Residents opposed to a huge development in Ewell believe a college should think twice after a student was hit by a car.

The student suffered head, neck and lower leg injuries in the crash in Reigate Road near Nescot College in Ewell yesterday afternoon.

The college has submitted plans which would see 91 homes and a retirement village built on fields currently used to care for farm animals.

Helen Gillespie, who opposes the proposed development, said: “My heart goes out to the boy’s family. It’s incredibly sad but I can’t say I’m surprised.

“Perhaps this will be a lesson to the college. If they sell the land off for that amount of housing, the traffic is only going to get worse.

“It’s a blind hump in the road and they have already been warned about it. They are still insisting on having an entrance there.”

Ms Gillespie said has not received an answer to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request, related to traffic monitoring, which was submitted in mid-December.

She said: “I don’t think they are being very open. They need to release these figures for traffic volumes and the such like so people know they have taken it into consideration.”

But a Nescot spokeswoman said: “It’s all in the application. Will it [the development] not slow the traffic down? Is it not better to have the traffic slowed by the addition of a roundabout and addition of an entrance and exit?

“The traffic issue is something which is being looked at by Surrey County Council and will be dealt with at committee.”

In a letter to residents, the chairmen of four local Residents’ Associations highlighted worries about traffic particularly on Reigate Road and Ewell Bypass and parking in surrounding streets.

The letter said: “The major concern is traffic in what is clearly already a congested area. The applications do not make the final expectation of traffic flow clear.

“Local residents have made it plain that they would like to see the animal husbandry land remain as a green field site – one of the lungs of Ewell.

“We will be writing to Epsom and Ewell Borough Council making this point and putting strong arguments in favour, but we know that planning laws and regulations laid down by central government are such that we have a huge mountain to climb.”

In a statement after the crash, Nescot said: “Principal Sunaina Mann OBE says the college has long campaigned for improvements to road safety on the roads around the college.

“Although there have been some improvements such as the reduction in the speed limit on Reigate Road, the college has been unable to persuade Surrey County Council to provide an additional controlled crossing.

“Plans for the redevelopment of the college include a mini-roundabout and a pedestrian crossing, which we believe will make the area safer for our students and all other pedestrians.”

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