Developer eyes garden centre site for 150 homes

Plans for about 150 homes on a Surrey garden centre site have been put forward to a local authority.

Developer Taylor Wimpey has submitted an outline of the potential scheme at Hill Park Roses Garden Centre in Long Ditton to Elmbridge Borough Council.

Hill Park Roses Garden Centre, which has been family-run since 1968, is still operating on the site.

A spokesperson from the rose nursery said it was "not obliged to say" whether it has been sold or not.

Details on the proposal are scarce, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

But they added planning documents indicated that the new homes would be a mix of apartments and houses, from one to five beds, and could be up to three storeys tall.

Planning documents show that the village green, local nature reserve Stokes Field, and One Tree Hill will be kept as green space. However, the developer will add environmental enhancements.

• Council told to plan for more affordable homes

Up to 50 per cent of the proposed new builds could be affordable, the documents also state.

Elmbridge borough, which includes the towns of Esher, Cobham and Walton, has been called one of the "least affordable in the country" by a planning inspector.

The proposed development site covers approximately 11 hectares of land and comprises fields of grassland, scrubs, hedgerows, mature trees and woodland along with the garden centre, documents state.

Ambitions for the project date back to 2016, according to LDRS.

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