Dear Members
I hope you had a pleasant and enjoyable Christmas, even with the Planning Application for the Swan Centre and Bull Hill (APP NO. MO/2025/02695) hanging over us. We still have a lot to be thankful for – peace, food, families and (so far!) reasonable weather!
You will know that various of our members have been standing in the High Street in Leatherhead on Saturday mornings, armed with a pamphlet explaining the detail of the Planning Application primarily in respect of our Park near the station (Bull Hill). This Application is not just a question of a few extra houses or flats, but whole, large and tall blocks of them on a space currently studded with trees and open grassland, most of which will have to disappear.
There is also the question of that essential accompaniment to modern life – the car or motorbike. With 276 flats planned for Phase 1, it is not difficult to visualize queues trying to get into or out of the proposed development, particularly at peak traffic times when the ring-road around the Park can already be congested. And then take note, that this is only Stage/Phase One and there are roughly just as many people, cars and flats/houses planned for Stage Two.
If you have strong views on this Application, I do recommend that you make them known to the planners at MVDC by the Revised cut-off date of 14th January 2026.
Another interesting fact has just come to my notice: a few months ago, in Glasgow, they demolished FOUR blocks of high-rise flats, the reason being that they suffered from having a high turnover and low demand! The crowds cheered!!
Another interesting Planning Application, MO/2024/1506, appeared in the Autumn. This is for the site of the former Trinity Children’s Centre, where a Residential Care Home for the Elderly is envisaged. The plan still seems open for comment.
This site is very near another one called “The Bridge”, which has been successfully used as a Youth Centre for a number of years. It contains both indoor and outdoor spaces for both quiet and noisy activities. However, some of the cement used in its construction is RAAC, (=Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete), which needs either treatment or removal. The difficulty is who should finance this. Surrey Council owns the ground, but Mole Valley Council owns the building. At the meeting I attended, several builders were keen to offer their services to remove the suspect panels and to do so at a price much lower than demolishing the whole building. But it seems that the whole thing is fraught with risk and so Mole Valley Council has decided on demolition. This has severely disappointed many who live nearby, both young and old.
On a slightly more upbeat note, I would like to thank the person on the Swan Centre Management who dreamed up the idea of “Free Strawberries and Cream!” one day last summer with a band playing in the centre. Friends could be met or bumped into and it all contributed to a delightful stress-free afternoon.
It is also good to see some trees being replaced in Church Street, as it was quite painful seeing the young Lime Trees being removed.
Finally, although I and others have sorely missed the efficient Building Supplies shop at 67 High Street, it is a relief to see men at work there, repairing the walls, saving the idiosyncratic half circular tiled top to the name plaque and generally preparing the building for its conversion into a number of flats but all the while preserving the old shop as a future commercial area. (fingers crossed!!)
With all best wishes for a happy, fulfilling Spring.
Caroline Brown
(LRA Director)