As part of the Local Plan examination stage a five-week public consultation is being undertaken on documents submitted to the Inspector since 8 October 2025. These documents relate to additional sites that could potentially be allocated through main modifications to the Local Plan following this consultation.
https://epsom-ewell.inconsult.uk/localplan.additionaldocuments
The documents that are consulted upon are listed below. Each document should be downloaded and the FAQs read before any feedback is submitted to Epsom & Ewell Borough Council
COUD_020 – Assessment of 54 Urban Sites (121 Pages)
COUD_021 – Green Belt Topic Paper additional work of 33 sites (126 Pages)
COUD_029 – Possible Additional Sites 12 Urban, 5 Green Belt Sites (85 Pages)
COUD_030 – Sustainability Appraisal (SA) Report Addendum (43 Pages)
COUD_031 – Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) Addendum (22 Pages)
COUD_032 – Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP) Addendum (18 Pages)
COUD_033a – Transport Assessment Addendum (69 Pages)
COUD_033b – Transport Assessment Technical Annex (82 Pages)
The consultation will run from Monday 11 May 2026 until Monday 15 June 2026, closing at 23.59.
Please note comments are only being sought on the documents detailed above and not on any other documents that have been submitted for Examination, including the Proposed Submission Local Plan.
Background and Further Information
This consultation is being held at the request of the Inspector. During the second stage examination hearings held in September/October 2025 concerns were raised that the Council is not doing enough to meet its housing needs through the submitted Local Plan. The Plan proposes to meet approximately 47% of the borough’s housing need identified through the standard method that applied when the plan was prepared. As a result, the Inspector requested the Council undertake additional work which has led to the submission of several documents, which identify additional potential sites for allocation. These documents are the subject of this consultation.
Further details on the consultation and why it is being held is provided in the Consultation on Additional Documentation FAQs.
How to Respond. You may respond to the consultation in the following ways:
Response form (for a single representation)
Response form (with 5x additional sheets)
Representations can be sent via email: localplan@epsom-ewell.gov.uk
Representations can be sent via letter to:
Planning Policy, Epsom & Ewell Borough Council,
Town Hall, The Parade,
Epsom,
Surrey,
KT18 5BY
Please ensure that any representation contains your name/contact details and clearly specifies which of the consultation documents you are commenting on. If commenting on more than one document, please complete a separate response form for each or use headings in your response.
If you need assistance responding to this consultation, you can contact the Planning Policy Team by emailing localplan@epsom‑ewell.gov.uk or by calling our contact centre on 01372 732000.
COUD_029 – Additional Sites for Potential Allocation for 5 Green Belt Sites
West of Burgh Heath Road
Cuddington Glade
Land off Cuddington Glade
Land at Priest Hill, Ewell
Downs Farm
COUD_021 – Green Belt Topic Paper additional work of 33 sites
1 West Park (Major Developed Site)
2 Manor Park (Major Developed Site)
3 Livingstone Park (Major Developed Site)
4 Clarendon Park (Major Developed Site)
5 St Ebbas (Major Developed Site)
6 Epsom College (Major Developed Site)
7 NESCOT (Major Developed Site)
COL017 Land West of Burgh Heath Road
COL019 Land east of Burgh Heath Road
COL020 Land near Downs Road -north
COL021 Land near Downs Road -South
COL022 Clear Heights, Downs Road
COL023 Land near Downs Road-east
COU026 Hook Road Arena
HOR001 Cuddington Glade
HOR002 Hollywood Lodge
HOR003 Manor Park
HOR004 Land off Cuddington Glade
HOR005 LAA ref West Park
HOR006 LAA ref West Park
HOR007 Noble Park extension
HOR008 LAA ref West Park
HOR009 Horton Farm
HOR010 Land at Chantilly Way
HOR011 Land south of West Cottage, Livingstone Park
HOR012 Clarendon Park
HOR014 Horton Hospital, Livingstone Park
NON013 Land at Priest Hill
NON016 Downs Farm
NON042 Downs Farm
NON021 Drift Bridge Farm
NON038 Banstead Road
NON040 The Looe, Reigate Road
WOO019 Land near Downs Road-west
WOO020 Land North of Langley Bottom Farm
Epsom & Ewell Local Plan
Consultation on Additional Documentation – FAQs
Background
The Council submitted its Local Plan and supporting documents to the Planning Inspectorate on the 10 March 2025. The Local Plan sets out a policy framework to guide development across the borough up to 2040. The key diagram, in appendix 1 at the end of this document, shows visually the spatial strategy and the broad locations of proposed development in the submission Local Plan.
