Housebuilder Barratt Redrow has dismissed claims made by local MP Lincoln Jopp that it is planning to lodge an application this year to develop the site of Kempton Park racecourse. Conservative MP Jopp told a meeting of residents on Thursday that he had been informed of the decision to proceed with plans for 2,000 homes on the site during a meeting with Barratt Redrow and Kempton Park's owners, The Jockey Club. The matter will be further raised during a Westminster Hall debate on Tuesday on 'Future of British Horseracing', which Jopp secured.
Business as usual, say developer and racecourse owners
However, both Barratt Redrow and The Jockey Club maintain it is business as usual and that nothing has changed. Kempton's future as a racecourse has been in jeopardy since 2017, when The Jockey Club announced plans to close the course and develop the land for housing before the project was shelved. Nevertheless, an agreement was struck allowing the building firm the option to take over the home of the King George VI Chase in the future and develop the land.
Responding to Jopp's claim, a spokesperson for Barratt Redrow said: 'We have an agreement with the Jockey Club giving us the right to promote Kempton Park for development and since this agreement was made we have been reviewing whether the site, or parts of it, could assist with the delivery of much needed new housing in Surrey. A planning application is not going to be submitted this year though we will continue to work with Spelthorne Borough Council as part of their Call for Sites process. We will share further updates in due course.'
Jockey Club reiterates option agreement terms
A spokesperson for The Jockey Club said: 'Kempton Park Racecourse remains the subject of an option agreement signed in 2018. This gave a housebuilder, Redrow, the right to purchase the racecourse for a significant sum, to be reinvested back into racing, if they were to achieve planning consent to build on it. This option remains in place and expires in 2028, with a limited ability to extend if a planning application is under consideration at that point. Any residential development would be dependent on planning approval and as that process has not started, the focus for us continues to be on hosting racing next year and into the future.'
Repeating his claim on the Nick Luck Daily podcast, Jopp explained that new housing regulations concerning proximity to railway stations suggested that previous obstacles to house building could now be circumvented. He said: 'Barratt Redrow are going to put a planning application in by the end of the calendar year which will propose flattening Kempton Park Racecourse and building 2,000 plus homes on it. People might think this is old news, but under the new planning applications brought in by the government I'm afraid it does open the door for this to happen and I want to slam it shut as hard as I possibly can.'
MP highlights planning loophole
Jopp added: 'Kempton Park has a train station, under the new framework if your new proposed development is within 800 metres of a train station with two departures an hour in the same direction then it is an assumed 'yes' for planning purposes regardless of the fact that is green belt and that it is an internationally iconic racecourse. It does become really niche as Kempton is the first stop outside the travel card zone. You can build as many homes on it as you want but no one will use Kempton Park station as they'll all go one stop up the line to Hampton and travel much more cheaply.'
