***UPDATE***

This application can now be found at PLAN/2018/0973 on the WBC planning website.

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The KRA have been contacted by the Sainsbury’s estate management department to make us aware of plans they are currently working on to redesign the retail units housing Homebase. Sainsbury’s are the freeholder for the entire Sainsbury’s Brookwood site, including Homebase, the car park and the loading bay area in the rear. The plan is to change the current Homebase space, including garden centre into three new retail units which would be large format stores and open plan. They have contacted us prior to submitting a planning application to Woking Borough Council. Here is a look at the plans and an excerpt from their letter.

The roof of the existing Homebase building would be slightly raised to accommodate a mezzanine level. The building would be divided into two new stores, with the garden centre replaced by a third unit to match the newly renovated building. A new entrance canopy would be constructed along the front of the retail units and glazing would be installed to provide a better shopping environment and a more attractive appearance.
The new units would be larger, open-plan units that would attract retailers who cannot currently be accommodated within the local area. As such, this would complement the existing retail offer in Knaphill and provide enhanced choice for local people. We will announce the new retailers once they have been confirmed.
The existing car park has enough spaces to serve the new development and would therefore largely remain as it is currently, with a small increase of 7 car parking spaces. Deliveries would continue to be made to the covered service yard to the rear of the buildings and within the current delivery hours.

Homebase has released a list of stores which are due to be closed, but so far Homebase Woking does not feature on there, so at the moment it is unclear what the future may be for the store.

If you’d like to get in touch with Sainsbury’s directly to discuss this then call 0800 080 3164 or email sainsburys-brookwood@devcomms.co.uk

Here are some of the latest and most important planning applications taking place in Knaphill, including Lorenzo’s and the Anchor Pub. Don’t forget to have your say by visiting the planning section on the Woking Borough Council website.

LORENZO UNIT 1&2. 5 High Street – The application to convert the premises into a funeral directors business has been approved.

4 ANCHOR CRESCENT (space above library) – Planning application to convert storage space into 4 apartments, 3 one bedroom + 1 studio. ref PLAN/2018/0515.

SUSSEX COURT, High Street – The owner of the land at the rear of the apartments applied to build two bungalows on the site, and WBC rejected this. The owner has now appealed against that decision.

ANCHOR PUB – WBC have just issued the final decision notice to grant planning permission for the redevelopment of the Anchor pub site. It will contain 8 x self-contained residential units (3 x two bed & 5 x one bed), with the retention of A3 (restaurant/café) and A4 (drinking establishment) site uses. The commercial premises approved shall not open to customers outside of the following hours. Monday to Friday 10.00 am to 11.00 pm, Saturday 10.00 am to 11.30 pm and Sunday 10.00 am to 4.00 pm. If the developer wanted to change the use of the commercial space, say to shops, he would have to submit an application to amend the current agreement.

The biggest concern the KRA had was the lack of parking; the last drawings we saw had only 5 parking bays for 8 residential units. The decision notice does not go into any detail on parking all it says is “Prior to first occupation of the development hereby approved, space shall be laid out within the site in accordance with the approved plans listed in this notice for vehicles to be parked and to turn so that they may enter and leave the site in forward gear and thereafter the parking and turning areas shall be permanently retained and maintained for their designated purpose.”  

Here’s a quick roundup of the latest Knaphill related planning applications, with Woking Borough Council. To find out more, or have your say, visit www.woking.gov.uk/planning/publicaccess

Nothing particular to report on the Anchor pub site, or the Lorenzo’s restaurant site.

A planning application has been submitted by developers for a ‘change of use’ at the site 5 High Street (currently Lorenzo’s) from restaurant to funeral directors. We do not yet know which company is interested in this site (if indeed there is one specifically). PLAN/2018/0426

If this were approved, and a new business took up the lease, this would be the 4th funeral directors currently on Knaphill High Street. What do you think? Is it better to have empty premises or duplicate businesses?

Click here for the full planning application details, and to have your say.

At the KRA we like to keep you informed of any important planning applications that are currently being processed for the Knaphill village so that you’re aware and know how they might impact you. In particular we want to draw your attention to two such applications:

PLAN/2017/1309. This was an application from New Vision Homes to build 4 houses (terraced) on Englefield Road, behind the Co-op. This application has been rejected by the Planning Dept. at WBC on the grounds that it was unduly cramped and small size of residential units and associated amenity space, parking provision and intensification of use. Furthermore the erection of the three storey buildings at 9.5 metres in height fails to correlate to this street-scene and would appear out-of-character in this context creating dominating buildings in the context of the area.

