Plans for an assisted living complex at the bottom of Brighton Road have been scaled down in response to comments received during the consultation.

The scheme, proposed by developer Birchgrove, was criticised for being too big and overbearing when it came before Godalming Town Council in February.

Residents living near the former Moles Country Store site also slammed the design, with one saying the proposed 53-flat development looked like a 'prison'.

Last week's Environment and Planning Committee heard from a spokesman for the company that the plans had been amended as a result of the comments.

Oliver Tomalin said the tweaks had been made "in direct response to the letter of objection from the town council during the statutory consultation period."

Describing the concessions as "significant", he said the company had addressed all the concerns voiced by councillors and members of the public.

The revised scheme sees the top floor removed, making the building four storeys rather than five, while the 12 trees due to be cut down which are, he said, in "poor health" and "dangerous", will be replaced with 26 semi-mature trees and 160 shrubs, while the existing Catteshall Lane tree belt will remain.

'Many benefits'.

Turning to concerns about the impact on local facilities, Mr Tomalin said the development would bring "many benefits" to the local community, and the services offered on site would result in a lower burden on local medical facilities, resulting in fewer visits to local GPs and lower costs for the local NHS, as 70% of the residents are expected to move in from within a five-mile radius. Concerns had been voiced about parking on the site, but Mr Tomalin said that experience at the company's other residential homes had shown that only 20% of residents would move in with a car. The development's proximity to the High street meant that residents wouldn't need cars to access local services, he added. Surrey County Highways officers were happy with the traffic potentially generated by the site, he said, and Birchgrove would pay for improvements to the traffic lights at the junction of Brighton Road with Flambard Way. Addressing concerns about the building's height, he said the company had worked "incredibly hard" with its architects, and had removed all of the apartments on the top floor, putting them in other parts of the building, leading to a reduction in the overall number from 53 to 52. From South Hill the building would look like a three-storey building, he added. 'Progress'

Council leader Paul Follows acknowledged there had been "some progress in terms of the bulk, size and mass", but added: "Some of my objections relate to it being a care home that's available to people on a budget, which this clearly is not."

Honor Barratt from the company acknowledged that "It's quite expensive getting older," adding: "We are desperate not just to build for executives at BP. Thirty per cent of our residents are teachers. Those are the people we are building for."

Steve Cosser noted that Birchgrove had pledged £7,500 for improvements to the Flambard Way/Brighton Road traffic signals, but added that the money "won't go very far" in terms of dealing with the issues at the junction.

Peter Martin agreed, saying that the Prime Place development had generated £100,000 for traffic improvements at the junction, but "It was the most extraordinary failure," and had made the junction "more difficult and more dangerous."

Anne-Marie Rosoman pointed out that a 74-year-old pedestrian had been killed at the spot last year, and there had been more than 10 accidents there in the last 10 years.

"Any contribution is great, but I don't think it's going to make any difference," she said.

Materials.

Michael Stubbs asked if the exterior of the planned building would still be composed of brick. "It still looks quite large, and that can be reduced by the use of the right materials," he said. Birchgrove's construction director, Pat Evans, said the architects had conducted research on the materials by walking around the town centre, which has a number of square, red brick buildings, and had concluded the material would fit in well. "There were plans to break up the walls with 'panels of rustification' and 'green walling' - meaning one of the walls would be planted with greenery that would be watered via an automatic system. Birchgrove says it plans to submit a formal planning application to Waverley within the next two weeks.