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# Planning committee approves Walton-on-Thames Homebase site redevelopment subject to affordable housing agreement
- URL: https://elmbridgerecord.co.uk/planning-committee-approves-walton-on-thames-homebase-site-redevelopment-subject-to-affordable-housing-agreement/
- Published: 2026-08-11T17:59:35.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-11T17:59:35.000Z
- Author: The Record
- Tags: Minutes

- Permission granted for redevelopment of the former Homebase site on New Zealand Avenue, Walton-on-Thames, subject to a legal agreement securing an affordable housing contribution within six months.
- If the legal agreement is not completed in time, the Head of Planning and Environmental Health is delegated authority to refuse the application on affordable housing grounds.
- Corrections to the officer's report included confirmation that a flood risk assessment had been submitted and that no weight should be given to new homes bonus considerations.
- An additional condition requires council approval of details for a replacement Kowhai tree commemorative plaque, including consultation with ward councillors.
- Permission was also granted for the Section 73 application at Weylands Old Treatment Works, Lyon Road, with amended conditions on construction transport, archaeology and highway condition surveys.

Elmbridge Borough Council's Planning Committee has granted permission for a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Homebase site on New Zealand Avenue, Walton-on-Thames, conditional on the completion of a legal agreement securing an affordable housing contribution within six months.

The committee resolved at its meeting on 9 June 2026 to grant full and outline permission for the scheme, subject to a series of conditions and informatives. Should the legal agreement not be completed within the six-month period — or a longer period agreed by the Head of Planning and Environmental Health — authority is delegated to that officer to refuse the application. The grounds for refusal would be the failure to secure affordable housing in accordance with Policy CS21 of the Elmbridge Core Strategy 2011 and the Development Contributions Supplementary Planning Document 2021.

Before the committee's deliberations, the Principal Planning Officer set out several updates to the officer's report. The final amended site plan showed 96 car parking spaces rather than the 95 previously indicated. An earlier statement in the report that no flood risk assessment was required was corrected: as the site exceeds one hectare, such an assessment was in fact necessary and had been submitted with the application. Neither the Environment Agency nor the Lead Local Flooding Authority raised objection. Officers also confirmed that no weight should be given to comments regarding the new homes bonus, as the scheme is being phased out and may no longer be in operation when the residential element of the site is developed. A further letter of objection had been received since publication of the report.

Amended and additional conditions were attached to the permission. Condition 8 requires the residential development to meet the local planning authority's overall housing target of at least 40 dwellings per hectare, with a unit mix in accordance with identified need as set out in the most recent Local Housing Needs Assessment. An additional condition — Condition 51 — requires that prior to installation of any commemorative plaque associated with a replacement Kowhai tree, details including wording, design, dimensions, location, incorporation of the existing plaque, and arrangements for any dedication ceremony be submitted to and approved in writing by the council, following consultation with ward councillors.

Nick Dodds declared, in respect of this application, that whilst he had no disclosable pecuniary or other interest under the Code of Conduct, he had met with residents in the area in his capacity as ward councillor and had separately met with the registered objector, Quentin Andrews, to discuss the application. The committee heard representations from Andrews and from Max Clapton, the agent.

The committee also granted full and outline permission for application 2025/3337, a Section 73 application at Weylands Old Treatment Works, Lyon Road, Walton-on-Thames. The Special Projects Officer advised that three conditions — Nos. 8, 10 and 16 — had been subject to compliance requests and had been partially discharged since publication of the committee report, with four compliance requests relating to those three conditions. Several related applications within the planning history had since been determined, all on a part-approved, part-refused basis. Permission was granted subject to amended versions of conditions 8, 10 and 16, covering demolition and construction transport management plans, archaeological works, and highway condition surveys of Lyon Road and Molesey Road respectively.

The committee noted the reports of the East and South Area Planning Sub-Committee meetings held on 20 and 23 April 2026, and the East, North and South Area Planning Sub-Committee meetings held on 20 May 2026.