Following submission of the Local Plan the examination stage commenced, where an independent Inspector is appointed to consider whether the Plan meets the appropriate ‘soundness’ requirements and if it can be
adopted.
As part of this process, the Inspector issued a series of Matters, Issues and Questions (known as ‘MIQs’) for the Council and participants to respond to. These MIQs and the responses would form the basis for the public
examination hearings. The hearings were split into two stages:
- Stage 1 – Legal Compliance and the Duty to Cooperate held on the 28 August 2025. Following this hearing the Inspector wrote to the council (ID-006) on the 9 September 2025 confirming that the
Examination could proceed to stage 2. - Stage 2 – Soundness – the Hearings were based on 12 specific matters and were held over 7 days between 30 September 2025 and 09 October 2025. Further information on all stages of the examination is available on the Local Plan Examination webpage.
Why is this consultation being held?
During the Stage 2 hearings concerns were raised that the Council is not doing enough to meet its housing needs through the submitted Local Plan.
The Plan proposes to meet approximately 47% of the housing need
identified through the government’s standard method that applied when the Plan was prepared. At the time, the standard method housing need figure was for 569 dwellings per annum or 10,242 dwellings over the Local Plan
period. The government has since published a new standard method in December 2024 which has further increased the borough’s housing need.
Following the Stage 2 hearings the Planning Inspector requested that the Council undertake two additional discrete pieces of work: one in relation to sites assessed in Section 4 of the Green Belt Topic Paper and the
other in relation to whether any sites identified in the Land Availability Assessment (LAA), which were discounted for availability reasons can be considered to be ‘developable’, i.e. are in a suitable location for
housing development with a reasonable prospect that they will be available and could be viably developed in years 6-15 of the Plan period. The Inspector formally set out the work to be undertaken in her letter dated 22
October 2025 (ID-018) with the Council submitting this work to the Inspector on the 22 January 2026, which comprised:
- Assessment of Urban Sites (COUD_020) – Further assessment was undertaken of the LAA sites which were previously discounted for availability reasons. An additional 13 urban sites were reassessed as being ‘developable’, i.e. they are in a suitable location for housing development with a reasonable
prospect that they will be available and could be viably developed between years 6-15 of the Plan period (up until 2040). - Green Belt Topic Paper Additional Work (COUD_021) – This work involved further assessment of the Green Belt sites which were promoted to the Council and considered as part of the Land Availability Assessment (LAA). These sites were considered against the ‘Calverton Tests’, these being legal tests which identify whether exceptional circumstances exist to potentially release land from the Green Belt.
Specifically, the potential harm to the Green Belt from the development proposed was considered and whether any harm could be mitigated. 11 of the Green Belt sites were considered to pass the test. Following the submission of these two additional documents, the Inspector confirmed in a letter dated 12 February 2026 (ID-020) that the Council needed to undertake further additional work to enable the examination to proceed. Specifically, the letter stated that the council “assess the suitability of the sites [identified in the work submitted on the 22 January 2026] for potential allocation within the Local Plan.” To enable this the Inspector outlined the information that needed to be updated, which included the housing trajectory and various elements of the evidence base, specifically the Sustainability Appraisal and Habitats Regulations Assessment, and that the Council should consider the need to update the traffic modelling work and
Infrastructure Delivery Plan.
The Council has now undertaken this additional work which has been submitted to the Inspector and published as part of our Examination Library. The work comprises the following documents:
- Additional Sites for Potential Allocation (COUD_029)
- Sustainability Appraisal (SA) Report Addendum (COUD_030)
- Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) Addendum (COUD_031)
- Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP) Addendum (COUD_032)
- Transport Assessment Addendum (COUD_033)
To summarise, the evidence has found there are additional sites which may be considered for potential allocation in the Local Plan. As the additional documentation submitted to the Inspector comprises new evidence, it is important that anyone who wishes to participate in the Local Plan Examination process has an opportunity to comment on this. The Inspector has therefore requested the Council undertake a public consultation on this additional documentation, which is taking place from Monday 11 May 2026 to Monday 15 June 2026.
Ewell Green Belt 