New homes on garden centre site approved

A 74-home development in Surrey has been approved despite concerns from residents it will cause "severe" tailbacks and gridlock.

Plans for the homes at Clifton Nurseries Garden Centre in Woburn Hill, Addlestone, were green lit by Runnymede Borough Council's planning committee.

While the garden centre is currently operating as normal, it would be demolished to make way for the mix of two-storey houses and maisonettes, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Councillor Sylvia Whyte, who chairs the planning committee, said she understood "residents’ frustrations".

She added: "It’s a very busy road, but, from the officers report, the car journey won’t be much higher than if it was left as a garden nursery."

Residents and councillors had argued the location was too near to the already congested A317 trunk roads that serve Addlestone, Chertsey and Weybridge, as well as the M25 near Heathrow.

Refusing the plans would have left the council open to legal challenges from developers, officers claimed.

The traffic concerns were dismissed by Surrey Highways as being a non-issue, its planning committee heard.

The approved plan is a scaled-down version of the original proposals – which were amended due to green belt concerns.

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