®Planning appeal decision
Epsom Ewell & St. Hellier Nhs Trust, Epsom General Hospital Dorking Road, EPSOM, KT18 7EG
demolition of the existing hospital buildings, accommodation block and associated structures and redevelopment of the site to provide a new care community for older people arranged in two buildings, comprising 302 care residences, 10 care apartments and 28 care suites providing transitional care, together with ancillary communal and support services Use Class C2, 24 key worker units Use Class C3, children’s nursery Use Class E, as well as associated back of house and service areas, car and cycle parking, altered vehicular and pedestrian access, landscaping, private amenity space and public open space. Appeal B: APP/P3610/W/21/3276483 Epsom General Hospital, Dorking Road, Epsom KT18 7EG
- Authority
- Epsom and Ewell Borough Council
- Appeal type
- major · Planning Appeal
- Procedure
- Inquiry
- Development
- residential · Other Major Developments
- Inspector
- Prentis D
Main issues, as the Inspector framed them
- the effect of the proposals on the character and appearance of the area
- the effect of the proposals on the historic environment
- the effect of the proposals on the living conditions of neighbouring residents
- whether the proposals would make satisfactory provision for affordable housing and the infrastructure required to support the development
What decided it
The decisive factor was the height and massing of the buildings relative to their context: in Appeal A this caused significant harm to character and appearance that outweighed the benefits, whereas the reduced height of Appeal B avoided such harm and allowed the scheme's benefits to prevail.
For Appeal A, the adverse effects of the harm to character/appearance (assessed against the Framework as a whole) significantly and demonstrably outweighed the substantial housing, affordable housing, extra care, brownfield and economic benefits, leading to dismissal; for Appeal B, the same order of benefits, combined with good design and only limited localised townscape harm, outweighed the identified less-than-substantial heritage harm and the scheme accorded with the development plan as a whole, leading to the appeal being allowed.
Framework references: 11, 60, 62, 120, 126, 130, 202
Plan policies cited: Policy CS5, Policy CS8, Policy CS9, Policy DM5, Policy DM9, Policy DM10, Policy DM11, Policy DM13, Policy DM21
The main issues and the deciding factor are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.