Stripe Consulting: West elevation multi-storey car park Epsom Hospital

Epsom Hospital’s multi storey carpark wrong on many levels?

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A council decision to refuse a new multi-storey car park at Epsom hospital is being appealed. Epsom and Ewell Borough Council refused an application for 600 parking spaces and changes to the Dorking Road access because of its impact on the area. An appeal by the Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust will be heard at the authority’s town hall from November 2, and government inspectors will make a decision on the application.

Plans for the five storey car park, along with changes to surface parking and access to the site, received 125 objections and one letter in support before being refused by the borough council in May 2021.

Image: Stripe Consulting: West elevation multi-storey car park.

The multi-storey would have 527 parking spaces, with a further 104 spaces outside. Planning documents said that currently cars were backed up out of the existing car park, blocking the ambulance route in and out of the hospital but that the plans should help with this congestion. The hospital trust appealed the decision, which was made by councillors because the proposed development would adversely impact the area and affect the adjacent Woodcote Conservation Area.

Objections to the plans called for the car park to have some underground levels, which one nearby resident said would “minimise the horrific visual impact on the area”. A resident of Dorking Road, Mr S Curd, called the plans “totally out of proportion for a residential area”. He added: “We are so dismayed by the proposition that the house owners along our stretch of road were willing to sell our houses to the Trust so they can build a single storey car park that would actually add more spaces than this five storey monstrosity without desecrating the entire area.”

The appeal will take place on November 2 from 10am.

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