Proposed Ash Care Home ‘Will Bring Benefits to the Wider Community’

Published on: 18 Oct, 2025
Updated on: 19 Oct, 2025

A plan of the site where the care home will be built, should planning permission be given. The site is on the edge of Hammersley Drive

By David Reading

The Müller Property Group has put in a planning application to Guildford Borough Council to build a 70-bed care home in Ash, on the vacant plot of land set aside by Bewley Homes in 2019 for healthcare purposes.

On Wednesday (October 15) directors from the Müller group, along with the CEO of the company hoping to operate the care home, attended a meeting of Ash Parish Council to answer questions from councillors and from members of the public.

Some of the issues raised by residents were:

• Community benefit: Bewley Homes, which owns the land, had set aside the site as a community benefit under a Section 106 legal agreement with GBC. Questioners asked: What benefits will the care home actually bring for the whole Ash community?
• Car parking: Will there be enough parking spaces onsite – or could nearby residents face constant problems with vehicles parking in the street?
• Possible disruption: What can local residents expect when building work begins?

Samantha Crawley, CEO of EQ Care Group, which wants to operate the home, gave residents her assurance that the group’s policy was to play a full part in local communities where their care homes were located. Furthermore, she said 89-90 per cent of people living in the group’s care homes were local people, coming from within a three-mile radius. So this was very much a community venture, she said.

She said the care home would provide around 100 local jobs.

The empty plot of land – once earmarked for a possible GPs’ surgery, now under discussion as the site of a new care home

The three-storey home is planned on Bewley Homes’ new Ash Lodge Park estate south of Ash Lodge Drive. The building of the estate – a total of 481 homes – has inevitably put pressure on infrastructure and there was an assumption originally that the plot of land set aside by Bewley might be the site for a new GPs’ surgery. But the NHS rejected that suggestion, insisting that the best way to meet the area’s increase in population will be to invest in the existing GP services rather than by building a new surgery.

Last year Bewley Homes said they had exhausted all attempts to find a healthcare use for the land and were having discussions with a care home provider.

The Müller Group now has an agreement with Bewley to purchase the site once planning permission has been granted. Then the Group would appoint a development partner, who would build the home. EQ Care Group would operate the running of the home.

A planning application has been submitted  and is awaiting validation from the borough council. Should the project be approved, and if there are no delays, construction could start in around six months.

This week, Müller answered questions from The Guildford Dragon NEWS on issues that emerged at Wednesday’s parish council meeting.

Benefits to the Ash community?

Müller’s response said EQ Care Group, which already runs six care homes across the UK, has a policy to become “fully immersed in community life.” Examples of potential activities are:

• Seminars for local communities, with invitations going out to elderly people and support offered to vulnerable local people
• Placement offers to local colleges
• The hosting of dementia information sessions in collaboration with key dementia charities
• Providing space for local support teams – such as those in district nursing, social work and safeguarding – to meet or hold training sessions
• Links with local schools so that residents of the homes, who have extensive life experiences, can support children’s learning
• The hosting of dementia choirs, gardening clubs, art classes, “knit and natter” and other clubs where people from the community can join in.

Importantly, Müller said, the new Ash care home would help offset the existing under-supply of care home accommodation across the local area.

Potential parking problems?

Twenty-five parking spaces are planned onsite. Residents at Wednesday’s meeting raised the possibility that this might not be enough, creating problems for people living on the estate.

Müller responded: “Our homes are part of the local community and to that end, we want to have great relationships with our neighbours and will work with them to ensure that the home is a positive impact on the community.

“From an operational perspective we have a travel plan in place which denotes car sharing from team members as well as utilising the train station for many coming to work. Team members may also cycle to work as many young people are eco conscious and wish to do their utmost for the planet.

“With regard people visiting the home, our car parks tend not to get too crowded with visitors and we don’t envisage this being an issue now.”

Disruption during construction?

The statement said: “The developer will work under the Considerate Contractor guidelines so measures will be in place to minimise disruption. There will also be a planning condition within the Decision Notice with a requirement for a Construction Management Plan to be agreed with the Council, with controls on deliveries, parking, wheel cleaning etc to ensure minimal disruption during construction.”

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