The Royal Brompton's plan to flog off land to overseas property developers impacts upon Chelsea residents for two reasons.
The Royal Marsden needs the Fulham Road Wing to maintain and expand its world renowned reputation....
.....and Chelsea residents want to halt to the exploitation of their community by greedy off shore property developers.
Residents are tired of the council changing the planning rules for the benefit of developers.
The Royal Brompton's estate is classed for medical use: and it should remain for that use only.
If Guangzhou R & F Properties Corporation succeed in buying the Royal Brompton's property assets it will prove that overseas money is far more powerful than the wishes of our community.
Briefing paper on the future of the Fulham Road Wing
Background
Last year The Royal Brompton Hospital made public their decision to sell off a large part of their estate in order to consolidate and redevelop their Sydney Street premises. The Royal Marsden hospital has had a long interest in one of these sites, the Fulham Road Wing building, which sits in between The Royal Marsden and our academic partner, The Institute of Cancer Research (“the ICR”) in order to further our world leading research, clinical trials and patient care. The Royal Marsden’s interest in this site has been known by the Brompton for many years with correspondence regarding this issue dating back to late 2009/2010 when we were looking at a potential joint use/development. We also publicly indicated an interest in this site in 2012 when these plans were first mooted, and submitted a pre-planning application and fee to RBKC council in Spring 2012.
However, at the consultation of the issues and options for The Royal Brompton consolidation programme in December 2013 it became clear that the course of action being put forward by the Royal Brompton for the Fulham Road Wing was solely for residential use. This would entail a change of use application for the building. It was a great disappointment to see that no option for community, social or healthcare use was included and The Royal Marsden’s interest in the Fulham Road Wing was not highlighted.
On 28 February 2014, RBKC launched a consultation into a draft Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) for The Royal Brompton’s development proposals where, again, only residential use was put forward as an option for the Fulham Road Wing. This made clear the Royal Brompton’s decision to ignore The Royal Marsden’s proposals to retain the building as a healthcare facility and instead to take the decision to maximise their cash receipts for the property. The consultation period for this SPD will last for six weeks up until 10 April.
The Royal Marsden has therefore prepared this briefing paper to ensure that local people understand and support the hospital’s interest in retaining the Fulham Road Wing as a healthcare facility in order to extend beyond its current maximum size. This will allow the building to become part of a world leading cancer centre instead of providing even more luxury residential housing in this part of London.
The current issue
We are currently operating at maximum capacity and have no more room to expand our Chelsea site for further world class research, clinical trials and patient care. This is in part due to the building work made necessary by the fire at the hospital in 2008 when the number of beds were reduced by 30 per cent in order to meet modern building standards. We are now unfortunately in the position of turning away patient referrals, and the situation is only set to get worse.
Why is The Royal Marsden important to Chelsea?
A world leading cancer hospital on your door step. The Royal Marsden has been a proud member of the Chelsea community since 1851. Since then we have expanded to become the largest and most comprehensive cancer centre in Europe specialising in cancer research diagnosis and treatment serving 50,000 patients every year. Together, with the ICR, we are recognised as the number four cancer centre in the world with the other three located in the United States. Together we are also the only National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre for Cancer in the UK.
Our pioneering work means that we can not only offer the best cancer care to those in the immediate area but impact on international treatment and research of the disease around the world. It is an unfortunate fact that with an ageing population cancer cases both in the UK and across the globe are rising. Thanks to the work of hospitals like The Royal Marsden, however, more people are surviving cancer. It is vital that The Royal Marsden’s ground breaking work can continue.
We have always appreciated being in the heart of Chelsea and want to remain in the area for the foreseeable future. Our commitment to the area is demonstrated by the fact that we have invested £100m into our Chelsea site over the last five years.
The Council needs to preserve health and social care facilities within Chelsea. While the Royal Brompton’s Fulham Road Wing is vitally important for the growth plans of The Royal Marsden we believe there is a wider point that goes beyond our hospital. The Council has a duty to ensure health and social care facilities are preserved for the community instead of even more luxury residential being imposed on the borough. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council’s Core Strategy Policy CK1 seeks to protect and enhance health care facilities. However, by only allowing for residential options as part of the draft SPD the redevelopment plans of the Royal Brompton are set to go against this policy.
