Residents' Association Forum

Mature Oak and Beech, Yews and immature Red Oak in front all felled. What a sight !

A couple of years ago there was something here indicating that the owners of 29 Embercourt Road  would follow suit with a planning application to demolish it and build a number of houses if the application for a similar thing at 31 Embercourt Road was approved.  Which it was.

29 Embercourt Road was the residence of Sir Sidney Camm the designer of the Hurricane and other wonderful aircraft who would surely be a good choice for a blue plaque, but for some reason no plaque was erected to honour him.

The felling of trees (I assume they were not the subject of Tree Protection Orders and they are not in a conservation area) might be a prelude to a planning application?  I can't find one on Elmbridge's planning  web pages - have I missed something or is this now about to happen?

The thread on 31 Embercourt road predicted a domino effect along the road to replace big houses with many more smaller but still substantial ones.  I think that seems unstoppable now.  Probably more houses are needed all round, so we must hope that further developments along the road will be of good quality.  The traffic situation can only get worse.

Yes. Thames Ditton…..sadly, a bit more like Earlsfield every day…..

Always disappointing to hear TD has lost yet more trees. When no.29 was put up for sale at the start of the year it was marketed as a potential building plot so I imagine a planning application is in the pipeline.

It's sad to see a house with some notable history demolished but it did seem like a prime site for a sensible housing development that could help take pressure off other less suited sites. Perhaps a nod to Sir Sidney could be incorporated in the naming of the development.

I hadn't made the connection with Camm Gardens before but guess it must be a past tribute?

Yes, the naming of Camm Gardens must have been a tribute to Sir Sydney but if there is any surviving documentation it will be in the council archives.  No 29 Embercourt Road was named Carradale when he lived there.  See e.g. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/hawkerassociation/hanewsletters/hanewsletter014nvu/cammprivate.html ("Elizabeth Dickson, Sir Sydney's granddaughter, gave the following address at the Memorial Service, which shows a more intimate picture of the great man......")

Other mature trees have also been felled in the back garden.     What must once have been a large and well appointed family house, with a carefully tended garden, does, unfortunately, now look like a site being cleared for development. 

Its only a hunch, but perhaps these trees have been felled to forestall planning conditions to retain them, if and when a planning application is lodged? 

There is a reference to an orchard in the article above - is it still there, or have those trees gone as well ?