Plans for Horley Library to be bulldozed and replaced with 40 flats could be given the green light on Wednesday (June 6), despite fears the new block will be to the “detriment” of the town.
The library, currently housed in the 1950s building on Victoria Road, will be relocated to a new modern home in Russell Square, but the loss of the 25-space public car park and its replacement with only 12 bays for public use have also caused concern.
Surrey County Council announced two years ago that it would move the library so that it could make money from redeveloping the site, and has agreed a lease for the new site further up the road with Reigate and Banstead Borough Council.
Outline plans for the scheme to build 30 one-bedroom and 10 two-bedroom flats will go before the borough council’s planning committee on Wednesday evening.
Writing to lodge her objection, Sue Adcock, practice manager at Birchwood Medical Practice, said the application had caused “huge concern” among patients and was not “in the best interests of the community, or in particularly vulnerable people with poor health”.
“The current parking spaces, and in particular the disabled spaces, are not enough for our patients, and our list is growing daily,” she said.
Horley Town Council objected due to a lack of public parking and lack of disabled parking spaces.
(Image: Wyg / Surrey County Council)
It also said the design was “out of keeping with and would be a detriment to Horley town centre” and constituted an “overdevelopment and cramming of the site”.
But in a report to the committee, planners said there was ample alternative parking in the town and the plan would also help meet local housing requirements, particularly with 12 of the flats being classed as affordable.
The report states: “Although matters of detailed layout, scale and appearance are reserved for later consideration… it is considered that an acceptable scheme could be achieved which is compatible with the character of the surrounding area.”
Earlier this year, the borough council agreed to charge Surrey County County an upfront premium and peppercorn rent for a 999-year lease for the corner unit of the Russell Square building.
No opening date has been set for the new library but a county council spokesman said “it should be later this year”.