New plans for the redevelopment of the Marie Curie Hospice site in Harestone Drive have been revealed at an exhibition held at the Soper Hall in Caterham this week. After having their last planning application and subsequent appeal refused, Independence Homes have now produced revised plans for the site which will accommodate a care home for people with epilepsy, an office, terraced houses and a semi-detached house . The exhibition revealed that the original plans for the terraced houses would remain the same whilst the plans for the semi-detached dwellings have been replaced with single dwellings that now keep clear of the bank to the main open lawn area. The main apartment building in the original scheme was a large and bulky modern- looking building. The outline of the building is now shown to be similar to Harestone House. Also the footprint of the proposed building is 12% smaller than Harestone House. The care home has been reduced from a 20 bed to a 14 bed centre and the office has now been moved away from the boundary. All of these changes were in response to feedback from Planning Inspector, David Prentis.

The new plan will protect some of the trees which were under threat in the first application by keeping the buildings clear of the root protection zone however, 19 are still being removed.

Commenting on the plans, Tandridge District Councillor for Caterham Valley, Beverley Connolly, said: "I have been very interested to see the new plans on show here today. However I am concerned that the plans do not show any parking. There will be a lot of cars on site when the development has been built but I cannot see where they will park."

After the event, a spokes person for Independence Homes said: We are delighted that so many of our neighbours and community representatives joined us to view our latest design proposals. We have worked hard to address the concerns raised in our previous scheme. "We felt that people were generally very pleased with the changes we have made and new scheme proposals. We look forward to receiving people's comments ahead of the submission of our planning application and continuing to work toward a successful outcome for all concerned."