The Cala Homes and Cobham Free School Consultation exhibition took place on Thursday 28th November 2013 at the Gospel Hall, Anyards Road, Cobham. The exhibition wasn't advertised a great deal and it seems that many residents in Cobham and the surrounding area didn't receive a leaflet advertising the exhibition until either the day before or not at all. As a result many were unable to attend.

As expected, the new development proposes to use Green Belt land at Chippings Farm, off the Portsmouth Road between the Fairmile Hotel and Old Common. The land occupied by the development and the proposed access points are shown below.

The land covers 22.5 hectacres (approximately 31 international football pitches) and is owned by Burhill Group Ltd or one of its associated companies. The Burhill Group is privately owned by members of the Guinness family.

The building of the school itself will cost £14 million which will be funded by the government. We understand that the land for the school is being offered on the condition that the housing development is given planning permission and Cala Homes have confirmed that

The school and housing must be brought forward together and one cannot proceed without the other.

The land used for housing could provide up to 500 new homes. Cala Homes acknowledges that the development will generate additional traffic.

This proposal will inevitably generate additional traffic on the Cobham Lodge Roundabout at the junction of Portsmouth Road and Between Streets and also the Cobham Bridge Roundabout at the access to the Sainsbury's store. The alternative route to Junction 9 on the M25 via Fairmile Lane, Miles Lane, Sandy Lane and the A244 will also be investigated.

The Free School when combined with the recently opened primary school, seeks to offer an all through model right through to a selective Sixth Form by 2020. The school will then reach a capacity of around 700 pupils.

Cala Homes have published the material displayed at the exhibition in the form of a PDF file. You can download and view the file here. This file is almost 6MB and may take a short while to download depending on your Internet connection speed.