Plans to transform car park site into flats backed

The new development would contain 42 homes

A multi-storey car park will be demolished to make way for a five-storey block of flats that will stand at twice the height of the original building.

Plans to convert the Church Road car park into 42 apartments with commercial space in Ashford have been given the go-ahead, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The top floor of the site shut in 2013, and the remainder closed in June 2022 after reports of anti-social behaviour and vandalism.

Members at a Spelthorne Borough Council planning committee meeting unanimously approved the scheme on Wednesday, despite over 20 objections from the public.

Those objecting to the plans claimed Ashford does not need any more flats and the council should build smaller family homes with gardens instead.

Others said it would strain local infrastructure and increase traffic gridlock in the town centre.

Officers stressed the proposed development will be "roughly" a similar height to the nearby Brooklands College, and will be set several metres back from the current site.

The plans also include 81 parking spaces, with 42 spaces for each of the new apartments, and the remaining 39 spaces for public parking for the town centre.

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