Cranleigh Village Health Trust (CVHT) is bringing forward new proposals to secure the return of Community Beds in the village.
The new application is for a 64-bed care home on CVHT’s Knowle Lane site, including 16 Community Beds and a building providing 14 apartments for local health keyworkers.
An earlier planning application, which included 20 Community Beds within a new care home, was turned down by Waverley Borough Council in November 2019.
CVHT is also pursuing an Appeal on that refusal decision, following professional advice that the refusal decision was based on very weak planning grounds and that it should be challenged.
CVHT chairman Dr Robin Fawkner-Corbett said:
We’ve worked tirelessly since the charity was first established in 2001 to return Community Beds to Cranleigh.
Our proposals are the only viable plan to achieve the return of Community Beds. These beds will operate on the same basis as those previously located within Cranleigh Village Hospital, with priority given to residents of Cranleigh and the surrounding areas.
Our aim as a charity has remained the same since day one, with our route to securing Community Beds in Cranleigh reflecting the many changes in the NHS and local health authorities over the past 20 years. Our proposals have the full support of the NHS Guildford and Waverley Clinical Commissioning Group, Surrey County Council and the Royal Surrey County Hospital.
The 14-unit affordable accommodation building is for local health keyworkers who provide essential services for the functioning and delivery of health services to the local community.
Addressing earlier planning objections, the revised application sees the care home building reduced in size by a third, with the ridge height of the building also reduced. The health workers’ accommodation block and its car parking have been relocated to the northern side of the care home building.
Each self-contained unit within the key worker accommodation now features an individual kitchen, rather than the previously proposed communal facilities.
Another difference to the earlier application is the removal of the internal road which would have run parallel to the Downs Link, helping to create a more significant undeveloped buffer at the south of the site, where it adjoins Snoxhall Fields.
Dr Fawker-Corbett continued:
Returning Community Beds to Cranleigh would be a wonderful achievement for the village, and we believe our proposal is the only way to make this happen in the foreseeable future.
With Covid-19 restrictions still in place, we are hosting a virtual exhibition of the plans at cranleighhealthtrust.org/exhibition, where we look forward to hearing local feedback. We would welcome your messages of support.
