An application to build a bungalow in Claygate has been refused planning permission, after one Elmbridge councillor claimed the local authority would be a “laughing stock” if it got the go-ahead.

Although an Elmbridge planning officer recommended the bungalow in Hare Lane be granted permission, councillors at the planning meeting on Monday, September 7, were concerned the bungalow’s only access would be from a side entrance down a three foot passage.

They argued this would not be wide enough to allow emergency or building vehicles access.

Councillor David Archer, who represents Esher, said it was one of the strangest planning applications he had ever seen.

He said: “I don’t know how [the applicant] is going to build down a three foot passage - if we permit this we will make ourselves a laughing stock.”

Claygate councillor Jimmy Cartwright, also a member of Claygate Parish Council, who own a building that backs on to the proposed site, also voiced his concerns about the bungalow.

He said: “The only access would be three foot wide through the side of the house. How can anyone say that should be permitted?”

He told fellow councillors that the proposed building resembled old buildings nearby that it was “not acceptable” to build anymore.

He said: “I don’t believe we should permit that because it would be opening up the whole of Elmbridge to that kind of development.”

Coun Shweta Kapadia, chairman of the meeting, agreed with her colleague.

She said: “[If we grant the application planning permission] we are taking ourselves back to the early part of the last century and that is not good for the planning system.”

Although a highways officer from Surrey County Council (SCC) had raised no objections to the application in terms of its impact on safety, Elmbridge councillors unanimously voted against the proposal.

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