The council is spending up to £250,000 to test whether housing on the 14 hectare arena can pay for new sports pitches. The study reports by 31 March 2027.

The future of Hook Road Arena is now officially one of Epsom and Ewell Borough Council’s top priorities. At its meeting on 21 July, Full Council voted to add the arena to the strategic priorities it agreed in May 2025, and to press on with a feasibility study into a mixed-use scheme that would put playing pitches, sports and recreation facilities and housing on the site. (Council agenda and papers, 21 July 2026)

The arena is roughly 14 hectares of council-owned open land between Chessington Road and Horton Lane, and the potential scheme would follow the outline in the submitted Regulation 19 draft Local Plan 2022 to 2040. The report to councillors is clear about what the decision is not: it does not approve any development. It aligns the council’s resources behind finding out whether a scheme is viable at all. (EEBC Strategic Priority: Hook Road Arena, agenda item 9)

Announcing the decision, council leader Councillor Hannah Dalton said: “It is vital that residents and those who work in Epsom & Ewell have access to high-quality sports and recreation facilities close to where they live and work. Currently, this is not always the case, and some local sports teams must travel outside the borough to train and play, which can make it more difficult for people to take part.” (Council news release, 23 July 2026)

What is actually happening, and when

The groundwork was laid over a year ago. On 17 June 2025 the Strategy and Resources Committee approved a budget of up to £250,000 from the Corporate Projects Reserve to buy in legal advice, project management and consultancy for a Best Value Feasibility Study of the site. That meeting’s minutes also show where the pressure came from: the report was brought forward after sporting bodies expressed interest in occupying the site, and councillors’ declarations of interest record meetings with officers of Epsom and Ewell Football Club about their ambitions for it. One councillor’s declaration also records that the Epsom firework display uses the arena. (Strategy and Resources Committee minutes, 17 June 2025)

The consultant is being chosen through the Sport England Active Environments framework, with tenders received and under evaluation when the July report was written. The July papers set the timetable: appointment by the end of August 2026, around five months of work starting in September, and a final report to the Strategy and Resources Committee before 31 March 2027. (Agenda item 9, sections 3 and 4)

Timeline of the Hook Road Arena decision, from the £250,000 study budget in June 2025 to the report deadline of 31 March 2027 and the handover to East Surrey Council on 1 April 2027
Graphic by Epsom Today

Three locks on the site

Anyone imagining diggers on the arena soon should read the legal section of the July report. There are three separate hurdles before anything can be built.

First, a 1975 deed. The land came to the borough in 1973 from the Secretary of State for Health, with Surrey County Council part-funding the purchase and imposing restrictions to keep it Green Belt. Without the county council’s written consent the land can only be used as a country park, public open space, public walks and pleasure grounds, land for outdoor games and recreation, or for grazing, agriculture and riding establishments, and no building can go up other than one ancillary to those uses. These are contractual covenants, enforceable separately from planning law. (Agenda item 9, legal implications)

Second, the Green Belt itself. The report notes that for the council to consider marketing the whole site, it must first be released through approval of the draft Local Plan by the Planning Inspectorate. The examination of that plan is still running; our Epsom planning news page tracks it.

Third, the council is running out of time as an institution. Epsom and Ewell Borough Council is abolished on 1 April 2027, when East Surrey Council takes over. A government direction known as a section 24 direction, which the report expected to be in force from 3 July, means the East Surrey Shadow Executive must approve any land disposal worth more than £100,000 in the meantime. Any decision to actually develop the arena would be made by the new East Surrey Council, supported by a business case, not by the borough council that commissioned the study. (Agenda item 9; council news release)

What it means for you

If you use the arena for events, nothing changes yet. The commission explicitly excludes delivering any development; it is advice, options and costings so that a future committee can decide. (Agenda item 9, section 3.8)

If you play for a local club, the consultant’s brief includes engaging with key stakeholders, and the council says local sports groups will be asked how the site could meet their needs. Clubs that want a say should watch for that engagement starting once the consultant is appointed, expected by the end of August 2026. (Council news release)

If you are watching the housing side, any homes here would be years away and depend on the Local Plan surviving examination. For where prices and sales in the borough stand now, see our Epsom house prices page.