Plans For New Guildford Preschool Rejected On Road Safety Grounds

Published on: 25 Jun, 2025
Updated on: 30 Jun, 2025

St Thomas of Canterbury’s School in Merrow. Google Street View

By Emily Dalton

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Highway safety fears have scuppered plans for a new Guildford preschool that parents say is needed to help children achieve academically.

St Thomas of Canterbury’s School in Merrow put forward plans to transform a 1960s caretaker’s bungalow into a preschool. Some parents argued the nursery would allow a smooth transition to primary school.

But the proposal was thrown out by members of Guildford Borough Council’s planning committee on June 18. Officers had recommended the scheme for refusal, arguing the significant benefits of providing early years’ schooling did not outweigh the massive highway safety risks.

Speaking against the application at the meeting, resident William Frankland said: “Horseshoe Lane West hasn’t seen flowing traffic for the last 30 years.” He added: “Even a small impact to traffic and parking will be detrimental.”

Councillors and speakers all said they supported the preschool idea in principle but could not fail to follow the Highways Authority’s advice.

Cllr Joss Bigmore

Cllr Joss Bigmore (R4GV, Merrow) said: “I’m desperate to approve this application … However, we cannot ignore the language of the Highways Authority. I’ve never seen it that strong.”

Members were shocked that Surrey Highways had slammed the scheme, with Cllr Maddy Redpath (R4GV, Castle) claiming she had only seen three highways objections in three years. Highway officers had condemned the plans as seeing an “unacceptable highway safety impact on the adjoining highway” for both drivers and pedestrians.

Council documents reveal the preschool could result in eight additional cars around the site at peak hours of 8-9am and 4-5pm. No extra parking spaces would be provided for the new nursery or on the wider school site.

Cllr Maddy Redpath

James Kibble, responsible for running the St Thomas of Canterbury’s School, said the majority of children attending the preschool would be from families already at the primary school so there would not be a huge traffic increase. But some members raised concerns that the starting and finishing times were different for each setting.

“It’s clearly a bad spot,” Cllr David Bilbe. “One vehicle, one movement, one accident, one child’s death.” The Conservative member for Normandy and Pirbright added: “I would urge everybody to think really hard about adding more vehicles in this situation.”

Cllr David Bilbe

Cllr Howard Smith

Cllr Howard Smith (Labour, Westborough) lambasted Surrey Highways for apparently not helping the school resolve the traffic issue and just criticising the plan.

“It shouldn’t be on the school to sort out these problems,” he said. “The school is there to educate the children, not sort out the road issue.”

Mr Kibble said traffic issues were a common problem with schools all over the country, but admitted: “I don’t believe we have investigated all the options.” He also claimed the school would be willing to pay for traffic measures like yellow lines.

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