Development Allowed at Appeal – Restrained Parking Proposal in Surbiton Supported by Transport Technical Note and Parking Survey

A proposal to replace an existing dwelling with a new apartment building in Surbiton has recently been allowed at appeal.

The new apartment building will provide 6 × apartments, comprising 2 × 2-bedroom apartments and 4 × 3-bedroom apartments, with 2 × vehicle accesses providing access to 4 × off-street parking spaces.

The application was “20/01216/FUL” for the “Demolition of existing dwelling and erection of new residential building comprising 6no.x dwellings with associated bins, cycle store, parking and dropped kerb widening to side and rear of site” at 19 Alexandra Drive, Surbiton, KT5 9AB (in the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames).

The appeal reference was “APP/Z5630/W/20/3260562”.

The main transport issues for the application were location / access to services (the site has a public transport PTAL 0), parking provision, parking impact and access design.

During the course of the application parking and access had been resolved to a no objection level and so at appeal the transport issue had been reduced to just location / access to services.

In the Transport Statement Technical Note we looked at services and centres accessible on foot within the Manual for Streets “walkable neighbourhood”.

The inspector’s decision letter concurred with our assessment and stated:

“Access to services/facilities

18. The site is within an urban area, surrounded by other dwellings. It is recognised that there are no public transport links within the immediate area, such as bus routes, which has resulted in the low PTAL rating. However, whilst the proposal would increase the density of development in this location, I would not regard the site as isolated or remote from services and facilities.

19. In this regard, the site is not a significant distance from the shops and services on Ewell Road, which is where there are bus connections also. There is also a large area of public open space opposite the site. I walked the area on my site visit and whilst I acknowledge that the distances for walking may not be achievable for some, the site is reasonably located to achieve access to services generally. In my opinion, future residents may be able to cycle or walk to these local services rather than being reliant on private cars for transport.

20. On this basis, the proposal is in accordance with policies CS8, DM10 and DM11 of the Core Strategy, 2012, and is also in general accordance with the policies of the 2021 London Plan.”

KRONEN were working with DB Planners and B-12 Development for Silver Circle Property.

The planning application was supported by KRONEN’s Transport Technical Note and Parking Survey (carried out in accordance with the “Lambeth Methodology” (‘Lambeth Council Parking Survey Guidance Note‘ (Lambeth Council, 2012)) and assistance with the planner’s Appeal Statement.

All work was delivered on-time and within budget.

Contact KRONEN using either info@www.kronenlimited.com or 020 8541 1139 if your Surbiton project needs a Transport Technical Note and / or Parking Survey.