E&EBC - Area Action Plan for Epsom Town Centre - Plan E

I was recently invited to meet the Planning Department of the Borough Council to attend a briefing regarding the above. Tom Roberts, who was separately invited in view of his earlier work on our redevelopment plans, joined me at that meeting as an independent interested party. A great deal of information is available on the website www.epsom-ewell.gov.uk under Epsom Town Centre Area Action Plan, Plan E.

The area under discussion is bounded by Depot Road, Upper High Street and Church Street and covers the area from the top end of Upper High Street, where there is currently a large empty site, the Depot Road car park and Church Street from Depot Road up to our Church. Thus we are within an area which is being considered for re-generation and re-development.

Existing property owners in this area are being consulted and given the opportunity to express their views and to raise any particular concerns they may have. The meeting on Tuesday 24^th May was the start of the process for us but some significant points came out of the discussions. More information will become available as the year progresses but we should have a pretty clear idea of what is likely to happen by early 2012. It is of real significance to us that the initial plan for the area includes a “place of worship“. It became apparent during discussions that this was in the plan because of our current presence within the area and, I suspect, because of the existing planning approval for our own re-development which we were granted in March 2010 and which is still current. We are not, of course, presently pursuing this plan but it is still available.

We are now at a key point in our history and, whether we welcome it or not, our current site is part of a bigger plan, a plan which may give us opportunities for re-generation. It is too early to speculate on precisely what these opportunities may be but the area around us will change substantially and we may thus have the chance to redevelop our Church buildings, possibly on another part of the development area.

This will be a time of change and challenge for us in Epsom, regardless of the outcome of discussions with Ewell, but it could actually provide both Churches with a new beginning. We should not make any decisions concerning buildings until Plan E becomes more definitive.