PLAN/2017/1398. The developer of the land at the rear of Sussex Court already has an approved planning application to build a single bungalow on this land. However, this new application was to build two bungalows, which has been rejected by Planning Dept. of WBC. The reason given for rejection was that the design and shape of the building and footprint and resulting layouts would result in an unduly cramped and contrived overdevelopment of the site which would fail to respect and make a positive contribution to the character of the area in which it would be situated.   

Nothing new to report on the Anchor Pub proposals, and the owner of 1-3 High Street is working on a new plan after the previous application was refused (click here for full article).

UPDATE April 2018 – The Woking Borough Council planning committee have met and approved the development of the Anchor Pub, as outlined below (6 flats, 2 maisonettes, and a drinking establishment, with 8 parking bays in total). Two of our councillors were present for the meeting and posed no objections.

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Developers have submitted a planning application to Woking Borough Council to develop the building on the corner of Lower Guildford road and the High Street. First, the Anchor Public House will close, the plans do include a café/restaurant/drinking establishment but as yet no details. There will be some parts of the building to be demolished and new two storey extensions to be added. The single storey storeroom that backs onto the Post office and adjoining garage to be demolished replaced with a two storey residential block. Similarly at the other end of the building, demolish single store building and build a two storey extension. If approved as well as a new café/restaurant/drinking establishment there would be 2 maisonettes plus 6 apartments. However there will be only 6 parking spaces for the café/restaurant/drinking establishment and only 2 parking bays for the 8 residential units. You can still comment to Woking Borough Council via the email address developmentmanagement@woking.gov.uk . If you do contact Woking BC make sure you quote the reference PLAN/2017/1167.

Here are scans of the plans as we have seen them. Apologies for the low quality.

FURTHER TO THE BELOW (Jan ’19): At the meeting on the 15th January, the application has been rejected, without a vote. It seems that everyone needs to go back to the drawing board on this one.

ANOTHER UPDATE (Jan ’19): Well now it appears that the plot thickens further!

The application detailed below was rejected by WBC planning department, due to “the site is on a prominent corner within Knaphill the applicant has not demonstrated that the size, layout, scale and amount of development would result in a satisfactory form of development appropriate for the site or that it would have a satisfactory impact on the character or appearance of the area.”

HOWEVER, despite this rejection, Councillor Debbie Harlow has requested to hear the full details at the next full planning committee meeting (on 15th January). This could mean they are considering overturning the recommendation from their own department. Details are to be found here using application reference PLAN/2018/0624.

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FURTHER UPDATE (Sept 18): Woking Borough Council has finally validated and published the planning application for 1-3 High Street, PLAN/2018/0624, which was submitted in June. However there is currently there is very little detail on the Council’s website. The application calls for the erection of a three storey building comprising 3 x retail units at ground floor and 8 x self contained 1 bed flats at first and second floor with associated parking, landscaping, bin and cycle storage following the demolition of existing building. It would appear that there will be 7 parking bays for both the businesses and flats plus 2 disabled parking bays. Although exactly how this differs from the similar proposal that was rejected earlier in the year, is unclear!

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UPDATE (Jan 18): Further to the original post below, we have now heard that the planning application (PLAN/2017/1036) for the demolition of 1-3 High Street has been refused. It appears to mostly have been rejected based on the high density dwellings per hectare in the area, and the report has also mentioned the poor public transport / parking situation. Undoubtedly the refusal will be appealed, but at the moment, it seems the developers will need to revise the current plan.

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A planning application has been submitted from the owners of 1 – 3 High Street. This is the building that previously housed the pet shop, on the corner of Anchor Hill crossing. There is currently a computer repair shop on the ground floor and solicitors on the first and second floor. We believe the solicitors have only a short lease. The application  is to demolish the existing building and build a new three storey building comprising 3 retail units on the ground floor  and 8 self contained 1 bed units on the first and second floor. The planning application reference number is PLAN/2017/1036 and can be seen on the Council’s website.

The current building dates from the Victorian era and was originally the farm house for Highclere farm, but recent property additions have detracted from its original beauty. The plan is to have 9 parking bays, which for a building with 3 retail units as well as 8 residences, we strongly suggest this is inadequate. Another concern is with regards to the three retail units, there does not appear to be any access from the rear of the shops nor any serious storage space so they could be of limited value to many prospective businesses, particularly those requiring a stock room for example. 

Image showing proposed building design.