As part of an ongoing consultation with local residents, the council last night (18 October) shared its latest proposals for the council site within the Wells area.
Indicative plans were shown and residents were given the opportunity to engage with the council team leading the project.
Over 80 residents took the opportunity to engage with the council on its plans.
The proposal includes a new community space, 23 homes and a replacement playground. The design incorporates existing mature trees and public rights of way. The size of the new housing echoes the height of nearby properties and the density of the development acknowledges the layout of the Wells estate.
The consultation is in addition to the formal Planning Application process, which will provide residents with a further opportunity to feed into the plans.
The Wells is a 1930’s housing development within Epsom Common, built on the land around the well, where the original Epsom Salts were discovered. The area incorporated an underused council day centre and community hall that required significant refurbishment. In 2015, to ensure continuation of community services, the council decided to close the day centre and redevelop the site, transferring services to the Community & Wellbeing Centre (three miles away).
Following representations from the local community, the hall has remained open while the community explored options. The council has held a number of public meetings since 2015 to address local concerns. No alternatives have been bought forward and last year the council informed the community of its intention to proceed with the redevelopment of the site. At the local community’s request the existing hall is still partially open and the new proposals incorporate a community space.
The council hopes to commence the redevelopment of its site in 2019.
