A petition has been drawn up against plans to demolish a community hall to make way for flats.

Developer Howarth Homes Plc wants to build 49 apartments and a replacement community building at the site of Fassnidge Memorial Hall in Uxbridge town centre.

The property behind High Street is owned by the Fassnidge Memorial Trust and leased to the Uxbridge Old People's Welfare Association, which provides meals for the elderly.

Concerned resident Katrina Patterson, who has lived in the area for 37 years, has so far gathered around 60 signatures opposing the plans.

She says the application is an 'erosion of the ethos of the Fassnidge [Memorial] Trust', which was set up to look after buildings and land left to Hillingdon Council by wealthy landowner Kate Fassnidge.

She said: “It does seem like it was left to the people of Uxbridge, not to 49 individuals to live in flats above the land.”

Furthermore, she argues that high-rise buildings with balconies should not be built in a polluted area, next to a busy roundabout and the Cedars car park, and that the development will 'pollute the skyline'.

Credit: Howarth Homes. The existing Fassnidge Memorial Hall, behind High Street, in Uxbridge

Four previous plans to redevelop the site, submitted by other companies, were rejected because the land is next to the Old Uxbridge and Windsor Street Conservation Area.

Howarth Homes says its plans have been 'designed to preserve and enhance the character and appearance of the conservation area and the setting of the nearby listing buildings'.

Fassnidge Memorial Trust director and former councillor David Horne added: “The new developers have looked at all the [past] reasons for refusal and designed a scheme around those reasons.”

He said the hall was 'past its sell-by date', adding: “We are making the best use of the land that we hold, in the interests of the community. The hall would be open not just for the Uxbridge Old People's Welfare Association; other community groups and organisations will also be available to hire it.”

The proposed development would include a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom properties. The developer would own the flats and the trust would own the new hall.

The old people's association has used the existing hall since it was built. Every weekday, around 20 people aged over 60 use the facility, which is staffed by one paid cook and three volunteers.

Rita Wilson, treasurer and trustee for the association, said she supported the development, but was worried about where those who use the building would go while work is being completed, which could take up to two years.

She said: “[The building] is now beginning to show its age in many ways. Half of me – more than half – believes the old people deserve something better.”

She added: “But there's a bit of me that worries: while it's being developed, what are my diners going to do?”

Miss Wilson said one option being considered, but only as a 'last resort', was organising a bus to take the diners to the Kate Fassnidge Community Hall in High Street, Northwood, which the trust also runs.

Credit: Howarth Homes. An artist's impression of how the proposed development at the Fassnidge Memorial Hall in Uxbridge would look

Hillingdon Council needs to build 425 homes a year to meet its housing targets, which will soon increase to 559 homes a year.

Planning officials are scheduled to decide whether or not to allow the development by December 1.