Plans to reinforce WW2 shelter under playground

Guildford Borough Council is seeking planning permission to carry out remedial work to reinforce a "structurally unstable" World War Two air raid shelter.

The wartime bunker, which sits underground beneath a cordoned-off area of Foxenden Quarry Playground, has now fallen into a state of disrepair, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

If the work is approved, secure fencing will be placed around the work area, and a section of the playground will be temporarily closed, the local authority says.

"These measures are necessary to enable the works to be completed safely," councillor Phil Bellamy said. "Every effort will be made to keep disruption to playground users to a minimum."

In a report, which will be considered by councillors next week, planning officers wrote that the works would be "minor in scale" and no potential harm to the surrounding area had been flagged.

According to planning documents, the floor of the bunker has "failed" and cracks are beginning to appear, rendering it a "risk to health and safety of the playground and park users".

They are recommending that councillors approve planning permission, saying: "The proposed development would see the retention and improvement of the existing quarry playground and park through making safe a structure that has fallen into disrepair."

The works would see the bunker's void filled with compact stone to prevent further damage and possible collapse.

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