PLANNING APPLICATION AND THE HOUSEBOAT 'ASTORIA'

That this House takes note that a planning application has been sumitted to Richmond upon Thames Borough Council for at least four car parking spaces on open land at Garrick Estate, Hogarth Way, Hampton, Middlesex, with a statement that these are required for residents of the houseboat 'Astoria' moored in the River Thames nearby, that there is only one resident, a caretaker, in the 'Astoria', that the 'Astoria' is used normally for commercial purposes as a recording studio by the Pink Floyd group, that the Richmond upon Thames Council has so far been reluctant to comply with the requests of objectors to check the claim of the applicant that the parking spaces are for residential use; and, in the light of the statutory duty upon local authorities to consider all material planning aspects, requests the Secretary of State for the Environment to ask the Richmond upon Thames Borough Council to ascertain the facts as to the residential use over a reasonable period of time, before any planning decision is taken.