Molesey councillors meet the new Jolly Boatman developer

Artist impression of how a park at the Jolly Boatman could look.

At the election your Molesey Conservative councillors promised to do all we can to achieve a positive outcome at the Jolly Boatman site. With this in mind Steve Bax and Peter Szanto recently attended a meeting with the new developer of the Boatman site and other interested local parties.

We are pleased to report that it was a very productive meeting and we found the new developer to be open, frank and willing to engage with the community’s concerns. They were aware of the strength of feeling in Molesey against a hotel on the Jolly Boatman as it would be unsightly and obscure the stunning views of the Palace from the East Molesey side of the river.

The developer has planning permission for a hotel on the site but is willing to explore the viability of an alternative plan that removes the hotel and instead the Jolly Boatman land would become a public open space connected to Cigarette Island Park.

We discussed the pedestrian safety issues in Cigarette Island Lane and the developer promised to take these into account when putting forward the new plans.

There is still a long way to go on this and we will try to keep East Molesey residents up to date on developments.

Steve Bax said: “We had a very constructive meeting and left with grounds for optimism. However it is still early days and the danger that the existing planning permission could be implemented has not abated, so we have to proceed with caution and continue to engage the new developer. Peter and I, together with other stakeholders, will make every effort to bring a new plan to fruition.”