Last week the Planning Inspectorate released the outcome of a planning appeal against the Council’s decision to refuse permission for the Mercedes Garage site on Brighton Road, Redhill, to be converted to retail use.  The Council had argued that an expansion of retail space in that location would risk damage to the town centre shops, especially in the current economic environment, and the planning inspector agreed.  The inspector also agreed with the Council that it should not bear the costs of the appeal.

Details of the appeal decision can be found at the following link:

http://www.pcs.planningportal.gov.uk/pcsportal/fscdav/READONLY?OBJ=COO.2036.300.12.3911460&NAME=/2159303%20DECISION.pdf

The proposed new office building

The current office building

The proposed flats

Two planning applications have just been registered by the Council to replace the old Social Security offices in London Road (next to Nash Drive), which have been empty since 2007.

One of the applications is for a new office building, at the front of the site facing onto London Road (illustrated to the left) – this Design Statement summarises the application.  The page containing all of the details of the office application can be accessed here.  Click here to comment formally on this application, and/or leave informal comments on this webpage.

The second application is for the rear part of the site, and is for a block of 14 flats, which would be accessed from Nash Gardens - this Design Statement summarises the application.  The page containing all of the details of the office application can be accessed here.  Click here to comment formally on this application, and/or leave informal comments on this webpage.

The applications have been submitted by Lamron Developments (Redhill) Limited and Hodnet Properties Limited, represented by Fibonacci-Architects.

As outlined in our earlier article an application for a mobile phone mast backing on to Carlton Green will be coming to the Planning Committee next Wednesday (18th January).

Although the recommendation of the planning officials is for the application to be granted, the local ward councillors are minded to oppose the application, in the belief that the proposal would have a significant visual impact on the locality and also that other, preferable sites have not been considered seriously enough.

Cllr Natalie Bramhall comments:

We have discussed this application intensively in recent weeks with local residents, the Carlton Residents’ Association, planning officers and other Councillors.  Myself and the other ward councillors will ensure that the views of local residents are heard by the Planning Committee, and given full weight against other considerations.”

You can view here the letter which the local councillors have delivered to all local residents, outlining relevant issues:  201201 Gatton Park Road mast – resident letter

The Council will be accepting comments on the application up until the date of the Committee itself – follow the link above to the original article to see how you can make a comment.

The Planning Committee will also consider two other mast applications at the same meeting, both in the vicinity of Pendleton Road between Redhill and Reigate.

Link to full article:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-15892512

As outlined in our article in February (linked here) Sainsbury’s have submitted a full planning application to the Council for their proposed enlarged store, hotel and gym.  The full application can be found on the dedicate website, here.

Since the application was submitted the Council’s planning department has been scrutinising it carefully, investigating the impact the proposal would have on the town and the consistency of the application with the technical planning policies, both local and national.

Your councillors have also been scrutinising the plans.  Particular focus has been placed on the following aspects:

• The impact of the development on the road network – councillors have been reviewing the lengthy Transport Assessment, submitted as part of the application.
• The parking arrangements – in particular the arrangements for the library and Harlequin, and ensuring that there is adequate after hours parking for late night Harlequin performances.
• The proposals for replacing the canopy – ensuring that the proposals are robust, and don’t end up replacing one eyesore with another.

It is not yet possible to know when the application will come to the Planning Committee for a final decision – this will depend how long it takes for various questions raised to be answered by Sainsbury’s.  We will keep you updated as we find out more.

A Redhill man who chopped down a tree in Redstone Hill conservation area, Redhill without permission has been fined £100 and ordered to pay £100 in costs.

Mr James McMenamin of Ladbroke Road pleaded guilty to the offence at Redhill Magistrates Court on 25 February 2011.

Council officers were called to a property on Redstone Hill in July last year after a member of the public reported that a large Sycamore tree at the front of the house was in the process of being cut down. When officers arrived, the tree had been felled with only the stump remaining. Mr McMenamin admitted carrying out the works on behalf of the property owner.

As the property is in the Redstone Hill Conservation Area, permission to remove the tree should have been sought before any work was carried out. Failure to do so is a breach of The Town & Country Planning Act 1990 as amended.

Cllr Mike Miller, Executive Member for Planning, Transport and Housing, said: “We are committed to protecting the character of the borough. The tree in question was a prominent tree in the Redstone Hill conservation Area.

