Multi-storey car park in Surrey town centre could be transformed into five-storey block of flats

Neighbours have slammed the scheme claiming the town is already “swamped” with flats and it needs community investment and small family homes instead.

The former Church Road car park in Ashford closed in June 2022 after shocking anti-social behaviour with youths reportedly setting fire to things and vandalising the building.

Now, Spelthorne Borough Council is hoping to give the notorious car park site a fresh start by reviving it as a new block of vibrant flats.

Plans outline the existing multi-storey car park demolished to see the erection of a five-storey block of flats at 18.3 metres tall – over twice the height of the current building.

Around 42 new homes could be created – mostly two-bedroom flats and some one-bed units – in the Ashford town.

The proposal also includes 81 parking spaces, with 42 spaces for the new homes and the remaining 39 spaces for public parking for the town centre.

Members of Spelthorne Council planning committee will decide on the future of the former car park on April 2.

Officers are currently recommending councillors approve the scheme as they state the “benefits of replacing the disused and unattractive car park with the proposed development will clearly outweigh the impacts” of a bigger building and the neighbouring properties.

But neighbours to the town centre site are dismayed at the plans.

People said the proposed development would “dwarf” the surrounding buildings and “encroach” on the privacy of the houses to the back of the apartment block.

Objectors asked where is the infrastructure for new residents- with one person claiming “the road has bigger holes than craters on the moon”.

Another said: “Ashford is already grid locked four times a day with the amount of vehicles now on the road without adding more”.

Others said there were already not enough GP appointments and schools are at “bursting point”.

Although some locals agreed Ashford is crying out for housing, they said “small family homes with gardens” are needed, not more two-bedroom flats.

Claiming the area is “swamped” with flats, one person said the council should build something to benefit the community.

“More people and fewer shops is not the way forward – too many nail shops and Turkish barbers – where will it end?” said one angry commenter.

“With more anti-social behaviour in and around Ashford,” they added.

Disruptive behaviour was a key concern amongst some residents claiming crime and anti-social behaviour was experienced regularly in the former multi-storey car park creating basement parking on the site could “risk recreating this situation again”.

The proposed scheme, put forward by Spelthorne Borough Council itself, offers no affordable housing and will consist of mostly two-bedroom flats.

The council has “indicated” to officers it hopes to provide affordable housing in the long-term with funding from Homes England – but currently all the homes are to be sold at market value.

Spelthorne council, which is teetering on the edge financially after the government announced it may bring in commissioners, is still weighed down by over £1bn of debt in commercial properties.