Public consultation on new homes at the former Moore Place Golf Course, Esher

Charterhouse Strategic Land and Moore Place Holdings are holding a further public consultation on proposals for new homes on the former Moore Place Golf Course in Esher, Elmbridge, which is outlined in red on the map to the right.

In June 2025, we consulted local people about the principles of developing this site and our initial ideas. Thank you to everyone who came to the consultation event and provided feedback.

Since then, we have been working on our proposals, and now want to share more detailed plans and invite further comments before we finalise our planning application.

Key changes

We listened to local residents at our last consultation, and took comments into account as we worked further on these plans. The changes in the proposals since we last consulted the public include:

Reducing the overall number of homes
Keeping over half the land as green space, with a circular trail connecting woodland, parks, and playgrounds
Varying building heights across the site, respecting long-distance views and neighbouring communities

Planning application

Later this year, we will submit an outline planning application to Elmbridge Borough Council. An outline planning application does not seek permission for the details of every building, but instead covers:

The principle of development
Overall numbers and types of housing
Scale of buildings and maximum building heights
A Design Code that will control how buildings will look in terms of architecture and materials
Plans for mitigating environmental impacts, including proposals for drainage, landscaping, and biodiversity

Public consultation event

We are holding another public consultation event where you can view plans, talk to the project team, ask questions, and leave your comments.

Date: 18 September 2025

Time: 2pm – 8pm

Venue: Esher Theatre, Community Walk, High St, Esher KT10 9RA

Our proposals

Up to 230 new homes, including 50% affordable housing to meet local needs – social housing, affordable rent, and shared ownership

Appropriate building heights and density – no more than two storeys (12m) near neighbours at The Mount and Park Close, and up to 16.5m at highest near the entrance square reflecting the height of the nearby Moore Place Care home

6.78 hectares of public green space – 55% of the site and the size of almost ten football pitches – with playgrounds, woodland, and a circular walking route connecting the green spaces together

A Design Code specifying high quality design to complement the character of Esher and the nearby listed buildings and conservation area

Two points of road access from Portsmouth Road, plus multiple access points for cyclists and pedestrians on Portsmouth Road and Lammas Lane

Environmentally-friendly construction, with low energy and water usage built into new homes from the outset

Masterplan

Design

The application will be outline only and not including the specific architecture of the new buildings. However, a Design Code submitted with the application will include guidelines for the character of the new neighbourhood, including building materials. This code will have to be followed in the detailed planning applications that will follow once outline planning permission has been granted.

These are some indicative sketches on how the new community could look, based on this Design Code.

Landscaping and green space

More than half the site will be public green space – 6.78 hectares in total; the equivalent in size of almost 10 football pitches. Along with generous private front and back gardens, this will create a green new neighbourhood.

This will include:

Formal and informal playgrounds for children

Retained existing woodland and trees

New tree planting

A central park on the existing public right of way

A community orchard

Wildlife ponds and rain gardens

A circular walking route connecting these green spaces together

Substantial, planted buffer zones between new and existing homes

Ecology

We will create a 10% increase in the biodiversity value of the site compared to the existing condition of the land. Surveys are being conducted on the wildlife currently living on the land.

This ecology strategy will include:

Retaining 55% of the site as open space, with wildlife-friendly planting

Preserving existing trees and planting new trees

A bat-friendly lighting strategy to protect wildlife feeding areas and travel routes

New ponds and rain gardens

Transport and access

We are proposing two road access points onto Portsmouth Road, with additional access points for pedestrians and cycles only onto Portsmouth Road and Lammas Lane to the north.

Esher station is a short bike ride away and offers regular services to London Waterloo, Woking, Basingstoke, and Alton. It is also within 90 metres of the 715 bus service, which provides services between Kingston and Guildford, while additional bus services are available nearby from Esher High Street.

A full Transport Assessment will be submitted with the planning application, detailing the traffic impact of the proposals. The local highways authority will assess the capacity of the proposed junctions as well as the impact on the wider road network.

Drainage

As a result of the topography of the former golf course, there is a surface water flood risk on the lowest parts of the site. These areas will not be developed – they will be used for green landscaping and ponds. These ponds will not only collect and hold rainwater, they will create valuable new habitats for wildlife.

The ponds will be supplemented by underground storage tanks, to hold water in the event of extremely heavy rainfall, and release it in a controlled way into the ground.

We are committed to ensuring that there will be no offsite drainage impacts as a result of this development, with the rainwater runoff being no greater than the greenfield rate.

Why build here?

Elmbridge Borough Council has an urgent need to provide new housing. The government’s targets for housebuilding in the borough mean that land must be found for 1,574 new homes every year. Elmbridge needs new affordable housing in particular – it is one of the least affordable areas in the UK, with the average home costing more than 17 times the average salary. In the 2023/24 financial year, Elmbridge delivered just 406 new homes, of which only 50 were affordable homes and none of these were for social rent.

Moore Place Golf Course closed in 2019 as it was no longer financially viable, and the land is currently not in use, with a number of dilapidated structures including the old club house. It would be a highly sustainable location for new homes – just a few minutes’ walk from Esher town centre and public transport routes. This map shows the site’s access to local services and amenities.

The land is surrounded by housing on all sides and is well screened by vegetation. It is also considered to be ‘grey belt’ land rather than ‘green belt’ under the government's recent changes to planning policy.

About Charterhouse

Charterhouse Strategic Land is the strategic land promotion arm of Charterhouse Property Group, an established private property investment and development company founded over 30 years ago. At Charterhouse we are committed to identifying land to meet the country's social, economic and environmental development needs and are guided by the principles of contributing to sustainable development. We are committed to delivering new housing and other development including supporting infrastructure in a sustainable manner and strive to achieve carefully considered, well designed and high quality schemes.

Have your say

Thank you to all those who attended the consultation event in June 2025 or wrote to us with feedback on these proposals.

We want to hear your views. You can do this by using the feedback form or contacting us using the phone number or email address below: