The SoS said that the density, scale and form of the proposed development at Reynard Mills Business Park would cause harm to the character and appearance of the area and would not achieve the "high quality" required by policy.
The Council had rejected the plans by LP (Brentford) Ltd in April last year. It said that the level of development was seen as "excessive", the layout and design were "out of keeping with the area", there was a lack of amenity space and it would have had "harmful impacts on traffic and parking conditions in the area".
The SoS in his decision letter agreed with an inspector recommending refusal of the plans. He said that, although the application was outline and maximum heights could therefore be controlled by a planning condition, there was "nothing to suggest that 275 dwellings could be achieved on-site with the layout proposed other than with the scales and heights indicated".
"The proposals would not represent a transition or a continuation of the existing transition between the higher buildings along the Great West Road and the almost entirely 2/3 storey development surrounding the appeal site on the other three sides, but would extend higher-rise development into contrasting low-rise residential areas, imposing upon rather than respecting the characters of those areas," the SoS said.
The SoS concluded that re-use of the site for residential development would "in principle be acceptable in policy terms" and that some of the factors weighing against the proposals would not "individually justify dismissal of the appeal".
However, he said that the density, scale and form of the scheme combined with the increased demand for parking and additional traffic it would create pointed to "overdevelopment" of the site. He said he had not identified "any material considerations of sufficient weight" to justify granting permission.
A previous application by LP (Brentford) Ltd to develop 315 homes on the site was withdrawn in August 2011 following objections from local residents and the Council also relating to the density and character of the proposals.
