Dorking SOS Home

Dorking SOS are a large group of local residents who were initially formed to oppose a major new supermarket in the heart of our town. With more plans now afoot to massively increase supermarket provision in Dorking our fight continues.

We are not opposed to supermarket expansion per se, but believe it should be on a size and scale appropriate to Dorking. We had some reservations about the proposed expansion of Waitrose (now granted planning permission) and that of Lidl (now also granted planning permission), but believe that these two supermarkets should be more than enough to fulfil the needs of the town for the foreseeable future.

Currently our main focus is to prevent a large scale development by Sainsbury's in the land behind St Martin's Walk in Dorking town centre.

Update (17th May 2013) Sainsbury's have pulled out of plans to build a new store behind St Martin's Walk. We are awaiting to hear more details, but we hope that it is a significant milestone in our campaign. A spokesman for Sainsbury's tole the Dorking Advertiser: "Mole Valley District Council and Sainsbury's have been in discussion for some time trying to evolve a viable supermarket scheme on the site to the rear of St Martin’s Walk identified by the recently adopted Area Action Plan. "The council and Sainsbury's have been in discussion with the other landowners, Surrey County Council and Mole Valley Housing Association, and have regretfully concluded that, despite the best efforts of all concerned, a viable scheme cannot be delivered on the proposed site. "We are deeply disappointed at this outcome but want to reassure our customers that we will continue to give them the best possible service from our existing High Street store whilst we look for wider solutions to bring a new Sainsbury's store to Dorking." Update (12th March 2013) Mole Valley Council are conducting a Green Belt Boundary Review to identify sites for future housing. Several sites in Dorking which have been suggested for supermarkets are possibly suitable: St Martins Walk. Curtis Lane, Pippbrook, Friends Provident. Update (09th December 2012) The Council adopted the Dorking Town Area Action Plan on Wednesday 5th December 2012. The Plan covers a 15 year period and sets out planning policies for the central area of Dorking, including the allocation of a number of suitable sites for redevelopment. The Plan can be viewed on the Council's web site: Although the Council voted the Area Action Plan through, several ammendments were made to it as a result of Dorking SOS's objections we were able to secure several changes to the plans so they could have been a lot worse. The most important of these could well be that the views and setting of the church must be safeguarded, which some believe will make it very difficult if not impossible for a supermarket to be built on the site. Our job now is to ensure the good things in the plan aren't forgotten at the critical time. Update (20th October 2012) The Dorking Town Area Action Plan (AAP) now has one further chance for the public to make their comments on before it passes back to the Inspector who will make a final decision on the plan. Comments must be made by Friday 9th November. Dorking SOS members attended the Inquiry into the plan and there have been some improvements to the plan since the original version of it, that we hope have made it better and will make it harder for Sainsbury's or any other developer to build a new superstore of the size and scale which the council are proposing. However we still feel that the plan does not go far enough to safeguard the town for the foreseeable future from large scale retail development. You can only comment on the modifications which were made to the draft version of the local plan. The rest has in effect been accepted and it is too late to comment. You can see what has changed by downloading this document: The original plan before the modifications can be found here: You can download a Comments Form here: The comments form needs to returned to the Council by Friday 9th November either by: Email at: ldf@molevalley.gov.uk Post: Planning Policy Department Mole Valley District Council Pippbrook Dorking Surrey RH4 1SJ The areas in which we feel that there is still is room for improvement are: DT Mod 4: The council have changed this to say that the development area for any new retail does not have to include the youth centre and social housing at Church Gardens flats. However we would like to see these areas safeguarded from any development in the area. DT Mod 6: If the brand new Youth Centre is to be demolished and replaced any replacement should include a new multi-use games area equivalent to the one at the current site. DT Mod 11: There is no point doing forecasts of shopping patterns when two supermarkets in the town are yet to be built. A sensible approach would be to wait until Waitrose and Lidl were built, and then assess if there was public need for additional supermarket space in Dorking. DT Mod 12: If is vital that High Street provision of bus stops and taxi stops is protected. Update (09th September 2012) The council have prepared an area Action plan (AAP) which identifies the area behind St Martin's Walk, right down to Pippbrook, as land available for retail development. This is a BIG space! There is a lot of detail involved in the this process but simply stated the AAP sets out a list of 10 criteria which Sainsbury's would have to meet in order for their development application to be successful. In other words if they could meet all 10 criteria, the council would have little choice but to accept the application. There are a number of concerns about the AAP, an example of this is criteria 7. which says, "Ensure views from the site and the surrounding vicinity to the wider landscape beyond are retained where possible". The two words "where possible" are hugely significant and Dorking SOS have argued strongly to have them taken out. If they are left in Sainsbury's will be able to block any view they wish because legally they meet the condition. Remember, Sainsbury's are a billion pound business, their key business drivers are expansion, market share and profitability - not views of the Surrey countryside! Starting next month there will be a public consultation period when you will be able to express your opinion regarding this and other issues