Regeneration plans for the land adjacent to Surbiton Station have been unveiled (see Surbiton Forward ) with a consultation running between 11th December 2023 to 14th January 2024.
Overall, we feel there seems a fair amount to recommend this project, and so we are cautiously optimistic. We are encouraged by a number of the proposals such as:
- provision of new high-quality homes on a brownfield site
- the substantial reduction in the number of station parking spaces
- plans to make the station and crossing over the tracks more accessible
- provision of safe cycle routes
- increase in cycle parking and security
- installation of EV charging points
- increased biodiversity and greening
- landscaped amenity space for residents, including playspace
- preservation of the art deco station building and other local heritage assets
However, we do have some serious concerns including:
- the proportion of affordable housing in the development. We would expect the development to meet the requirement in the RBK’s Affordable Housing Planning Document for at least 50% of the housing in any large development in the borough to be affordable, the illustrations would suggest that the proportion is far lower than that
- additionally, there is no mention of genuinely affordable homes, so we assume that the plan currently does not have any.
- the height of the main (17-storey) tower block and over-development of the site
- whether the development will adhere to the principles of sustainable construction relating to design, energy efficiency, water conservation, sustainable building materials, etc.
- will the development adhere to green building principles such as installation of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and air source or ground source heat pumps?