We, the residents of Belmont and surrounding roads, call on London Borough of Sutton and Belmont ward councillors to refuse Planning Application DM2025/01591 for the former Ambulance Station on Dorset Road (SM2 6HX), Belmont, which proposes a change of use from Sui Generis (Ambulance Station) to mixed Class F1 (Place of Worship) and Class F2 (Community Hub), with associated building works.

Please submit an individual planning objection to Sutton Council for DM2025/01591 - it carries more weight than signatures alone. Focus on school safety, parking overspill, traffic/drop-offs, noise/late hours, and emergency access.

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We support appropriate community facilities in principle. However, we believe this proposal, in this specific residential location with constrained access, will cause unacceptable harm to local highway safety, parking, residential amenity, and emergency access unless refused.

Key reasons for objection (material planning grounds)

1) School-run pedestrian safety and existing peak parking stress
Avenue Primary Academy has a reported pupil roll of 1,034, meaning the area experiences very high pedestrian activity (children, parents, buggies) at drop-off/pick-up times, with additional activity from optional after-school and weekend events. We are concerned that extra peak-time arrivals, drop-offs and vehicles circulating for parking will reduce visibility at crossings/junctions and increase risk to children and other pedestrians.

2) Inadequate on-site parking and predictable overspill into residential streets
The applicant’s own Transport Statement identifies the Friday prayer “changeover” as the busiest period and models a worst-case overlap scenario of:

• up to 80 vehicles associated with the overlap period;
• only 14 on-site spaces, with an assumption 3 may be used by staff (leaving 11 for attendees);
• therefore 69 vehicles potentially parking on surrounding residential streets in the worst case.We believe this overspill will lead to obstruction, unsafe manoeuvres, blocked driveways, pavement parking, reduced visibility and harm to residents’ quality of life.

3) Impact on elderly and mobility-impaired residents
Overspill parking and drop-off behaviour can force pedestrians into the carriageway, block pavements and make it harder for elderly residents, wheelchair users and those with mobility issues to move safely. These impacts are particularly serious in a school-run environment and on constrained streets.

4) Emergency access and response resilience
With constrained streets and single-route reliance, additional on-street parking/double-parking or queuing traffic increases the risk of delaying emergency vehicles and refuse collection. This is a highway safety and public safety concern.

5) Late operating hours and residential amenity (noise and disturbance)
The applicant’s Planning Statement indicates long operating hours, including community use 07:00–22:00 and prayer use varying and running up to 11pm. Late-evening dispersal (voices outside, car doors, engines idling, vehicles circulating) is a common source of residential nuisance. We are concerned about sleep disturbance and loss of peaceful enjoyment of homes, particularly affecting vulnerable and elderly residents.

6) Constrained local road network – single access and cul-de-sac impacts
Dorset Road effectively acts as the only vehicular entry/exit to the site and nearby residential streets (including Balmoral Way) are cul-de-sacs with limited turning space. In such layouts, even short peak surges have disproportionate impacts: drivers circulate, undertake three-point turns/reversing, and any obstruction affects the whole area because there is no alternative route.

7) Overreliance on management measures that may not be enforceable long-term
The proposed mitigation relies heavily on behaviour management (e.g., marshals/management plans) rather than physical capacity (parking/road space). We are concerned such measures are difficult to enforce consistently over time, especially as attendance patterns and events change in future years.

What we ask Sutton Council to do
We ask the Council to refuse DM2025/01591 due to unacceptable impacts on highway safety, parking, residential amenity and emergency access.

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