Matters of public record: 31 Stevens Lane, KT10 0TD

This page is maintained by residents local to the site named above. Each item below is a matter of public record — held by the local planning authority, HM Land Registry, or another statutory body — with a citation to where it can be independently verified. Nothing on this page is an opinion on whether the site can lawfully be developed; several of the matters recorded here may affect cost, timing, or the terms on which finance can be obtained, and readers carrying out their own due diligence should verify each item at its source and take their own advice.

• 2021/4037 — application refused by Elmbridge Borough Council, 25 May 2022
• 2021/0988 — application refused; appeal dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate (ref. APP/K3605/W/21/3283101), 1 December 2022
• 2025/0003 — application refused by Elmbridge Borough Council, 11 September 2025
• APP/6006033 — refusal overturned on appeal by the Planning Inspectorate, 10 August 2026
• 2026/2057 — a further application refused by Elmbridge Borough Council, 7 September 2026

The site has a longer planning history. Application 2021/4037 was refused by Elmbridge Borough Council on 25 May 2022. A further application, reference 2021/0988, for a broadly similar scheme, was also refused, and the subsequent appeal was dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate on 1 December 2022 (appeal ref. APP/K3605/W/21/3283101). The current application for this site, reference 2025/0003, was refused by Elmbridge Borough Council on 11 September 2025. That refusal was overturned on appeal by the Planning Inspectorate on 10 August 2026, appeal reference APP/6006033. A further application, reference 2026/2057, was refused by Elmbridge Borough Council on 7 September 2026. The full decision notice, including every condition attached to the 2025/0003 permission, is a public document.

Trees on the site are subject to Tree Preservation Order EL:25/10, which protects an oak tree within the front garden of the site (referenced as T012 in the arboricultural evidence considered at appeal). In allowing the appeal, the Planning Inspectorate found that the loss of this tree would cause material harm to the character and appearance of the area, placing the development in conflict with Policy CS17 of the Elmbridge Core Strategy and Policies DM2 and DM6 of the Elmbridge Local Plan — harm which the Inspector ultimately found to be outweighed by other material considerations. A full TPO schedule and an independent arboricultural survey are being obtained to confirm whether any further orders apply elsewhere on the site. Any felling, lopping, or works to a protected tree without the local authority's consent is a criminal offence under section 210 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, carrying an unlimited fine on indictment.

The permission's mitigation strategy for the loss of this tree depends on delivery of a specific replacement planting package — six semi-mature trees (two fastigiate oaks, three fastigiate beeches and one pedunculate oak) — secured under Condition 11 of the permission, together with an approved Tree Constraints Plan and Tree Protection Plan. Prospective purchasers, funders and contractors should independently verify that this planting scheme has been formally approved and, where development has begun, actually delivered, before relying on the site as approved.

The appeal decision notice attaches conditions that must be formally discharged before development may lawfully commence. The decision itself confirms that several of these are pre-commencement conditions, expressly covering ecological protection, construction management, drainage design and arboricultural protection (decision paragraph 36) — including Condition 11, which requires a final replacement tree planting scheme and updated Tree Constraints Plan and Tree Protection Plan drawings to be submitted and approved before development proceeds (paragraph 33). The verbatim wording of the key pre-commencement conditions, and general information on how such conditions are enforced, is set out on a dedicated page. Work carried out on site before a genuine pre-commencement condition is discharged does not constitute a lawful "material start," and may leave the permission not validly implemented.

→ Read the full pre-commencement conditions schedule

31 Stevens Lane comprises two registered titles, SY154141 and SY828526, both held by the current registered proprietors. Both titles carry restrictive covenants recorded in their Charges Registers.

Title SY154141 is subject to a covenant, contained in a 1956 transfer, restricting the erection of buildings on the land without the vendor's consent (not to be unreasonably withheld), and restricting use of the land to a private dwellinghouse and its curtilage only.

Title SY828526 is subject to two further covenants on the register: one contained in a 1957 transfer, restricting construction or external alteration without the written licence of the vendor or its successors in title, and restricting the garden ground to use as a private garden only; and a later covenant, contained in a 2015 transfer, restricting the land to use "as a private garden with ancillary shed or summerhouse" and no other purpose.

The register entries, the full text of each covenant, and the question of who now holds the benefit of them, can be independently checked by any party at HM Land Registry for the cost of an official copy. Parties conducting due diligence should obtain and review official copies of both titles directly rather than relying on this summary.

In determining the appeal referred to above, the Planning Inspectorate expressly recorded that representations had raised private covenants, ownership matters, and the financial position of the applicant, and found these to be private legal matters outside the scope of the planning decision, attracting little or no weight in reaching it. Planning permission granted on appeal does not itself resolve, or have any bearing on, questions of private legal right — including the covenants referred to above.

A formal capacity enquiry has been submitted to the statutory water and sewerage undertaker for this site. Public sewer records and the undertaker's response, once received, will be added here with a citation. Readers are encouraged to make their own enquiry in the meantime, as network capacity and any required upgrade works can materially affect the cost and programme of a scheme of this size.

Every item above is drawn from a public record held by a statutory body, not from this group's own assertion. Readers are encouraged to verify each citation directly rather than relying on this page:

• Planning history and conditions — the local authority's planning portal, and gov.uk/government/organisations/planning-inspectorate
• Tree Preservation Orders — the local authority's TPO register
• Title and covenant matters — HM Land Registry, gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land
• Sewer and drainage records — Thames Water Developer Services public sewer maps