced stage, in fact heads of terms have been exchanged. The agents are of the opinion that works were carried out on site to implement the earlier planning permission and they hope to be on site in the near future to complete the development. They have advised us that some minor alterations (mainly internal) may be required to the planning permission, and these would be part of a further planning application in due course.”
So good news.
Although I will still pursue Tim’s point about the dilapidated old boiler house and surrounding area.
Hammersmith and Fulham Forum 