Richmond's Local Plan was adopted in October 2025 and requires 5,928 homes by 2039. What that means, plus the Stag Brewery and Twickenham Riverside schemes.

Planning in Richmond upon Thames has just been through its biggest change in a decade. The borough adopted a new Local Plan in October 2025, and two schemes that had been argued over for years, the Stag Brewery in Mortlake and Twickenham Riverside, both moved from dispute to delivery. This page sets out what the plan requires, what is being built, and how to check an application near you.

The Local Plan, adopted October 2025

Richmond Council formally adopted its new Local Plan at Full Council in October 2025, after independent inspectors confirmed it was legally compliant and sound. The plan had been submitted to the Secretary of State on 19 January 2024, examined in public through June and July 2024, and the inspectors reported in September 2025.

The plan runs from 2024 to 2039 and sets a housing requirement of 5,928 dwellings over that period, derived from the London Plan target. The trajectory in Policy 10 is stepped rather than flat, so more homes are expected in the later years of the plan than the early ones. It also carries the borough’s place-based strategies and its site allocations, and sets a net zero target for the borough of 2043.

Key figures for planning in Richmond upon Thames: Local Plan adopted October 2025 covering 2024 to 2039, housing requirement 5,928 dwellings, Stag Brewery 1,075 homes with 65 affordable, Twickenham Riverside 45 homes at 50 per cent affordable, and more than 250 council affordable homes due within two years
The numbers that now govern what gets permission in Richmond upon Thames.

What that means in practice is that the plan, not case-by-case argument, is now the starting point for every decision. If a proposal conflicts with an adopted policy, the applicant has to show why the plan should be set aside. If it accords with one, refusal gets harder to sustain on appeal.

Stag Brewery, Mortlake: 1,075 homes, decided by an inspector

The former Stag Brewery site in Mortlake is the largest redevelopment area in the borough, and the argument over it ran for roughly a decade. It ended not at the council but at the Planning Inspectorate.

The scheme was allowed on appeal in May 2025. It permits 1,075 new homes, including 65 affordable homes, a secondary school with a sixth form, more than 10,000 square metres of commercial space, and public realm work including new pedestrian and cycle routes and improved access to the Thames. The inquiry, held in November 2024, considered two applications: one for the homes, one for the school.

The route it took matters. Richmond Council had previously approved plans for the site; the Mayor of London challenged them on the grounds of insufficient affordable housing. The version now permitted delivers 65 affordable homes out of 1,075, which is a little over 6% of the total, and that ratio is the reason the scheme was contested for so long. Councillor Gareth Roberts, the council’s leader, framed the decision as an opportunity for the community while saying the council would work with the developers on what gets delivered.

For Mortlake and East Sheen residents, the practical consequence over the next few years is construction traffic on a site bounded by the South Circular and the river, in a ward whose median sold house price is £860,000.

Twickenham Riverside: under construction now

Twickenham Riverside is the council’s own scheme, and unlike the Stag Brewery it is already being built. Planning permission was granted in November 2022 for 45 homes, 50% of them affordable, along with shops, a cafe, offices, community space and a reworked public riverside with terraced lawns, gardens, a children’s play area and an event space.

By March 2026 the site had moved from demolition into groundworks, and by the council’s June 2026 update it was into the superstructure phase with two tower cranes installed. That update recorded 4,200 tonnes of demolition material crushed and reused on site, 600 cubic metres of concrete poured for basement works and 43 tonnes of reinforcement steel installed, with 95% of demolition material to be recycled or reused. Kier is the construction partner.

If you drive or walk through Twickenham town centre, this is the source of the construction traffic on the embankment, and it will be for some time yet.

Affordable housing: what the council itself is building

Separately from private schemes, the council reported in March 2026 that more than 250 genuinely affordable homes were then under construction and due for completion within two years, out of a delivery pipeline of more than 1,000 new homes across the borough. The sites named were Ham Close, the former Greggs bakery site and the Richmond College site. The council also said it had bought 47 homes since 2022 for temporary and permanent accommodation, with at least 50 more planned, and had completed 118 affordable homes over the previous four years.

Set against a Local Plan requirement of 5,928 homes to 2039, those are useful numbers for judging claims in either direction: the council is building, and it is building a fraction of what the plan requires overall.

How to check or comment on an application near you

Richmond is not on the Idox system that most councils use, which catches people out. The borough’s planning register is an Agile Applications citizen portal, and the working search address is planning.richmond.gov.uk/richmond/search-applications/. The old www2.richmond.gov.uk planning case number page now redirects there. You can search by address, postcode, application reference or date, and comment on applications that are still in their consultation period.

For policy questions rather than individual applications, the adopted plan, the policies map and the adoption statement are all on the council’s adopted Local Plan page.

Frequently asked questions

When was Richmond’s Local Plan adopted?

At Full Council in October 2025, following an examination in public in June and July 2024 and an inspectors’ report in September 2025 confirming the plan was legally compliant and sound.

How many homes does Richmond have to build?

5,928 dwellings between 2024 and 2039, from the London Plan target. The trajectory is stepped, with more delivery expected in the later years of the plan period.

What is happening at the Stag Brewery in Mortlake?

Permission was allowed on appeal in May 2025 for 1,075 homes including 65 affordable homes, a secondary school with sixth form and over 10,000 square metres of commercial space, on a site that had stood empty for close to a decade.

Is Twickenham Riverside actually being built?

Yes. As of the council’s June 2026 update, the site is in the superstructure phase with two tower cranes on it. The scheme is 45 homes, half of them affordable, plus shops, offices, community space and a new public riverside.

How do I find a planning application in Richmond?

Use the council’s Agile planning portal at planning.richmond.gov.uk/richmond/search-applications/. Richmond does not use the Idox public access system, so search URLs copied from other London boroughs will not work here.

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