Councillors to decide on future of South Ruislip's £85m redevelopment plan

Plans for the £85million redevelopment of South Ruislip's Arla Foods site will be discussed by councillors.

The Major Applications Planning Committee at Hillingdon Council will meet on February 11 to decide whether plans for a Cineworld cinema, an Asda supermarket, family restaurants, cafes, shops and 100 family homes will be granted planning permission.

The former Express Dairies in Victoria Road has been vacant since 2005 and developer Citygrove has said the build will create 600 jobs and help to regenerate South Ruislip.

Planning officers at the council have recommended that the application should be refused by the committee despite 121 letters and a petition in support of the plans.

However a total of 43 individual letters of objection and a petition objecting to the planning application have been sent to the council, primarily on the grounds of increased traffic generation and traffic congestion at the Victoria Road and Long Drive junction and the surrounding road network.

Officers also have concerns relating to the scale of the development, air quality, impact on retail provision and flooding at the site.

Citygrove consulted Hillingdon Council, Transport for London and South Ruislip Residents’ Association when finalising the plans, which were submitted in June last year.

The plans were amended when HS2 threatened to derail the project after it emerged a section of the site had been safeguarded by HS2 Ltd to build an access shaft for the tunnel which would pass to the south-west of the development.