Local residents and councillors had the opportunity to view two new prospective schemes for the development of the Beechwood Road site in Caterham Valley yesterday, Thursday, 3rd March. L&Q Housing Trust held an exhibition in the Beechwood Road Baptist Church where visitors had the opportunity to scrutinize the new schemes and ask questions. L&Q's initial scheme had been strongly opposed by local residents who believed that the scheme was not suitable for the location. The main concern was that inadequate parking provision had been made for the 69 proposed units, in an area with limited available on-street parking. L&Q were refused planning permission by Tandridge District Council last year.

The two new schemes both propose fewer units. Scheme 1 would see the demolition of the old school building with 54 units 89 parking spaces. 13 of the units would be houses. Scheme 2 would see the retention of the school building with 53 units, 20 of them 3-4 bedroom houses, and 87 parking spaces. The refused scheme proposed 69 units with 72 parking spaces and only three of the units would have been houses.

L&Q's planning consultant, Mark Pender said: "I think the consensus this evening is that Scheme 2 is more popular. I think we have listened to the planning officers at Tandridge District Council and taken into account their reasons for refusal of our first scheme and I think we have addressed all the issues, especially the main issue of parking. We have listened and learned and moved forward on that basis. We need to decide which scheme to go forward with but Scheme 2 is most popular, largely because it retains the school building."

Tandridge District Councillor for Caterham Valley, Jill Caudle said: "I would like to say thank you to L&Q for putting another exhibition on. It is good that there are two schemes to consider and they certainly appear better than the previous scheme that the planning committee refused. It is now the decision about whether the improvements have gone far enough. We will have to wait for the formal planning application to be submitted to Tandridge District Council and take it from there."