Click here to see map for location of the Salesian College Sports Ground.

15/00845/FUL

Demolition of existing buildings. Erection of a part 2 /part 3 storey building to be used as a 60 unit Extra Care facility (Use Class C2) with associated communal and ancillary facilities, including car and cycle parking and landscaping. Re-laying of sports pitches including an all weather surface, the erection of a two storey pavilion and provision of associated car and cycle parking. Provision of altered access onto Old Schools Lane.

The Society Committee discussed this application at length during the recent committee meeting: while supportive in principle of the idea of bringing the bulk of this now derelict and unused sports facility back into use, we have reservations about the bulk of the proposed care home to be built on the remaining part of the site, and also greater concerns about any development at all on a designated strategic open space, in case this creates a precedent putting other open space and/or Green Belt under additional pressure.

We have asked the Council to see whether the remaining sports ground area could, instead of the proposed 125 year lease to Epsom Sports Club to manage the facility, be conveyed instead so as to protect it for the longer term and so minimise the risk of an unwanted precedent being set.

See our letter here.