By next November, Putney Hospital on Putney Lower Common, will have been standing empty for six years. Why is it being left to rot like this, people ask? Why isn't something being done to clear away this eyesore and turn the site into something better? Concerned as they are by this ugly blemish disfiguring the otherwise attractive Lower Common, the Conservators do not have the answers to these questions since they do not own the hospital. Its owners, the Wandsworth Primary Care Trust, have been grappling with the problem of what to with the empty hospital since before its closure in November 1999. They have spent considerable sums of money since then on the site, mainly because of the need to keep the empty premises secure and sage from intruders and also on professional fees for the teams of lawyers, architects, quantity surveyors etc, who have been trying to work up proposals for a redevelopment scheme. It has been estimated that over £2m of NHS money has been spent so far, with not much in real terms to show for it. Access to the hard-surfaced areas around the hospital building, all of which belong to the Conservators, has had to be made secure to prevent incursion by travellers and those who are on the look-out for sites for the unauthorised tipping of rubbish (a very profitable activity). The neglect of these open areas adds to the general unsightliness, but everyone had hoped that this state of affairs would be relatively short-lived. The Conservators share the widespread dismay that things are dragging on the way they are.
So, what is the Wandsworth Primary Care Trust doing? Well, we all know that they are keen to see the site redeveloped by the provision of a brand new primary care centre building for three of Putney's doctors' practices and for medical services presently provided at the Eileen Lecky Clinic in Clarendon Drive, Putney. This proposition has, in general terms, been given widespread support. It is supported by the Conservators. This proposal would see site continue in the medical use started when Putney Hospital replaced the previous two Victorian villas on the side in 1912. The local philanthropists who bought the site and raised the funds to enable the hospital to be built would be pleased to see this perpetuation of their desire to serve Putney's needs.
The problems arise when you get down to the details. How is the redevelopment to be paid for given that the NHS, these days, simply doesn't provide money for capital projects of this kind? And how is the fact that the site is surrounded by Common land, with no proper access to the public highway, to be resolved given that, at present, the Conservators' legal powers do not enable them to grant easements of access (only a licence) over Common land? Is the site big enough for the medical centre the doctors (and their 30,000 patients) would like to see with all the necessary on-site car parking provision which such a centre would need to have? The site sits within a conservation area - can the architects produce proposals which would preserve and enhance the character and appearance of the area, something Wandsworth Council (the local Planning Authority) would insist on? The Council has said that any new buildings proposed must not exceed the height of the present buildings on the site; this presents a real problem. Seven trees on the site area are covered by a Tree Preservation Order; are these trees at risk?
These are all particularly complex issues and present the WPCT's architects with a daunting task. Different schemes have been produced showing how redevelopment might be achieved (after many months of detailed discussions with all concerned). But, as yet, no scheme appears to overcome all the constraints which make this site such a challenge. It was thought, last September, that a satisfactory redevelopment scheme had bee achieved but then it was found to be too costly. A more modest scheme was then worked out but it involved the health authority developing land not in their ownership which, obviously, raised very serious legal issues. This scheme seemed to indicate that the WPCT was attempting to squeeze more onto the site than it could reasonably contain. Trying to get a quart into a pint pot is never easy.
The Conservators are cooperating closely with the WPCT to facilitate a satisfactory redevelopment on their land. The Wimbledon and Putney Commons Act, however, places a statutory duty on the Conservators to ensure that their own land is protected from any harmful development which might impinge on the Common in a damaging way.
So, how and when are these complex issues to be resolved? The latest position on all these matters will be fully reported at the Conservators Annual Open Meeting on Wednesday 15 June.