Reviving Chessington: New Homes for South London

0:00On April 1st, developers are pushing to transform a rundown 28-acre golf course on the edge of South London into 256 new homes with half of them affordable housing. That's a big mix of houses and four-story apartment blocks, plus a 14-acre public park full of trees and paths linking it to the neighborhood. The site, once the Chessington Golf Center near the Surrey border, shut down back in 2015 because of too many golf spots nearby. It's been sitting empty ever since, with the driving range and car park gone to waste and the clubhouse torched and torn down in 2020. No one stepped up to revive it for sports or fun since the developer started planning in 2018, so now it's all about bringing life back. With homes, folks actually need in the borough. They call it Greybelt Land, government speak for neglected spots like this that were already built up before. The pitch is that this setup beats the current eyesore. Turning it into a green frame community, people would want to call home.

1:01Council's got the full application now, so they're weighing it all and locals can still chime in online. This could reshape the area's skyline for good.