More than 200 residents met at Kingston Rugby Club on Friday, 26 September to discuss growing concerns over the proposals to deliver up to 2,000 new homes on land near Chessington, a turnout figure provided by meeting organisers from the Kingston & Surbiton Conservative Association.

The meeting discussed fears that the large-scale development, which is being proposed by developer Poppymill and referred to as the 'Hook Park' development, would overwhelm local infrastructure and permanently alter the character of the area.

The proposed site lies to the north of Clayton Road in Chessington, which is bordered by the A3 to the west and north, and council-owned land to the east, and no longer meets the criteria for green belt allocation, according to Poppymill.

The area includes The Dell and Chessington Equestrian Centre, covering approximately 50 acres in total. Of this, around seven hectares consist of previously developed land, including former scaffolding yards and a variety of informal or unauthorised uses.

Aerial view of the site – outlined in red (Credit: Poppymill)

Poppymill held three public consultations earlier this year to discuss its proposals.

David Phillips and Kyle Slawson-Powell, ward champions for Chessington North & Hook and members of the Kingston & Surbiton Conservative Association, spoke at the meeting.

There was an emphasis that the campaign was not about resisting new homes, but about demanding appropriate, infrastructure-backed growth.

"Residents are not completely against development," Phillips told Nub News.

"What they are against is a development that is going to destroy access to the area. Without significant infrastructure improvement, we just cannot see how it is feasible."

Phillips highlighted a long-standing transport concern at the Hook interchange, described as a bottleneck that has been "under discussion since the 1970s".

He warned that increased traffic and already-tight roads like Clayton Road could create serious local disruption.

"What you cannot do, is you can't build a new bypass easily. And with the cancellation of Crossrail 2 it seems yet again Southwest London is lagging terribly behind on infrastructure," he said.

The residents' meeting took place on Friday 26 September at Kingston Rugby Club (Credit: Gia Borg-Darcy)

A key point of contention is whether the land in question is officially classed as green belt.

While the developers have reportedly labelled the land as degraded, Kingston's 2022 draft Local Plan identifies the site as green belt.

Gia Borg-Darcy, Chair of the Kingston & Surbiton Conservative Association, also accused the council of failing to act on over 150 enforcement orders on the site in recent years.

"They could have avoided it. The council has not stuck by the fact that they had 151 enforcement orders on that land, and they never acted upon it. So, it was green land, and now they are saying it is grey land," she said.

Councillor Sue Ansari, Liberal Democrat councillor for Hook & Chessington North and Deputy Mayor of Kingston, acknowledged residents' concerns in a brief statement:

"After the developer's engagements at the Kings Centre, a great number of our residents contacted my colleagues with their concerns about the proposed developments … which I completely understand being a resident of Hook and Chessington too."

Borg-Darcy and Phillips emphasise the community aspect of this campaign.

"Whatever our political affiliations are, we are still residents which contribute within our community and want to see the best thing for our community," Borg-Darcy said.

There are indications that the development is raising concern beyond Chessington, with concerns raised by residents in Claygate and Long Ditton, who fear similar knock-on effects on roads and public services.

Phillips noted the campaign has drawn support from across the political spectrum.

"We are having people who would normally be very much our political opponents being very keen on helping us deal with this. This is really community led, this has not been driven by us," he added.

The Hook Park proposal remains in pre-application stage, and campaigners believe both a formal application from Poppymill and Kingston Council's updated Local Plan could be published imminently.

Phillips and Borg-Darcy are urging residents to stay engaged and share contact details to be alerted as soon as either is released.

"Hopefully all of this will just die down after the local council brings out the new Local plan and confirms the land is green belt and everything will hopefully be fine," Phillips said.

"North Chessington is my home. Whilst my politics may be conservative, the main politics of all of us is to do with our own community and our own home, and this is what this is very much about."

 You can find out more about the proposals and the consultations here.

Kingston Nub News approached the council for comment, but it said it could not comment at this stage.

Kingston Nub News has also approached Poppymill for comment, but it has not responded.