Ten Days Left for Upper High Street Consultation

The borough council's consultation on the Upper High Street "development" site ends on 3rd February. Most important is that residents tell the council if they favour a foodstore fronting Upper High Street, in the centre of the site or fronting Church Street.

The results of the consultation will go toward creating a Development Brief for the area, which will, in turn, be a useful planning tool to ensure that future planning applications for the area will tie in with what the Brief suggests. What the Development Brief will NOT be, is a council-funded regeneration project for the development site. The likelihood is that the area will be developed piecemeal as and when the various landowners decide to sell or demolish and rebuild. The Development Brief is intended to become a legal planning document, unlike the Development Brief which was written up by the council after a public consultation some five years ago.

The borough council owns the two car parks involved : Depot Road and the Upper High Street. Tesco Stores Ltd. owns the old Allams Motors site (demoliition of which is shown in the photograph). The United Reformed Church owns some of the land. Rosebery Housing Association owns some of the land.

Broadly speaking, there are three options presented within the consultation, but some of those options have choices within them. Option 1 suggests a foodstore fronting Upper High Street, Option 2 suggests a foodstore being built in the centre of the site, Option 3 suggests a foodstore fronting Church Street. There is housing, there are retail outlets, car parking and more, all in a variety of locations from which to choose, depending upon which Option is preferred. The Fire Station land is also included in the consultation.

Visit www.epsom-ewell.gov.uk and follow the link on the home page. If you haven't responded to a consultation on line before, you would need to register, but this is pretty simple. After registering, you need to "log in" again and read the full document, then tap in to the consultation portal which should take you to a simple form on which to put your comments. The whole document is available at the Town Hall (and other public buildings) if hard copy is preferred. Please contact either Cllr Alison Kelly or Cllr Julie Morris if you'd like more help or information on this consultation.