A DEVELOPER'S bid to build an affordable-housing skyscraper in Woking has been refused over fears it would “segregate” people on lower incomes into “ghetto” blocks.

Plans to build a 224-home, 25-storey, tower block in Woking town centre were rejected by Woking Borough Council’s planning committee on Tuesday night (February 28).

The proposal was refused despite the fact it would have created more affordable homes in a single swoop than have been built in the borough over the past three years.

Steven Lodge, speaking on behalf of developers Abri Group, said the council had a housing waiting list of more than 1,000 people and that only 182 affordable homes had been developed since 2020.

He estimated the community would contribute £7million a year to the local economy once the building at Technology House, Goldsworth Road, was completed and occupied.

Mr Lodge said:  “If approved this development would change, for the better, the lives of more than 224 households.

“It will create opportunity and hope for some of the most financially vulnerable members of your community. 

“To not grant consent would be to deny these members of your community the opportunity for safe, warm, affordable homes for many years, perhaps even a generation.”

The argument was supported by Councillor Steve Dorsett, Conservative shadow housing portfolio holder, who said he knew exactly how long housing waiting lists were in Woking and how little affordable housing had been built.

He said: “224 units is nothing to be sniffed at, and dear God that would fix our affordable housing issues down the road.

“I find it very difficult to refuse something that would bring that much affordable housing.”

Planning chairperson Cllr Louise Morales, cautioned against affordable housing for the sake of it.

She told the committee: “Social housing does bring a certain number of problems and it is manageable… I believe that if we put 224, which is more than an entire street of current social housing, into one single block there might potentially be inappropriate living conditions for people who would be the most vulnerable residents in Woking.”

She added that planning was about making nice communities and creating spaces that people would be proud to live.

Planning committee vice chairperson Cllr Tahir Aziz said: “We need better quality of the housing.  We don’t want to create ghettos, putting people on lower income in separate, segregating them in blocks."

He added: “I hope they come back with something more acceptable, more reduction in volume and bulk and mass, better designed.”

Their views were supported by Conservative councillor Melanie Whitehand, who said the density of the homes would create an environment people would not like to live in long-term.

She added: “I wouldn’t want to be a young mum with children trying to hike a pram up and down 42 stories or however high it is.

“My visceral horror of tower blocks comes forward and I think the reasons given for refusal are very much valid.”

The committee voted seven to two to refuse planning permission adding further reasons – lack of amenities and lack of car parking – to those in the recommendations.

They also heard from the planning team that it was confident the reasons given in the report for refusal, including height, bulk and waste management, would stand up to any potential legal challenges.