We are very keen to hear the view of local residents and businesses.  Through out the design process we have met with local people and modified our plans to incorporate their ideas. In July 2024 we held two drop-in public exhbitions which were well attended.  Below are some of the topics that were raised during the public consultation process, together with clarifications and additional detail:

 

Parking:

During the pre application meeting with Surrey County Council, highways officers supported the possibility of a car free scheme, however we believe that the parking proposals offer a balanced and considered solution.

The majority of people who live in the scheme will not own cars, each new long leasehold interest will include a binding clause,where residents will be unable to apply for parking permits within CPZ areas. 

We are providing 3 electric Enterprise car club cars which will be available for all of the residents and for the public to use.

All of the residents of the new scheme will benefit from a free 3 year Enterprise membership.

After the first year,subject to use and demand, there is the possibility that Enterprise will introduce additional cars in key locations throughout the town centre subject to further discussions and agreement with Epsom & Ewell Borough Council (EEBC).

There are in excess of 700 secure cycle spaces provided, as well as the introduction of Beryl Bikes to Epsom which is a cycle hire scheme.

Epsom Gasworks is located in a highly sustainable location, it benefits from numerous bus routes and is in close proximity to the high street and the train station.

It will be a lifestyle choice for future residents if they wish to own a car, of the 44 private spaces these will be operated on a rental basis, where residents can lease a parking space for 12 months, as car ownership and daily travel habits change and they do not require the space, this will become available for other residents to use.

This system will help promote modal shift, car parking spaces will be used efficiently and will help EEBC achieve its targets of reducing carbon emissions, as laid out in the 2022-2032 Surrey Local Transport Plan, as well reducing pressure on the transport network.

The reality is that if an owner or a tenant of an apartment wants somewhere to park a car, they will choose to live elsewhere. 

We believe that using land (which is in scarce supply) to build housing for people to live in, is more important than providing places for people to park. 

Affordable Housing: 

The affordable housing offer has not been confirmed, as we are still in the process of agreeing the viability position with the planning authority.

However, we have engaged very early on with the planners and members with the intention of showing full transparency over the significant abnormal costs and the unique challenges that this site has to overcome. 

The ground conditions in particular are extremely expensive to remediate, and they represent an abnormal and cost risk to the scheme. 

This cost places significant viability pressure on the scheme, and directly impacts the quantum of affordable housing that can be delivered on the site.

Regardless of the viability position, as a responsible developer we have made a commitment that we will deliver affordable housing as part of a balanced mix of tenures across the scheme. 

 

Building Heights: 

We believe that homes should be built on brownfield land not greenbelt. 

It is very important that the brownfield land available in the Borough is optimised, as it is in short supply. 

Developing brownfield land is significantly more costly because there are site specific circumstances that must be overcome. 

In this case, the circumstances are high levels of ground contamination resulting from over a century of heavy industrial use. 

One of the ways of off-setting this cost to make the development financially viable, is increased density. 

However, we also believe that when designing high density schemes, the public realm element of the scheme is of very high importance. 

Therefore the distribution of density across the site must be balanced with the need to provide high quality external amenity space which will be open to both the residents and the public. 

That is not to say that height should be automatically justified on grounds of viability. 

We have employed best in class consultant team including townscape and heritage experts, who have undertaken a detailed analysis of both the short and long range views, to ensure minimal impact on the surrounding area.

The distribution of height across the scheme has been informed by this work. 

We believe that we have designed a high quality scheme which balances appropriate height, optimises the public realm and provides a fantastic pedestrian experience. 

 

Contamination: 

The site is heavily contaminated from more than a century of heavy industrial (burning of hydro carbons to create gas) use. 

This residual contamination across the 4 acres must be remediated prior to residential properties being constructed on the site. 

The constraints of the site include water aquifers which run under the site, and a drinking water well head in close proximity. 

This makes for a complex remediation strategy which will be executed under the oversight of both the Environment Agency and Thames Water. 

Our ground engineers are specialists in their field, with extensive experience of remediating numerous other SGN and other heavily contaminated sites throughout the country.

The remediation of this contaminated brownfield site will also deliver significant social and environmental benefits.

 

Available Land for development: 

Some of the feedback from the public consultation was that it was a shame that the Majestic Wine warehouse site and the council car park site were not included in the scheme, and that this therefore was 'piecemeal' development, rather than a comprehensive design. 

The Majestic Wine site is now owned by Big Yellow Storage, whose intention is to deliver the scheme as a storage unit with construction commencing in late 2024. 

This land is therefore unavailable for development. 

The Hook Road car park site is owned by EEBC. 

Our scheme has been designed in such a way as to future proof the Hook Road car park site for development, should EEBC decide that the car park should be redeveloped. 

The new estate road infrastructure has specifically been designed to accommodate the Hook Road car park as a subsequent phase.

 

Laine Theatre Arts 

In the emerging draft local plan which included the Majestic Wine warehouse and the Hook Road Car park sites,it was envisaged there would be a new building for the Laine Theatre Arts.

Following detailed discussions with EEBC and the Laine Theatre Arts,various design options were tested and explored, and a design has been reached for a state of the art headquarters that will bring the optimal amount of space that the Laine Theatre Arts would require to be able to sustain and meet their growth ambitions in comparison to their main competition. 

 

Private Amenity & Public Realm 

The former SGN site has a challenging typology, with hard boundaries with the Hook Road car park,and the emerging Big Yellow storage building.

Each apartment in the scheme regardless of tenure will have its own private amenity space that meets or exceeds nationally described space standards.

The amount of private amentity space within scheme totals 2,789 sq m (30,000 sq ft) in addition Buildings D & F will provide a total of 1,091 sq m (11,742 sq ft) of communal amenity space for residents including biodiversity zones and vegetable gardens.

The public realm for the residential quarter of the scheme comprises of open space, for play rest and socialising, combined with dedicated ecology areas amenity lawn and planting beds will provide in excess of 1,793 sq m (19,000 sq ft) of communal amenity space.

This does not include the entrance space at the front or the side of the proposed Laine Theatre of Arts which is yet to be fully designed.