Following a unanimous vote of support Waverley Borough Council’s Central Planning Committee approved Surrey-based Charterhouse School’s proposal to increase the size of its Sports Centre and provide two new all-weather hockey pitches and six tennis courts.
The proposal will provide improved sporting facilities for the School, private members and the community including an improved Sports Fitness Centre, four new squash courts, enlarged reception and café area together with new studios and fitness suites. Outside two new County Standard floodlit synthetic hockey pitches will be provided for the school together with six floodlit tennis courts and spectator pavilion. The car parking layout will also be revised and the number of spaces increased and the layout of the golf course redesigned.
The School’s sports facilities lie within a Green Belt and very special circumstances had to be justified to the Council to enable the planning application to proceed. These arguments were presented by the planning team at leading real estate advisers Vail Williams, together with other reports which supported the range of facilities sought. Despite an increase in floor area of over 50%, it was accepted that the schools need for the facilities was justified, the proposal had a more compact footprint than a previously approved scheme and the use of the facilities would be made available to the community.
The work started during the 2011 summer break and the School hopes to finish the all-weather pitches by the end of the year.
Chris Wilmshurst, Associate at Vail Williams commented: “Whilst there was previous planning permission on the site this was a completely fresh approach and we are pleased with the support from both Waverley Council Officers and Councillors which enabled this scheme to be approved in a little over six weeks, which means the School can now get started before the autumn term.”
Laszlo Dudas, Charterhouse Estate Bursar commented: “This is a very important project for the School. The assistance of Vail Williams and the other consultants was crucial in getting this application approved in good time to allow us to build during the summer break. We look forward to be able to provide high quality sporting facilities to the School and the public.”
