The Orpheus Centre, Godstone: Planning Permission for New SEND Education Centre in the Green Belt

Maddox Planning has secured full planning permission for the demolition of existing storage buildings and the delivery of a new education centre at The Orpheus Centre in Godstone, Surrey. The approved scheme includes studios, workshops, a theatre, café, car parking, new pedestrian crossings over North Park Lane and additional landscaping.

The site sits within the Green Belt and Surrey Hills National Landscape, and also involves sensitive heritage considerations given the presence of North Park Barn, a Grade II listed building, and Squire Barn, treated in the officer’s report as a non-designated heritage asset. The key issue was demonstrating that the redevelopment could be justified in policy terms while carefully managing openness, landscape impact, heritage setting, highways, ecology and drainage.

The Council concluded that the proposal was not inappropriate development in Green Belt terms, would not harm the Surrey Hills National Landscape, and that the low level of less than substantial heritage harm was outweighed by the public benefits of expanding and improving facilities for young adults with SEND. The officer report also identified the social and operational benefits of increasing student capacity and upgrading the Centre’s educational offer.

This is a strong example of a complex educational scheme being successfully navigated through a tightly balanced policy context, with planning strategy focused on deliverability, heritage balance and operational need.

The Orpheus Centre, Godstone: planning permission secured for a new SEND education centre in the Green Belt.