An Esher mansion set in 18 hectares of land has been refused planning permission, but owners can still go ahead with "essentially identical" plans to extend the current home.   

A refusal of the application means owners cannot demolish the existing barn conversion and cannot put in a basement swimming pool with an underground link to the house.   

The application was put into Elmbridge Borough Council, with plans to build a new five-bed home slightly to the west of its current position in the Wayneflete Estate.   

The estate has links to a former Prime Minister, to nearby Claremont and has mediaeval origins.  

In February 2022, officers at the borough council granted permission for the extension of the current home, which was converted to residential use in 2014.   

But councillors refused the application on Tuesday 19 September despite officers' recommendation to allow the plans, citing the impact of the planned new home on the openness of the green belt.   

The home is not far from the Grade I listed, 15th century Wayneflete Tower, now a private home, and now beyond the boundaries of the estate.   

Originally a former episcopal palace built on the river Mole in the 1460s by William Wayneflete, the estate was bought in 1729 by Henry Pelham, who was Prime Minister from 1743 until his death in 1754.   

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Application documents said there were "very few historic spots with such noble, regal and ecclesiastical provenance as this" and placed Esher as the source of the Gothick Revival, with the 18th century polymath, William Kent behind it.   

Plans for the permitted application show an underground sauna, but the applicant will now not be able to build a basement swimming pool set away from the main house and with subterranean corridors linking it. 

Plans for a new home at Waynefleet Estate, Esher (credit: Balston Agius (from planning docs).

While residents raised concerns in 56 letters of objection regarding the impact of construction traffic and rights of way to the estate via Pelhams Walk and the Esher Palace Estate, it was on its location in the green belt that councillors rejected the application.   

Officers said the proposed replacement house was considered "neither beneficial or harmful to the openness of the green belt" in comparison with the approved plans.   

They said other than the proposed new home being slightly to the west of the current one and the basement swimming pool and house link, the plans were "essentially identical" to the application already granted permission.   

An officer's report also said concerns about vehicle access to the estate from the private Esher Place Estate were not a planning issue, and that the owners had said their main entry and exit for the site would be from More Lane, on the other side of the estate.   

Cllr Simon Waugh (Esher Residents' Association, Esher) put forward the successful motion to refuse the application, saying it was a "very important site" and could be seen from the Wayneflete Tower.   

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With the planned home closer to the middle of the site, he said he thought the application would influence the openness of the green belt.   

While Councillor Alex Coomes (Liberal Democrat, Claygate) said he was in "two minds" about the application, saying the new home would have better insulation, and would be more environmentally friendly.   

But he said the current home had "plenty of life left" and cllrs were "damned if we do, damned if we don't".   

He told the meeting: "I feel we've Hobson's choice here today. It really is difficult decision we have to make."   

Cllrs voted with 12 votes in favour of refusing the application, with one abstention.