Many people have been in touch with us asking when we expect the Cala Homes and Free School Planning Application for the Chippings Farm site to be submitted to Elmbridge Borough Council, as they would like to comment formally on the proposal. We understand an outline planning proposal will be submitted during *February/March 2014. Cala Homes have also said with reference to the consultaion exhibition on the 28th November 2013
This was the first event in an on-going programme of community consultation before the submission of an outline planning application to Elmbridge Borough Council.
We therefore expect to see further consultation events before *February/March 2014, which hopefully will be better publicised to the local community then the first event held at the end of November 2013. We will of course publicise these events on this website, Facebook and Twitter as soon as we become aware of them.
* Update - Feb 2014: We understand the planning application has been delayed and is more likely to be submitted in April 2014. Subscribe to our free newletter to be kept informed as soon as we know the application has been made.
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.
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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.