As part of The Royal Brompton Draft SPD the Council have stated that the improved services through the consolidation of the Royal Brompton’s hospital facilities on Sydney Street means that the aims of CK1 are satisfied as the Royal Brompton’s overall health care facilities will be improved.
However, we believe that if the Fulham Road Wing was converted into residential use and there was no option for The Royal Marsden to purchase the building and expand in Chelsea to continue to provide our critical health care services, policy CK1 would not be met. Rather than allowing further luxury residential to be built the council should treat the Fulham Road Wing as an individual building as well as noting the impact it will have on The Royal Marsden’s research, treatment and patient care. By doing this the Council would be able to enforce policy CK1 and allow the building to remain a health care facility for the community.
Our proposal
We understand the need for the Royal Brompton to reconfigure their portfolio so they can continue to offer world class heart and lung care. However, the Fulham Wing is a once in a lifetime opportunity for The Royal Marsden to expand within its current Chelsea base, into a building situated perfectly between the hospital and our academic partner, the ICR. We believe there is a way which takes the needs of both The Royal Marsden and the Royal Brompton into account and does not negatively impacting on the Royal Brompton’s overall goal
If we were able to purchase the Fulham Road Wing we would also retain the façade, in keeping with the look and feel of the conservation area, while introducing a hybrid of healthcare service and provision including NHS facilities, private care, and delivery of world-leading clinical research. This will free up other space on our existing Chelsea site to ensure the continued development and substantial growth in world class translational clinical trial and research facilities.
We have the finances available to purchase the Fulham Road Wing as a health care facility, valued at approximately £30m, and deliver this expansion of The Royal Marsden. The money to fund this project would come from a hybrid of donations from The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, Trust surplus, and a loan. The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity has an excellent track record in fundraising for significant projects, including the new Children’s Centre on our Sutton site, and a large chunk of the post-fire redevelopment work. Our Foundation Trust status also allows us to acquire low interest loans.
Support The Royal Marsden
If you would like to help The Royal Marsden continue to be a world leading cancer facility and prevent further luxury residential development in Chelsea taking much needed health care space, then you can by participating in the SPD consultation of The Royal Brompton’s hospital development plans highlighting the following points:
The Council need to retain the Fulham Road Wing as a healthcare facility. The decision to grant the change of use for the Fulham Road Wing will have widespread implications for local residents. If luxury residential housing is approved it will be another step towards removing important amenities from Chelsea and turning the area into a residential ghetto. The Council should not be prioritising luxury residential housing as there is a sufficient amount already in Chelsea. In contrast, there are not enough world-leading healthcare services.
The Royal Marsden needs to expand to continue being a world leading cancer hospital in Chelsea. The Royal Marsden has been serving the Chelsea community for generations and by allowing it to expand into the Fulham Road Wing there is a once in a lifetime chance to grow its research, treatment and patient care. The Royal Marsden has the funding to acquire and develop the site without negatively impacting on the Royal Brompton's plans to redevelop and should, at the very least, be considered.
Due to the speed of the process, and The Royal Marsden’s proposals not being taken into account, not all options have been fully considered. The Fulham Road Wing site has been used for healthcare for over a century and all alternatives need to be explored before the Council makes any firm commitments. Therefore there is a need for a pause in the planning process so the two hospitals can work together to ensure both health care facilities can continue to work in Chelsea successfully.
Consultation responses should be emailed to neighbourhood.planning@rbkc.gov.uk or sent to The Executive Director of Planning and Borough Development, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, The Town Hall, Horton Street, London W8 7NX
We would also thoroughly appreciate if you could spread our campaign to as many residents of Chelsea as possible.
If you have any further questions about The Royal Marsden’s proposals or our campaign please contact Matthew Faulding on 020 3178 3583 or email matthewfaulding@cavendishpc.co.uk
