The Epsom Protection Society Newsletter 106 - Winter 2005

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The Chairman's Commentary

Geoffrey Stone

       

This time last year we expressed concern about the possible effect on Epsom town centre of three major redevelopments then at the planning application stage. As you know all three were approved after iterative discussions and many detailed modifications and indeed work is already under way on two sites, Capitol House in Church Street and Emperor House in Station Approach. The fourth development proposed during the year, the Upper High Street superstore, evokes much controversy and Alan Baker in the following section explains the present position.

Your committee have been closely involved in consideration of these development applications and in Newsletters we have reported our attitude and responses. These are all major buildings which will impact on the townscape and because of their importance we have taken the view that we would seek to be able to offer well informed, responsible and constructive comment. We were therefore delighted that two of the developers offered to present their proposals to the committee. We had the opportunity to test the basis of their schemes and to make comments in detail directly; some of which were acted upon. As a result we were able to present our views more effectively to the Borough Council. Pre-application consultations are even more valuable as demonstrated by Stephen Wallis ho gave us a helpful presentation on his view of the future of the Racecourse buildings on which Alan reports.

In a different context your committee had two interesting and informative meetings on planning issues earlier in the year. We accepted an offer made by Councillor Robert Leach Chairman of the Planning Committee to talk to us informally. We found the occasion rewarding and are grateful to have been given the ability to gain from such an open exchange of views and a wide ranging discussion on relationships, attitudes, constraints and opportunities. We sought an opportunity to meet Councillor Nigel Petrie, who is a County Councillor and currently Chairman of the Surrey County Council Committee for Epsom and Ewell which has some responsibility for highways improvements. He is also the Borough's representative on the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA). We wished to have a better understanding of the role of the Local Committee and of the part played by SEERA in overall planning strategy and to explore how he saw the effectiveness of and future relationships with that body. It proved a very interesting evening and we felt privileged to have such an open discussion which I believe was mutually beneficial. One outcome is that we are considering the implications of the Society adopting a more proactive stance.

I am delighted to announce that we have been able to co-opt another member to help the committee. We welcome Robert Austen CEng BSc (Hons) MICE MIHT who will bring his experience of major engineering projects and town planning to help in our work.

Sadly I have to tell you that our visits organiser Brian Gee, who many of you know well, has indicated that the next outing "The Big One at Christmas" will be his last. The outing in September to Constable Country was a great success and Brian has made a real contribution on the social side of our activities. We have much to thank him for and there will be a suitable time to do that! This is the last newsletter of the year and so on behalf of committee members may I thank you for your support and send you all our best wishes for the coming year. We hope to see you at the interesting series of talks arranged for January, February and March 2006 (or even at the AGM in April).

Planning

Alan Baker

There are again some important applications being made or pending, as usual it seems.

South Hatch Stables: These proposals for new state of the art stables in the Green Belt, coupled with new commercial housing to provide the finance, were described in the last Newsletter, and a copy of my statement to the Public Inquiry was attached. We now await the Inspector's decision.

Proposed superstore, 40-58, Upper High Street: This is a controversial scheme that has been the subject of much agitation and campaigning. The original application has been withdrawn and a draft amended scheme was the subject of a public exhibition arranged by the developers a few weeks ago. I understand that a revised application is imminent. There will be one storey less of car parking, and the design will be different, but the principle of a large superstore capable of occupation by Tesco or Asda remains. We have written to the developers with our preliminary views and have said that we have considerable doubts about the effect of such a store on the other retailers in the town and this is of vital significance; we considered that the need for such a superstore is yet to be demonstrated. We still think that an analysis by independent professionals well versed in the retail market is desirable, but it is unlikely that the Council will agree to this. We also commented on the design of the building and the traffic and highways implications, and now await the new application.

Rosebery School, White Horse Drive: This application for new sports facilities and enabling housing has been refused on the grounds of housing density and increased traffic to West Street.

The White Horse Hotel, Downs Hill Road: Following the refusal of this application for 12 four bedroom houses, an appeal has been made and we have written supporting the refusal. A new application has been received for a virtually similar scheme but with vehicular access to Chartwell Place. This would seem an obvious solution but it would create a rat run to a quiet residential road which is already very congested at school time, and we have written to maintain our objection. Epsom Downs Racecourse: Plans are nearly ready for planning submission for a new grandstand to replace the 1914 building, and for a supporting hotel on the paddock in place of the existing eyesore of a building opposite the Rubbing House. We had a very helpful private presentation by Stephen Wallis, the managing director of the racecourse, and found the ideas acceptable in general terms, subject to detailed consideration later. We explained that we would normally take exception to enabling development in the Green Belt (as in the case of South Hatch), but in the present case the hotel would be in place of an existing building and would be closely associated with the racecourse use.

Kings Shade Walk, Ashley Centre: The other item of general interest is a proposal to redevelop and reorganise this part of the Centre to create a single retail area between the High Street and the centre of the Mall. The existing 11 small units will be merged into one shop, believed to be occupied by Boots. No planning permission was required for this merger as the use is still retail, and only certain structural work was involved in the application. This will destroy one of the traditional features of the High Street, but the October Planning Committee approved it without debate.

Housing in Surrey and the Green Belt

The Society has been sent copies of a consultation booklet entitled 'The South East Plan - the Future of Housing in Surrey'. The South East England Regional Assembly is preparing the 'South East Plan' and has asked Surrey County Council for suggestions as to where the 2,360 dwellings per annum allocated to Surrey over the next twenty years should be placed. The preferred option of three would allocate 180 dwellings per annum to Epsom & Ewell Borough with no additional threat to the Green Belt. This figure appeared to be reasonably attainable within the Borough and we responded to Surrey by saying that the protection of the Green Belt was of paramount importance. The other two options would lead to encroachment of the Green Belt either around the regional hubs of Guildford, Woking and Redhill or around smaller towns throughout the County.

