Cobham Duck Race Results - 22 June 2025

The Results are in!

Click/Tap the duck to see the Cobham Duck Race results page. 

"The Paddocks" planning application 2025/1097 - 250 new houses

An outline planning application has been made for the development of 250 new houses on Blundel Lane – called “The Paddocks” (www.elmbridge.gov.uk/planning #2025/1097).

This application is to confirm the principle of, and access to, this development – Elmbridge Borough Council (EBC) will decide matters like the actual housing number, tenure, mix, size, design... later.

The Trust is so concerned about this development it is commissioning expert reports from both an ecologist and a traffic expert to augment its own knowledge and understanding of planning law and guidance.

This development would have a disproportionate impact on the area. It alone would expand Stoke D’Abernon by 40%. The cumulative effects of all the new houses – 2100 at Wisley New Town, this development, and others in the pipeline - will change our community for the worse and for ever.

The Heritage Trust is therefore adamantly opposed to this development and we ask you to consider objecting to it, if you agree with our concerns, via the EBC’s website or by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The deadline for objections is 27th June 2025. While you may have others, our principal reasons for refusal are set forth below, which you can add in your own words.

• This would be “inappropriate development” on the Green Belt: there are no “very special circumstances” to allow it. It would also severely harm the openness of the neighbouring Green Belt areas.
• This is not Grey Belt land. It is not previously developed land, and it strongly contributes to the purposes of the Green Belt - including the prevention of urban sprawl from the Cobham/Stoke/Oxshott settlement into the rural area. The government’s own Planning Practice Guidance, to help planners determine what may be Grey Belt, makes clear this land is not Grey Belt in any way whatsoever.
• The development would be unsafe: Blundel Lane is a dangerous, narrow, and twisting country lane, onto which this development would send c. 1500 additional vehicles per day. For these they intend to have two access roads with inadequate sight lines – a safety nightmare.
• The Blundel Lane junction with Stoke Road is an accident black-spot – much of the development’s traffic would use this junction and so it would further endanger life. The area has had multiple accidents including fatalities so surely the council cannot contemplate such additional risk.
• The development would be unsustainable. It would be in an isolated location with limited public transport, so residents would be highly reliant on private cars for work, shops, schools, health, leisure… Blundel Lane already experiences unacceptable levels of congestion, which this development will add to. The lack of infrastructure to support this development is palpable and to believe the authorities will provide this if needed is conjecture.
• The prospect of more pedestrians and cyclists on Blundel Lane is unconscionable. There are only limited pavements, and the road is far too narrow. This is particularly an issue at the railway bridge that has blind corners at each end and should anyway be one-way controlled by traffic lights.
• The development would harm the ecology and the rural character of the area, while the scale, bulk and mass of the development would be incongruous, overbearing and visually intrusive, harming the residential amenities for all.
  

Adrian Wise
Trustee, Planning

Planning application to turn the old Loch Fyne restaurant into a McDonalds has been refused

We are pleased to report that the Elmbridge BC’s South Area Planning Committee refused the McDonald’s planning application this week (24 April 2025) to turn the old Loch Fyne restaurant into a McDonalds restaurant and takeaway.

As you may be aware we have been arguing long and hard that the planning officers’ report recommending approval was flawed. Planning legislation, regarding hot food takeaways and fast food outlets, was tightened significantly last December. The National Planning Policy Framework stated that applications for outlets which are outside of town centres and which are within walking distances from schools and places where young people congregate should be refused. We were able to argue strongly that the case officers’ “buffer zone” of 400 metres, which excluded all schools, is an unrealistic definition of “walking distance” particularly when school children under 8 are expected to walk up to two miles to school and over 8 years old up to three miles.

This is, of course, unlikely to be the end of the story as no doubt McDonalds will appeal this refusal. But the first battle has been won and we now have time to regroup and plan our evidence to the Government Inspector. 

We would like to thank all our local councillors who took all these issues so seriously and particularly Cllr Laurence Wells who put his head well above the parapet. We were a real team working on this at this Trust and we would like to thank Adrian Wise for his dogged determination in digging into the absolute detail and seeking out the evidence that others had glossed over and John Kingston for his clear legal advice. Members should be proud of the depth and breadth that our team has in these planning matters. We would like to thank all of you who sent in letters of objection – these really made a difference.

If you would like to support the Trust and become a member, please see the membership benefits and sign up via our online Membership page.

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Latest Cobham Heritage Publication - "Walks in and Around Cobham"

Now in its 5th Print Run One of the Cobham Heritage Trust’s key aims has been to encourage local residents to search out, explore and treasure their local environment and heritage. With this in mind we began publishing a local walk in each of our quarterly Cobham Heritage Membership Magazines, to help our readers and residents to make the most of their local area. Due to popular request, we have now updated each of these walks and are publishing them together for the first time in one volume, available now to all. Softback with 65 pages - Book size A5 Authors: Sally Ollett & Sue Prentice This new book is available direct from Cobham Heritage through the Cobham Heritage Shop website for £8 plus £2.60 P&P and from the Cobham Bookshop for £10.   Order Online