Outdoor nursery plans come to historic Twickenham site

By Cesar Medina 14th Oct 2026

Local News by Cesar Medina 1 hour ago

An application has been submitted to build a summer house to serve as a family hub and outdoor nursery within a historic site in Twickenham.

Richmond Council put forward plans to create a summer house and refurb the garage within the Heatham House Youth Centre site, on Whitton Road.

In their report, a Council planning officer said the summer house structure has been re-sited during the course of the application in order to minimise the trees lost as well as to reduce the visual impact on the setting of the Grade II Listed Building itself.

The summer house is now approximately 16m from the rear elevation of the side garage structure, and approximately 24m from the rear elevation of Heatham House.

In addition, Conservation Officers raised concerns to the "scale and mass" of the proposed summer house offering the opinion that it will result in "less than substantial harm (lower end of the range) to the significance of the setting of the listed building".

The report continued to say that the proposals constituted an "inappropriate development" within Metropolitan Open Land and therefore a case for Very Special Circumstance was submitted.

The development due to its footprint and scale above the existing and pre-existing structures on site would amount, by definition, to harm to MOL which will be considered by councillors.

Heatham House itself is a grand mid-18th century house situated to the north of the River Crane and set in well landscaped grounds which are surrounded by brick walls.

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The local authority is set to discuss the proposals in tonight's (Wednesday, 14 October) planning committee meeting. To find out more click here.

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