“If you are planning to carry out work on trees it is important to first check whether they are protected or if there are any planning restrictions and gain the correct permission.

“Prosecuting Mr McMenamin will not bring the tree back but I hope it sends a very strong message that we are determined to deal firmly with anyone who breaks planning rules and threatens the environment we work so hard to protect.”

Cllr Miller added:

“We rely on local residents reporting planning breaches to us, as in this case, so we can investigate at an early stage.”

Residents can easily report planning enforcement issues by calling the Council’s Help Line on 01737 276000, emailing planning.enforcement@reigate-banstead.gov.uk or by using the “Report it” facility on our website: www.reigate-banstead.gov.uk.

The Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for two new houses in the back gardens of 16 and 18 Carlton Road has been upheld by a Government Inspector.

The Planning Committee voted unanimously to refuse the application at a meeting in September 2010, despite the fact that the application was recommended for approval by the Council’s planning officers.  The applicant subsequently appealed to the Government Inspectorate to overturn the Council’s refusal of permission.

Full details of the original planning application can be found here:  RBBC planning section.  The Inspector’s decision report can be viewed here:  dec letter 10 01133 OUT.

Cllr Julian Ellacott, who proposed the original refusal of the application at the Planning Committee meeting, said:

“Building two houses in back gardens, as this application proposed, would have been to the detriment of Carlton Road’s character as a road of larger houses with large back gardens.  We do not have many roads left in Redhill which have such an open character, so we need to retain the character of those which still exist.

“The Planning Committee refused the application in very strong terms, and the Inspector clearly did not want to overturn that decision, which was made locally and democratically.  Where new development helps improve an area we will be supportive, but where it detracts from an area, such as this one, we will not.”

Our article highlighting the new Government’s initial changes to local planning, which were pivotal in the Carlton Road decision, can be accessed at the following link:  http://www.redhillcouncillors.co.uk/2010/06/new-government-moves-quickly-on-local-planning-issues/

At the Planning Committee last night (Wednesday 16 February) the planning application made by Tesco for a new store on the Ford garage site was refused planning permission.

Further information on the application is available here, with supplementary information provided by Tesco in the the past week available on this page.

A number of things have moved on in recent days in relation to the supermarket proposals:

• Our survey has now closed. The results of the four main questions are summarised in the graphs at the bottom of this page, and a full report of the results is available to view at the following link:  20110216 Supermarket survey FINAL
• Sainsbury’s have submitted a full planning application based on the plans shown at the recent exhibition – these can be viewed on their website, or on the Council’s website, where you can also submit comments on it.
• Sainsbury’s have also published a summary of the results of their consultation exercise, available at the following link:  Sainsburys Briefing note
• Tesco have sent a brochure and a “late news” note to all Councillors on the the Planning Committee, in advance to this evening’s decision on their application, which can be viewed here:  Tesco Redhill councillor briefing 14 Feb 2011 and tesco redhill late news

We will provide further updates whever we can.  As ever we welcome feedback via comments on this page, subject to our fair comment policy.

For reference, the original pages for each of the applications, which link to older comments and more underlying material, are linked to below:

• Sainsburys’ proposal

• Tesco’s proposal

• ASDA’s proposal

Graphs of survey results

The results of the survey are summarised below – click a graph to enlarge it:

A full report of the results, along with background information on the survey itself and the additional comments left by participants, is available to view at the following link:  20110216 Supermarket survey FINAL

Please also note the restrictions on publishing the results of the survey, which can be found on the front page of the full report linked to above.

PLEASE NOTE – THE SURVEY IS NOW CLOSED.  CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK TO DOWNLOAD THE RESULTS IN FULL:  20110216 Supermarket survey FINAL

ALTERNATIVELY VIEW THE SUMMARY OF RESULTS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE

As we have highlighted in recent weeks, there are now three proposals for new or extended supermarkets in Redhill.  This is very welcome for the town but the decisions over which plans to approve is going to be crucial for the town.

The three proposals, with links to our dedicated pages for each, are as follows:

• Sainsburys’ proposal for a new store on the site of the existing one

• Tesco’s proposal for a new store on the site of the Lifestyle Ford garage

• ASDA’s proposal for a new store on the Cromwell Road site

Thank you to those who have added comments on the proposals, which we have taken on board.  You can now also say which plans you prefer by taking our quick survey – follow the link below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZXH3F7D

Thank you for your time in helping us make the right decisions for Redhill.