On Saturday 9th February the public were invited to a discussion evening about the future of the old Pinewood Garage site in Chaldon Road, Caterham. Around 40 residents attended the event organised by Alan Weston of Weston Architects on behalf of the owners, Chard Properties.

In 2005 planning permission was refused for a development of 21 flats over three floors on the grounds of its design and bulk and unsatisfactory living environment for future occupants. The application was also refused at appeal.

In the 60s and 70s the site the site was a petrol station and motor repair works and this use continued until 1985 and the petrol tanks, which were on the frontage, were filled with slurry. The site was operating as a car sales and repair facility until 2005 when Pinewood vacated. The buildings have since been demolished following a fire.

During the evening, three ten-minute workshops took place for local residents to consider appropriate uses for the site, the layout and scale of a future development and the appearance and materials that were considered to be important.

At the end of the meeting Mr Weston thanked everyone for attending and said that the comments would be reviewed with a view to possibly holding another evening with some sketch proposals for the site.