Ebbisham Centre Display

By the time you read this, the Society's display in the Ebbisham Centre will be finished, but I hope some of you will have seen it. The display contrasted views of old Epsom with the major developments that are about to take place. We have been fortunate in obtaining computer-generated representations or artists impressions from the respective developers of Epsom Station, Emperor House in Station Approach, Capitol House (to be called CUBE) in Church Street and the proposed supermarket in Upper High Street. The old and the new were linked with text based on an updated version of our colourful brochure. We highlighted three major concerns as we move into this new era of development in Epsom:

1. There is the pressure for new development and where it should be located;
2. There is a continuing need to protect and improve what exists in the town and to raise the quality of life for all;
3. Protection of the Green Belt should have high priority.

General Planning

Malcolm Boyd

Members may be interested in the following note from The Civic Trust. New powers for Local Planning Authorities, which should help speed up the planning system, came into effect on 24 August. They aim to reduce the uncertainty caused by speculators who benefit from increases in land value upon receiving planning permission but have no intention of development.

Local Authorities will have greater powers to decline to determine repeat planning applications from developers and most planning permissions will be granted for three years, instead of the current five. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister says they are sending a message to developers that they have a role to play in creating a faster, more certain planning system.

Talk by Brenda Lewis, Historic Countryside Officer, Surrey county council, 19 Oct 2005

Margaret Rogers

Our 2005/6 series of lectures got off to an excellent start with Brenda Lewis's talk on some of the most beautiful and interesting gardens in Surrey which she illustrated with paintings and stories of the original houses and their owners and photographs of early maps and plans and of present day lay-outs. She concentrated mainly on those nearest Epsom, the earliest of which was the 16th Century Nonsuch Palace. The grandeur of this must have seemed awe inspiring to those living in their small cottages nearby, but unfortunately nothing remains of the gardens, though one could appreciate the design from the original plan.

In many cases the gardens were as important as the houses they surrounded, and were designed by some of the foremost landscape architects of the day. Not only were the houses demolished and rebuilt, but the gardens also evolved according to the current fashion. For example, Claremont, originally designed by Vanbrugh, was added to or changed over the years by Bridgeman, Kent and then Capability Brown. Owners could do as they pleased in those days. Today, although parks and gardens do not have listed status as buildings may have, English Heritage has a Register of 38 as being of Special Historic Interest.

Among others that Brenda described were the 18th Century Painshill, returned to splendour over recent years after several decades of neglect; John Evelyn's family home at Wotton where he introduced Italian ideas (a canal a "must" in those days) and Albury Park where he also influenced the design; Priory Park, Reigate, a fine example of the 18th Century English Landscape Movement; Titsey Place where the Victorian kitchen garden is still in use; Munstead Wood with Gertrude Jekyll and Edward Lutyens; The Durdans, originally from 1652, now famous for its snowdrops and the racehorse tombs in the woods; and Wisley which we may think of as purely modern RHS but where in fact a small part was first laid out by G.F.Wilson, a friend of Miss Jekyll. Also included were Ashtead Park, Gatton Park, Polesden Lacey, Ewell Castle School, and the "gem" of Shadbolt Park. These are only some of the ones she mentioned many of which will be familiar to members, not least through EPS visits over the years. She jogged our memories and added little comments not found in the normal guidebook. Our thanks to her for opening our eyes to part of our local heritage.

Events

Joy Furness

Annual Buffet Supper The Mayor Councillor Jean Smith, Mr.Chris Grayling MP and Dr. Peter Christie at the Social Evening in October

The Buffet Supper was held on Friday 14th October and a record number of over 120 people attended. Our guests of honour were the Mayor of Epsom and Ewell and her consort, Chris Grayling MP and his wife Susan, and Stephen Wallis Managing Director of Epsom Racecourse. Dr Peter Christie, one of our members, entertained us with his wit, satirical verse and catchy tunes, which he writes himself.

The usual caterers were unable to come at the last moment because of family problems, and we were very grateful to one of our members who agreed to do the catering at short notice. Next year we shall have a different form of food service to avoid the long queues and waiting time. Apologies for any inconvenience caused this year.

Third Series of Talks The First Talk was given on 19th October by Brenda Lewis, Historic Countryside Officer with Surrey County Council to over 60 members. A detailed account of her talk is given above.

Second Talk: 31st January 2006, will be a presentation by representatives of the two developers of the new buildings on opposite sides of Station Approach: Emperor House (Fairview Homes) and the station (Parkridge).

Third Talk: 16th February 2006, will be given by Simon Dow of Clear Height Stables and his subject will be the History and Future of Racehorse Training in Epsom. Fourth Talk: 14th March 2006, will be given by Ian West and his subject will be Early 20th Century Houses in Epsom.

All the talks will be held in the Myers Studio, Epsom Playhouse starting at 8pm. Tickets are £3.00 each. Please apply on the attached application forms with a cheque made out to The Epsom Protection Society and enclose SAE to Joy Furness 37 Woodcote Hurst, Epsom KT18 7DS, Application for more than one talk can be made at the same time using one cheque to cover the cost.

Date for your diary AGM 27th April 2006

Epsom Protection Society Website: www.epsomprotectionsociety.co.uk

Editor: Paul Fifoot Zebrato, Lynwood Avenue Epsom KT18 7LR

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