No Hotel for West Park? (Epsom & Ewell Liberal Democrats)

No Hotel for West Park?

August 31, 2010 3:00 PM

Hopes for a hotel at West Park were first dashed when the former assembly hall suffered extensive fire damage

The Developers of the West Park former hospital site have announced that, despite extensive marketing, the requirement in the borough council's agreed planning brief to develop the former Administration Building as an hotel and conference centre has failed to attract any interest from potential operators. Instead they propose an additional 87 housing units, bringing the total proposed for West Park to 456 new homes.

This is in addition to the existing houses adjacent to the site entrance and still leaves significant parts of the site in NHS use for offices, laboratories and other facilities, including the New Epsom Cottage Hospital.

A Planning Application for an Environmental Impact Assessment screening opinion 10/00501/SCR has already been registered with the council. Following a display of the developer's proposals at the Town Hall, it is expected that a full planning application will be submitted in early September.

Like the avoidance of a direct site entrance opposite the Stew Ponds, the inclusion of a Hotel and Conference Centre has long been hoped for by local residents and adopted as official council policy. However some people have always taken the view that not having easy access to Malden Rushett would militate against the viability of the projected hotel. It seems they may turn out to be right.

Epsom & Ewell Liberal Democrats

Working to make Epsom & Ewell an even better place to live and work