Plans for 100 new homes and offices in West London have been green-lit, despite concerns there will not be enough affordable housing.

The scheme will see the revamp of St Clare Business Park and 7-11 Windmill Road in Hampton Hill.

A total of 86 flats, with space for offices, will be built in a block up to five storeys tall under the plans from Notting Hill Genesis, along with 14 homes and a two-storey building containing offices and workshops.

Existing buildings on the site will be demolished to make way for the development. 

The business park is currently home to office, industrial and storage buildings, while 7-11 Windmill Road is used for car repairs.

The scheme proposes 35per cent affordable housing, or 35 homes – including 15 at social rent and 20 shared ownership homes.

Richmond Council's Local Plan, which guides decisions on planning applications in the borough, says schemes should propose at least 50pc affordable housing.

There were 238 objections ahead of the council's planning committee meeting on October 11. A planning consultant, speaking on behalf of objectors, argued there could be no justification for providing less affordable housing than council policy on a big redevelopment like this.

Local resident Amanda Ribbans also raised concerns about the scheme. She said: "It's too high, it's too different, it's too dense, it's overbearing, it's unneighbourly and it's out of character and it's just too much for our crowded pocket of Hampton Hill."

Ms Ribbans said neighbours would lose privacy as a result of being overlooked by some of the new homes.

She added: "The significant change for us is that we currently face quiet office buildings with weekday nine-to-five use and the new windows will be habitable rooms in use in the evenings and weekends, people living in those rooms and looking in on us 24/7."

Green councillor Caroline Wren added the application failed to comply with too many policies in the Local Plan to be approved and warned it could set a "worrying precedent for future planning applications". She said: "A small reduction of employment [floorspace] on this site could be deemed to be a fair trade for an exceptionally high proportion of affordable housing but that's not what is being suggested in this application, where they've reduced the affordable proportion to just 35per cent and taken just over half the employment land."

Previous plans from Notting Hill Genesis for 112 homes on the same site proposed 50pc affordable housing.

It was thrown out by the committee in 2020 and refused on appeal in 2022 after the planning inspector ruled it would negatively impact the character and appearance of the area, along with neighbours' living conditions.

Juilan Wain, assistant planning director at Notting Hill Genesis, said the developer had made changes to the plans, including reducing the heights of the buildings, after extensive consultation with locals. He said the scheme included a lower level of affordable housing as the number of homes proposed was cut by 12.

Mr Wain said: "We're proud that the proposals include 35per cent genuinely affordable homes and the scheme will make a vital contribution to the delivery of much-needed affordable homes in the borough. The 15 social rented homes will provide new housing for those on the council's housing register. The rents for these homes will be in line with Richmond's tenancy standards and benchmark rates and the 20 shared ownership homes will be available to a range of local first-time buyer households and be affordable to local priority households such as key workers." 

He said the business park was at the end of its life and the buildings were in a poor state of repair, while many had been empty for several years. He added the scheme would open up the "inaccessible and unattractive site" to locals, deliver high-quality new homes and commercial space that would be able to accommodate more than 100 full-time jobs.

Chris Tankard, team leader in development control at the council, said securing more employment floorspace was the most important policy to consider when deciding on the scheme as the site was designated as locally important industrial land. He said around 50pc of the current employment floorspace would be reprovided on the site through the scheme.

Mr Tankard said consultants had advised officers that 35pc affordable housing was the maximum the scheme could provide, and agreed with the developer's reasoning for there being less this time around.

Councillors raised concerns about the scheme not complying with all council policies, but said it would still add to the number of affordable homes in the borough. Lib Dem councillor John Coombs said: "On balance, I'm going to grab the few social housing in this development because I know how huge the need is. So, on balance, even taking into account the fact that it doesn't comply totally with what our policies are… it is better to accept this rather than reject it."

Seven councillors voted in favour and two against so it was approved.