Courts Redevelopment plan not agreed

Epsom & Ewell borough council's Planning Committee have voted not to approve a revised scheme to redevelop the former Crown Court and Magistrates Court buildings, because insufficient parking places were proposed in an area with chronic parking problems.

The scheme involved 46 flats in two blocks, plus space suitable for a doctors' surgery or alternatively offices, with parking in the basement under one block only. However this would give less than one space per flat and a number of spaces would be required for the doctors' surgery. The majority of councillors agreed that the basement parking should have been proposed under both blocks, to avoid further demand for on-street parking in an area where residents are already crying out for a Residents Parking Scheme.

Cllr Colin Taylor, who was the first to call for a refusal, said: "We are already hearing accounts of local residents having to park as far as a mile away from their homes. It was time for the councillors to make a stand and not allow the situation to get worse."