A DECISION on the future of a major high-rise redevelopment in Woking town centre is imminent.

The planning application for Crown Place, covering a roughly wedge-shaped site bounded by Chertsey Road and Church Street East, and including the footbridge to the Victoria Way car park, was submitted on behalf of Watkin Jones Group and McKay Securities in late 2019.

It proposed “a new building ranging from five to 28 storeys plus basement level, comprising up to 366 residential units, commercial and community uses at ground floor and first-floor level”.

However, it is only now, almost three years later, that the convoluted history of the application will finally be resolved by the Planning Inspectorate.

Woking Borough Council’s planning committee refused the original planning application in March 2020, against an officer’s recommendation to approve. The decision was subsequently appealed by Watkin Jones and McKay.

Of the three reasons for refusal, says Watkin Jones, only one was contested by the council at the first appeal hearing in October 2021. The appeal was dismissed by a planning inspector two months later.

Watkin Jones and McKay challenged the inspector’s decision in January this year, stating that the inspector’s decision erred on several matters.

Although the council contested the appellants’ case, the Secretary of State for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities confirmed in April that the inspector’s decision should be quashed ahead of a planned High Court hearing in July, and, further, that the appeal should be re-determined by the Planning Inspectorate.

This further hearing was on 6 September, and, now completed, the re-determination under a different inspector may be presented as soon as next month.

Should the redevelopment proceed, one of the buildings set for demolition would be the popular Big Apple complex, which is now closed.

Two of its premier entertainments, bowling and Laser Quest, have relocated to the purpose-built Woking Superbowl, which opened today in Victoria Place.

A spokesperson for Watkin Jones said: “We are hopeful that the Planning Inspectorate will agree with the original planning officer’s recommendation that this is a positive development for Woking.

“Local people will have been put in difficult situations due to the shortage of homes to rent in Woking, and the only way to create places for people to live without expanding into green belt is to focus on brownfield sites in central locations.

 “Alongside 366 new homes for people, the scheme will also bring a community centre, new space for businesses, and improve the link from Chertsey Road to other parts of the town.”

* FULL details of the planning application can be found on the Woking Borough Council planning website under PLAN/2019/1141.