COUNCILLORS have gone against a recommendation to refuse permission for a block of flats for older people on the site of a derelict psychiatric hospital in Knaphill.

Members of Woking Borough Council’s planning committee voted last week to allow a building with 34 “extra care” apartments after demolition of The Meadows in Bagshot Road.

Planning officers agreed there was a demand for such specialist accommodation for over 65s in the borough but said existing developments such as Broadoaks in West Byfleet were meeting the need and there was not a shortage.

They recommended refusal of the plan by Churchgate Woking Ltd, saying the building would be significantly larger than The Meadows and any benefits of the development would be outweighed by harm to the openness of the Green Belt.

The Meadows was built in the mid-1990s to provide residential care for over-65s with mental health conditions following the closure of Brookwood Hospital. It was shut around 10 years ago, after its residents were moved to smaller “care in the community” homes.

The site was sold by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in May 2017 for £2,925,000. A fire badly damaged the top floor and roof in April last year and the building has since become increasingly derelict and vandalised.

The Meadows on fire
The Meadows at the height of the fire last year. (Fleet Fire Station)

Churchgate’s plan for a three and four-storey building is its second for the site. In 2021, the company was refused planning permission for a five-storey block of 54 one and two-bedroom extra care flats there in April 2021.

The new application was referred to the committee for a decision by Knaphill councillor Melanie Whitehand. She said the building would be a significant improvement to the site, even though it was bigger.

She said the current building was not capable of being renovated and the new proposal was not much different in use from the former NHS unit. Churchgate had taken notice of the previous reasons for refusal and had improved the landscaping.

“As a former portfolio holder for wellbeing, I welcome the building of extra-care accommodation, for which there is a clear need,” she said. “It would be particularly suitable for older people who do not want to move away from the area.”

Thirty residents had written in favour of the application, most welcoming the replacement of a derelict eyesore on land that was increasingly being used for fly tipping.

Cllr Whitehand’s fellow Conservatives Cllr Steve Dorsett and Cllr Josh Brown and the Labour leader, Cllr Tahir Aziz, spoke in favour of passing the plans. The committee voted five in favour of approval and three against.