• From June 9, 2006:

PLANS surfaced to build an “iconic” 15-storey tower block overlooking Canbury Gardens, which would be Kingston’s tallest building.

Architects aimed to build a seven-storey hotel and business centre on the site of the old power station in Skerne Road plus the 15-storey residential building closer to Canbury Gardens.

The owner of the site, NHP Leisure, had previously hoped to build a seven-storey hotel and multi-use riverside development near Wood Street but, after wrangles about car parking, decided to build a student residence there instead.

The designs showed the building in glass and timber curved up at the sides away from Canbury Gardens. The plans included one super-luxury penthouse on the 15th floor.

NHP managing director Philip Trim, who said the company’s past experience led the firm to believe that planners wanted an iconic building for Kingston, said the building would be “stunning.”

He added: “The planning application we submitted last year for Wood Street followed a traditional design for the residential scheme and that met with disappointment in design terms.

“Officers believed that the site warranted an iconic building.”

But not everyone in Kingston was excited by the proposals.

Tony Leitch from the Kingston Society said: “If it is 15 storeys high it is going to loom over Canbury Gardens.

“That would destroy the whole ambience there and I think it is an outrageous idea.”

Mr Leitch added that NHP should outline the details of the scheme as soon as possible to help people understand why they should accept something so tall.

Hugh Scantlebury of the Canbury and Riverside Residents’ Association said: “Redevelopment is a good thing but 15 storeys is not a good thing. It isn’t in keeping with the environment.”

He also raised concerns about the safety of building on the old power station site as there was an electrical substation there.

NHP was in the process of applying to Kingston Council for an environmental impact report and hoped to submit a plan to the council within a month.

The developer was given planning permission for a 229 bed-space student residence off Wood Street in 2003 but had been negotiating to build a hotel there.

It then reverted to its student residence plan and it was expected to start work on three buildings of up to eight storeys to be ready by 2008.

  • From June 16, 2006:

KINGSTON University was rated as “poor” for student satisfaction and ranked only 89th out of 109 universities in a national survey. The university criticised the ranking, which was published The Times newspaper’s league tables and taken from a survey of about 170,000 final university undergraduates.

  • From June 21, 1991:

Kingston Council agreed to review its order for a playgroup to leave its Old Malden premises after outraged parents launched a campaign to save it. The Parish Rooms playgroup was ordered to leave its base in an old Manor Farm building, in Church Lane, before the council backtracked.

  • From June 22, 1966:

A Kingston housewife painted a “slow down” warning and a drawing of her cat on her garden wall after her beloved pet was run over and killed by a van. The sign, which included a cross at one end and “Rest in Peace” at the other, was painted by Ann Whitby, of Liverpool Road, after her 10-year old cat Moriarty was killed.