{"id":98458,"date":"2026-08-06T10:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/98458\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T10:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:27:11","slug":"fresh-plans-submitted-to-repurpose-former-surrey-natwest-bank-branch-into-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/98458\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh plans submitted to repurpose former Surrey NatWest bank branch into housing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The former NatWest Bank in Guildford\" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1_Natwest-Bank-Guildford.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"The former NatWest Bank in Guildford\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">The former NatWest Bank in Guildford(Image: C T Foo Associates)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Fresh plans have been submitted to renovate a former Natwest bank, which would extend it and partially convert the site into housing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The ex-bank building on Worplesdon Road, <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.getsurrey.co.uk\/all-about\/guildford\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Guildford<\/a> would be remodelled to house two commercial units and six new homes &#8211; comprising a mix of flats and two semi-detached houses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">According to the planning documents, the building has sat vacant since 2018 after Natwest closed its branch at the site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">A previous planning application was refused &#8211; and a subsequent appeal rejected &#8211; which would have seen nine residential units installed at the site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cThe new proposal will reduce the amount of units from nine to six and remove the building in between which will reduce the density of the site and ensure no overbearing or impact on adjacent properties in comparison to refused applications,\u201d the documents read.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The previous application was submitted in 2022, and was rejected by <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.getsurrey.co.uk\/all-about\/guildford-borough-council\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Guildford Borough Council<\/a>\u2019s planning officers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">In their refusal, officers wrote: \u201cThe proposal would have a materially harmful impact in terms of overbearance on the neighbouring property Wood Court due to scale and mass of the proposed extended building in such close proximity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The Planning Inspectorate dismissed a subsequent appeal, citing among other factors the issue of \u201cwhether there would be sufficient space to park and turn vehicles so they could safely enter and exit the site in a forward gear\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">But the applicant now argues the fresh proposals should be permitted, saying they contribute \u201cmore into the variations of housing supply to meet national and local targets\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cThe proposal has less impact on its neighbouring properties in terms of overbearing, privacy and right of light,\u201d they add.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Twelve off-street parking spaces would also be included in the proposals, and the applicant claims the site is well served by public transport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cThe proposal is for one car parking space per unit for a site with a good accessibility to the town centre and the public transport system, with alternative cycle and car clubs options available which will help meet local and national goals towards more sustainable solutions,\u201d the planning statement reads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former NatWest Bank in Guildford(Image: C T Foo Associates) Fresh plans have been submitted to renovate a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[21386],"tags":[41615,41616,7955],"class_list":["post-98458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-natwest","tag-guildford","tag-guildford-borough-council","tag-natwest"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117048092134103536","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}