PLANS to build homes on the site of a former notorious pub have been thrown out by Tandridge District Council.
An outcry from nearby Caterham residents over yet more flats for the town has culminated in the controversial proposal being refused by council planning officers.
It centred on the former Valley pub in Croydon Road.
The pub shut down almost three years ago following a shocking police dossier which outlined incidents involving a taser found on the premises, drug dealing, drunken fights and late-night noise.
A previous scheme to demolish the building and construct 12 flats there was turned down last year by both the council and an independent planning inspector.
The latest plan – a three-storey building with nine flats, together with 14 underground parking spaces – has also now bitten the dust.
The revised scheme had drawn impassioned objections from many.
Ursula Koh, who lives in nearby Commonwealth Road, had written to the council to say: "Why are we being bombarded with flats? What about giving us a cinema or a youth centre or both, so we have at least somewhere to go instead of flats, flats and more flats.
"There must be other places in Tandridge where blocks of flats can be erected, and not only in Caterham?"
Alan Wilson of Aldercombe Lane, Caterham, said: "Caterham does not need more flats, nor does it need more residents. It needs more doctors, dentists and school places."
The plan also drew opposition from Caterham Valley parish councillor Jenny Gaffney.
In a letter with her partner Martin de Freitas, she warned: "This would represent the loss of a commercial development when Caterham desperately needs to attract businesses and jobs to the area."
Rejecting the scheme, the council's chief planning officer, Piers Mason, said: "The proposal would not provide adequate quality of life for future occupiers of the new development as it would not ensure sufficient privacy and amenity space."
He said one balcony in a proposed flat would be a mere two square metres.
Hitesh Phorajiwala, the planning agent behind the proposal, said the scheme had been carefully designed. Reducing it from 12 flats to 9 would have improved the living conditions of potential occupants, he added.
