Neighbours of site where temporary accommodation pods will be built say area at 'bursting point' over road safety fears

Plans for three pre-constructed homes at a former builder’s storage yard in Epsom have been met with opposition as neighbours claim the area is at “bursting point”. Residents on Fairview Road, next to the development site, say the road cannot cope with an expected 50 per cent increase in traffic.

The scheme, approved by Epsom and Ewell Borough Council (EEBC) on November 7, is aimed at helping ease the use of expensive hotel rooms for homeless families. Councillors decided that the significant benefits of providing accommodation to families in need in the borough outweighed the perceived harms. The modular homes, which look similar to a storage container, will support families on the housing register by providing temporary accommodation in the borough.

But residents say the council has approved an “unsafe” project which saves the council money but harms locals. “We’re at bursting point,” said Debbie Ransome, who lives at one of six houses on Fairview Road.

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With a width of 3.55m, Fairview Road is 10cm below national standards and cars have to mount the curb to carefully pass each other. If the council adds three more homes the traffic would increase by 50 per cent, the residents argued. Issues with parking, blocking, and emergency vehicle access are already a cause for concern, according to the neighbours.

Not only this, but the road acts as a cut through for pedestrians from East Street, a main road, to Sainsbury’s or Glyn Secondary School and Sixth Form. Ms Ransome and her neighbours explained there is “constant” pedestrian traffic through the street, and “everyone walks on the road because the footpath is too narrow”.

Although the Fairview Road is one of three entrances to Glyn School, hundreds of students walk through everyday. Ms Ransome said she sometimes has to act like a “lollipop lady” and go out into the street to shepherd the kids around the cars. With no street lighting and children wearing black uniform, the mum of two said drivers can struggle to see the children.

She recalled one time she had to emergency stop at the road to let the kids go past, with one boy walking straight into her car, eyes glued to his phone. “Surely the council has a responsibility to safeguard hundreds of pupils at the school,” Ms Ransome said.

“There’s no explanation how it’s going to be safe,” said Headteacher of Glyn School, Jo Garrod. She explained Fairview Road is “busy thoroughfare” with "blind spots". Ms Garrod formally objected to the application twice, citing concerns for safeguarding her students around the cars.

However, officers concluded that the development would not result in an increase in traffic generation, create highway safety issues or cause problems with the existing operation of the network. The site also has a lawful storage and distribution use which would generate vehicle movements anyway.

The modular homes, or “shipping containers” described by Ms Ransome, fall 10msq short of internal space standards and breaches external space requirements.

But council officers said the pre-constructed units would “provide a significantly better standard than most of the council’s temporary accommodation such as hotel rooms and bed and breakfasts. It also added that national space standards do not apply to temporary accommodation.

Neighbours on Fairview Road have not been convinced by the council’s arguments. Ms Ransome said: “You can’t tell me putting homeless families in a dark corner on a road with no streetlights is a way to make people feel better and more secure.” She said they would probably be better off in a bed and breakfast.

The Council is buying the pre-constructed homes using s106 money, grants from developers towards community benefits. EEBC argues it is a good use of taxpayer’s money as it hopes to save up to £60,000 a year on temporary accommodation with the three new units.

Around 240 households are in temporary accommodation provided for by the council, with 90 of these in expensive nightly paid accommodation outside of the borough. The total cost of nightly paid accommodation for 2023/24 was £1.75m, according to council documents.

“We're not NIMBYs,” said Ms Ransome. “We’ve approached developers if they want to build houses on the land.” She said some developers were interested in purchasing the land and claimed she had evidence of an application to the council.

However, EEBC maintains that it has not received any formal application for an alternative residential development on the site or indeed any formal approach to purchase the site for an alternative use.

One of the complications brought up in the Planning Committee meeting was that neither EEBC or Surrey County Council own the road. Meaning, both the local authorities are not responsible for the upkeep or improvement on the road. Residents down the street have to chip in with maintaining the road, putting their own loose tarmac out to cover up any potholes.

But Surrey County Council Highways Authority has raised no issues with the development on the road. Officers have recommended to EEBC to include a resurfaced carriageway, signage and an informal footway painted on the carriageway, as well as provisions for active travel.

Councillor Steven McCormick, Chair of the Planning Committee, said: “The approved accommodation will strengthen local communities by enabling local families at risk of homelessness to stay within the borough, maintaining their children’s placements in local schools and the family’s links to their local communities.

“The local families who will be housed in the temporary modular buildings are likely to feel more secure at Fairview Road than in alternative temporary accommodation out of the borough, in an area that they do not know as well, and further away from their local support networks. The approved scheme will help reduce the upheaval families feel.