Majestic Way plans for 11 storey blocks on Poundland to Morrisons stretch would blight Mitcham Village

Plans for blocks up to 11 storeys high for Majestic Way in the heart of Mitcham Village would destroy our village, and set a precedent for other sites to match or go even higher.

We were shocked to see proposals for plans for flats up to 11 storeys high proposed for the Majestic Way site right in the heart of Mitcham Village. 

These proposals come from Clarion, Merton's key partner for the provision of social homes.

We fully support the desire to provide more social homes in our borough, and we are also pleased to see aspirations for the ground floor level to include small scale local retail and community space.

But there our support ends. 

Among the many problems with this proposal are:

  • Proposed community space on the ground floor, located at the St Mark's road end of Majestic Way, is far too small and far to ill-defined att this stage. There is also no provision for the much needed public toilets - including a Changing Places toilet, which our Village desperately needs.
  • At up to 11 storeys the proposal goes against Merton Council's own policy on Tall Buildings (more than six storeys), in its new Local Plan - which was only adopted in November 2024. This clearly lists the few locations where tall buildings are allowed, and Mitcham Village is not among them. 
  • Even at its lowest point, facing onto London Road, our Village green (Fair Green), our market square and our iconic Grade II listed Clock tower, the six storeys proposed are dominant and overbearing. Their poor design and blocky character adds to their imposing effect, though it has to be said that no design would mitigate the detrimental effect of building of this height at the heart of Mitcham Village.

We firmly believe that if this planning application is given permission, it will cause serious and significant harm to Mitcham Village, not just in itself, but because it will be a green light to other developers to either match the height or go higher. This would lead to Mitcham Village being completely subsumed by tall blocks of flats. Our Village character will be gone, and what makes Mitcham Village special will be gone.

Images below taken from the planning application documents show just how overbearing the development would be. 

25 P2282 Majestic Way 1 crop

25 P2282 Majestic Way Montrose Gardens

 

25 P2282 Mitcham Society comments 1 to 12 Majestic Way