Case study

Pegasus Homes - Station Approach, Godalming

Mayer Brown were delighted to assist Pegasus Homes (formerly Lifestory) and their wider consultant team with the redevelopment of a brownfield site in Godalming to provide a much needed later living development, providing sheltered accommodation with communal facilities in a sustainable, town centre location close to the train station.

Our colleagues Richard Gregory and Caroline Gower provided both Transport and Flood Risk and Drainage input into the scheme, and their hard work and technical expertise were recently rewarded when the scheme was granted planning permission.

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Transport Planning
Infrastructure Design
Environmental Assessment

Details

Challenge One - Flood Risk

Flood risk was a particular challenge for this development with the River Ock running through the eastern section of the site. Environment Agency (EA) guidance requires an 8m offset as a minimum from any main river to new development however due to the size of the site, it was not possible to provide this.

As there is an existing building at the site, the development was designed so that the proposed building was no closer to the river than the existing building. Additional betterment was also provided such as replacing as much of the existing hardstanding within the 8m buffer as possible with permeable surfacing and landscaping. A Sustainable Drainage Strategy (SuDS), with a green roof and permeable paving, restricted surface water into the river to greenfield run-off rates where previously the site was discharging unrestricted into the river.

Following discussions with the EA, we were able to agree to match the existing buffer provided between the river and the building due to the significant range and number of other benefits that were being offered by the scheme as a whole.

A river remediation plan was also prepared which removed some of the revetment, naturalised the stream and introduced coir matting to modify the flow.

Challenge Two - Parking and Construction Traffic

From a Transport Planning perspective, there were two main matters of contention that had to be resolved with Surrey County Council in order to obtain their recommendation to approve the application.

The first related to parking – both for cars and cycles. The constrained nature of the site and the need outlined above to reduce existing hardstanding where possible, alongside concern regarding manoeuvres required to access spaces and a need for further disabled provision from Surrey, resulted in a detailed swept path analysis assessment to inform a suitable layout. In addition, Surrey requested a much higher cycle parking provision (0.5 spaces per unit) than is typical for a Pegasus site, and that all cycle parking should be at ground level and horizontal. We were able to provide evidence to support the argument that this level of provision was not required and that as a result, half the spaces provided could be semi-vertical for assisted use and only if needed.

The second matter related to construction delivery trips, with the one-way route around the site required for access and also serving the railway station resulting in Surrey requiring that no HGV movements should be permitted between 06:30-09:30 and 16:00-18:30. These restrictions would have had a severe impact on the construction programme, and we were able to demonstrate through the interrogation and presentation of ATC survey data that there were clear one-hour peaks during the morning and evening, that traffic flows were generally low including during the peaks, and that vehicle speeds were consistent, suggesting that there were no existing queuing/delay issues. As a result, it was agreed that the restriction on HGV movements should be eased to only between 07:00-08:00 and 17:00-18:00.