such as the traffic bottleneck that will be caused at the junction of Mill Lane off the high street. Update (27th August 2012) In the recent examination of the council's Area Action Plan for Dorking a number of changes to the Plan were suggested. MVDC will be inviting views on these changes during a six week consultation period from October to early November 2012. These will be publicised on the Council's web site and there will be a final chance to comment on these changes before the plan is returned to the Planning Inspector to pass. Once the council's Area Action Plan is ratified, Sainsbury's will be able to submit a planning application for the development of a supermarket at the rear of St Martins Walk, which is a central part of the Area Action Plan. Update (20th July 2012) The council are on the point of granting permission in principle in their latest planning document to build a Sainsbury's superstore behind St Martin's walk six times the size of the current store. This will mean demolishing both the Church Garden flats and the brand new youth centre at the Malt House, both of which currently stand in the way of this development. Although the town is already committed to doubling the amount of supermarket space in the next year or so through the Lidl and Waitrose extension developments, this would be a further addition of a store comparable in size with the Tesco in Leatherhead - the result of all 3 stores would be almost a five-fold increase in the amount of supermarket provision we currently have. Dorking SOS, the group opposing the development said "we are stunned at the council's decision". Prior to this week the public had been given to believe that the maximum increase in retail floor space, in addition to planning permission already given to expand Waitrose and build a Lidl store, was around 900 metres. Earlier this year, local group Transition Dorking were invited into the council's offices to discuss the town centre and were categorically told by the then leader of the council - James Friend (now deputy leader) and the Senior Planning Officer - Jack Straw - that the maximum amount of space allowable for expansion was 903 metres. It appears the town has been hoodwinked. At the meeting this week chaired by an independent inspector, at which Dorking SOS were represented along with other town residents, MVDC and Sainsbury's jointly worked up the expected figure by another 4000 metres to achieve the situation we now find ourselves in. We were told by the council that there has been sufficient public consultation about this during the last few years but the public were never asked whether they wanted an expanded Waitrose, a new Lidl (both now got planning permission) AND a 5000 sq metres Sainsbury's. If all three stores are built Dorking would have more supermarket space in the town than the rest of Mole Valley combined, despite the fact that Dorking and the surrounding villages comprise around 25% of the total population of Mole Valley. Dorking SOS has the following main objections to a large scale supermarket development behind St Martin's Walk. All the figures which the Council use are ultimately derived from a telephone survey which took place in early 2007 of just 100 people in Dorking, and 800 in total in a enormous area coverage Mole Valley and neighbouring towns and villages . This survey forms the basis of calculations to determine how many square meters the town needs in new supermarket floor space. In the survey people were asked where they did their main food shopping and "top-up" shopping. We regard this survey as a) far too old, and b) too small. Also no attempt has been made to determine why people use supermarkets out of Dorking. Given many people in Dorking drive to other towns to work, it is not unreasonable that they combine this journey with a trip to a supermarket. 45% of the 100 people asked in 2007 (when there was hardly any Internet shopping) used the two main Dorking supermarkets - the rest went to various locations spread over a wide area. The council have no "Plan B" for the site behind St Martins walk. The council's plan details virtually the "wish list" of Sainsbury's, which include the demolition of Church Gardens and the new Youth Centre. Given that the scope of the plans is for the next 15 years, it should not commit the council to one particular developer. If for some reason Sainsbury's are unable to meet these plans the council are committed to a similar scheme, and it is unfair on other companies who would wish to develop the site. The plans should be sufficiently broad to encompass a range of smaller schemes as well as different sized supermarkets that might crop up over the next decade or more. The council are already committed to double the supermarket provision in Dorking through the new Waitrose and Lidl stores which have been approved prior to the latest plan coming into place. It is not necessary to guess what is going to happen to the town's shopping needs or the traffic implications of the new stores as we will find out in due course. No models done before anything new is built can every be as accurate as a real life experiment in terms of shopping needs, congestion and disruption. We don't need to use Sainsbury's traffic assumptions now - they should be redone after the other two supermarkets have been built, so we can measure the real impact to the town, and let real data inform the decisions, rather than just guesswork. The council should instead commit to a reassessment of the retail needs of the town in several years once the new stores have had a chance to become fully assimilated. The transport implications at Mill Lane, where an extra set of traffic lights would be required, will be horrendous. The Waitrose and Lidl developments are already going to change the dynamics of transport in our already busy streets, do we really want to commit to more junctions on our main roads? The council should not over-commit Dorking to new supermarket or superstore space as this is likely to kill off a lot of the existing valued retailers in the town. If we are going to have 5 times the amount of supermarket space we now have, the money spent in them has to come from somewhere. If members of the public are equally disturbed as we are at what is about to happen to our historic market town, then we would urge them to join us. Older updates....