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# Great Bookham community centre scheme to be considered for extended hours and heat pump
- URL: https://elmbridgerecord.co.uk/great-bookham-community-centre-scheme-to-be-considered-for-extended-hours-and-heat-pump/
- Published: 2026-09-23T15:20:24.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-23T15:20:39.000Z
- Author: The Record
- Tags: Minutes

- The Planning and Regulatory Committee will consider an application to vary conditions on the approved new community centre at the former Bookham Youth Centre, Great Bookham, at its meeting on 23 September 2026.
- Proposed changes include the installation of an Air Source Heat Pump, extended building and MUGA operating hours, and extended hours for amplified music.
- Officers recommend approval subject to conditions; 33 of 39 representations were supportive and no consultee objections have been received.
- The committee will receive information reports on Surrey's new Minerals and Waste Local Plan preparation and on constitutional changes required by incoming national planning delegation regulations.
- Minutes from the July 2026 meeting, at which two Epsom Chalkpit applications were approved, are due for confirmation.

Surrey County Council's Planning and Regulatory Committee is due to consider an application to extend the operating hours and amend approved plans for a new community centre at the former Bookham Youth Centre, 164 Lower Road, Great Bookham, when it meets on Wednesday 23 September 2026.

The application, submitted by SCC Property under Section 73 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, seeks to vary four conditions attached to planning permission MO/2025/2792, granted in February 2026 for the construction of a single-storey community centre, Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA), and associated parking, landscaping and access works on the 0.36-hectare site.

The proposed changes include the installation of an Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) on the southern face of the new building, to replace the previously approved electric boiler and photovoltaic array system. The pump would be housed within a mesh enclosure beneath a cycle storage shelter. The applicant states the ASHP would be more effective in managing operational energy demand and offer sustainability and cost benefits.

The application also seeks to extend the permitted hours of use for the main building, the MUGA, and the hours during which amplified music may be played.

Officers have recommended the application be permitted subject to conditions. Of 39 representations received, 33 expressed support and six raised objections. No objections have been received from the borough council or other consultees, though a condition relating to the ASHP has been recommended. Officers consider the proposal would provide both community benefits, through greater operational flexibility, and sustainability benefits.

The committee will also receive two information reports. The first covers Surrey County Council's preparation for a new Minerals and Waste Local Plan under the government's revised plan-making system, including the withdrawal of the previous plan and the key stages ahead. The second sets out changes required to the council's constitution ahead of the Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026, which take effect on 31 October. Those regulations introduce a National Scheme of Delegation under which certain application types must be determined under delegated powers, others assessed through a gateway test before any referral to committee, and members will no longer be able to call in applications. A report on the constitutional changes is to be presented to Full Council in October.

The committee will also be asked to confirm the minutes of its meeting of 22 July 2026, at which it granted planning permission for a part-retrospective surface water drainage system at the Chalkpit, College Road, Epsom — subject to additional conditions requiring inspection and ongoing maintenance reporting — and separately approved a Section 73 application to vary conditions on the adjacent minerals recycling and waste transfer facility at the same site.