24 – 28 West Street Epsom KT18 7RJ

Click here to see map for location of 24 – 28 West Street Epsom Surrey KT18 7RJ .

21/00986/FUL Demolition of existing building (associated with application 19/01021/FUL seeking redevelopment of the site for mixed use development).

The previous application for this site (19/01021/FUL) attracted more than 500 objections and was deferred at the May 2021 Planning Committee Meeting, following many concerns being expressed by the Committee Members on the suitability of the main development, including several demolition-specific points.

Since the previous application also included demolition of the existing buildings, the Society believes this additional application to be entirely superflous, if not a spurious distraction, serving only as a possible way of prematurely creating a derelict or semi-derelict site available for development, thus ostensibly increasing the weight of argument for allowing a further application to be made in due course.

The Society argued in the previous similar case of the Guild Living proposal on the hospital site that, to ensure that all planning issues arising from both demolition, the subsequent (possibly lengthy) period of construction, and the enduring consequences of the finished development can be considered together. In the Guild Living case, permission to demolish was granted, demolition commenced, and then ceased part way through once the replacement building proposed was refused permission. Leaving sites half-demolished with no extant permission for any replacement is clearly the worst temporary outcome for local residents.

The Society has therefore urged the Council to ask the applicant to withdraw this application, failing which to refuse it, denying the opportunity to create a similar undesirable situation in West Street.

See our letter here.