Residents are concerned about the loss of car parking and the impact on businesses from Cranleigh’s proposed new £30m Leisure centre. 

Here’s Katie Hobson’s question to Waverley’s Full council this week as she seeks answers on behalf of The CranleighHighStreet.uk team

Sadly, Cllr Liz Townsend’s response was far too long and complicated to include as a direct clip of the meeting. However, a video of the council meeting is included at the end of this post.

However, Katie Hobson’s and a similar question from Virginia Ray on the same subject were responded to in full.

Both asked how residents and businesses would cope without 68 current parking spaces in the Village Way Car ~Park – which serves shoppers,  medical practice and village hospital, the existing leisure centre, which will continue operating and the Co-op. The latest designs reveal the loss of  68 parking spaces in the Village Way car park at the end of the project (235 spaces vs 303 now), and there appear to be very few parking spaces available during construction itself – significantly fewer than ‘half’.

Cllr Townsend explained that only draft concept plans were being developed for the proposed new Leisure Centre in Village Way. However, Waverley Council will carefully consider the key issue of parking before, during, and after the construction phase. 

The council fully recognised that providing Cranleigh with a new centre would involve short—and long-term challenges. However, the transport issues that would arise during the building phase were being reviewed.

She stressed that parking was a key issue for the project team and was mindful of the complexity surrounding car parking arrangements during construction. She was doing everything to mitigate the effect on residents and local businesses, including investigating alternative transport. The team would be looking at all the village’s parking options, including changes to space sizes, which may be required to fit in with Surrey County Council’s policies. It was committed to providing disabled, family, and EV spaces in the Village Way car park.

She gave this assurance:

We will make every effort to minimise the disruption to residents and businesses and there will be full public consultation”

As Katie Robson mentions in the video clip above, villagers have been concerned since Cllr Townsend said at a public meeting in Cranleigh.

‘that there would be disruption, but about half of the car park should still be useable.’ The latest designs show that 68 parking spaces will be lost from the Village Way car park at the end of the project (235 spaces vs 303 now), and there appears to be very few parking spaces available during construction itself – significantly less than ‘half’. 

3. Questin from Virginia Ray

It is proposed that the new Cranleigh Leisure Centre is to be built in the middle of Village Way car park, resulting in the likelihood of little-to-no public parking being

available during the construction period (once parking for leisure centre staff, and users of the medical centre has been allocated). The current designs show that once construction is completed, there will be just 235 parking spaces, a reduction of 22% from the 303 available now – all while the footfall for the new leisure is projected to be greater than it is now and while new houses continue to be built in Cranleigh.

Has an impact assessment been undertaken to determine the effects on the High Street businesses, of this substantial loss of parking: 1. During the construction (which is expected to be circa two years) 2. Once the whole project has been completed? If an impact assessment has not been carried out, what are the Council’s expectations with respect to the impact on Cranleigh High Street businesses?

You can hear Cllr Townsend’s full explanation during the meeting here.