Windlesham supercar production plant approved by council

A designer of Formula One racing cars wants to build his latest supercar, the T.50, near Windlesham.

Setting up the Gordon Murray Group headquarters at Kamkorp Park could create 145 jobs, and their application was given a unanimous thumbs-up by Surrey Heath Borough Council’s (SHBC) planning committee on Thursday (January 14).

But because of the green belt location they will also have to receive permission from the secretary of state, Robert Jenrick.

Committee chair Edward Hawkins said it was ‘an exciting opportunity for the borough, and for youth employment particularly’.

The former British Oxygen Corporation site by Highams Lane was last used as an electric car factory, before Kamkorp Ltd went into liquidation last year.

Gordon Murray proposes to use the site to produce the £2.83 million T.50, an ultralight (980kg) three-seater with gullwing doors that he has called “the purest, lightest, most driver-focused supercar ever built”.

As a petrol-driven car, Professor Murray has said he expects it to be “the last, and the greatest, ‘analogue’ supercar ever built”.

Though it can reach speeds of over 200mph, councillors were assured the 500-metre test track would be used at low speeds only, and use would be restricted to 9-5 Monday-Friday.

There are also plans for an education centre, for company-led apprenticeships, meetings, seminars and conferences, once the unusually shaped oxygen molecule building is restored.

SHBC councillor Colin Dougan, business and transformation portfolio holder, said: “This application represents the biggest opportunity to include employment in the borough of any application that there is. 265 jobs when the whole thing is built.

“It will also bring the first and only further education college into the borough, which I think is really quite exciting, again if all of his plans play out. I just think it’s a fantastic opportunity for us.”

Gordon Murray Group currently work out of premises in Shalford and Dunsfold, south of Guildford, but the planning committee was told these have short term leases and the intention is to consolidate their design, automotive and technology functions into one long-term location.

In addition to their 120 existing staff, who would be relocated, 145 new jobs would be created – ‘primarily technical with engineering, technicians and manufacturing staff’ but also ‘a mixture of financial, administrative and support service’ roles.

The plan is not for mass production but to build about three bespoke vehicles a week.

The site would also be used to develop technologies from a prototype through to a production ready product, including ‘a flat pack lightweight vehicle which can be quickly delivered, assembled and used in remote areas, for example with aid programmes’.

The proposal over five years is for three new buildings, two new roads onto Highams Lane, 290 new car parking spaces, 80 new cycle parking spaces and three lorry parking spaces. The walled garden and listed clock tower are also to be refurbished.

The planning committee was told the site could still continue to be used as the start point of the annual Windlesham Pram Race, which has been going for over 50 years.

Victoria Wheeler, SHBC councillor for Windlesham and Chobham, said: “I hope I’m not speaking too soon but I could find no criticism of this particular applicant in his current location, no complaints about noise or unneighbourly behaviour or any of those things, so I think they’re a good company and I hope it’s the start of a growing and expanding business that will benefit the borough.”

Councillors unanimously agreed that, as a departure from their development plan, it will go to the secretary of state for approval.

There is a legal exception that allows green belt development if there will be a major economic benefit to the local area.

The council received three letters of support of the application and no letters of objection.