Existing Operation

Guide Dogs has occupied this site in Woodford Bridge since 1985. The site is currently a 24 hour, 7 days per week operation with the (in-training) guide dogs kept overnight in utilitarian kennel blocks. The site has a current through-put of 95 dogs in training per annum. The site currently provides a range of facilities and functions as follows:

  • Offices, meeting rooms, a conference room, a reception area and storage areas
  • Staff welfare facilities including a kitchen, toilets, showers and overnight accommodation (7 bedrooms)
  • Overnight kennelling, a veterinary room and a hospital isolation block
  • Garaging and a grounds maintenance storage building
  • Parking for 57 vehicles
  • Extensive open heavily mown amenity grassland area used for supervised free running of dogs

Proposed Operation

Guide Dogs have been amending their sites operation across the country and have been rolling out the new system for dogs to be kept off-site with fosterers overnight and over the weekend. This system has started to be put in place over the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this will be formally in place with delivery of the proposed Regional Centre at Woodford Bridge.

The proposed site operation is predominantly the same as existing, however staff numbers are predicted to be increased to 86 by 2023. 65 to a maximum of 80 dogs will be kept on site at any one time, however the proposal involves the removal of kennels as overnight accommodation. The removing of the overnight accommodation means fosterers will drop off and pick up the dogs daily Monday – Friday. Fosterers will drop off dogs over a two-hour period between 07:00 – 09:00 and will pick-up dogs between 16:00 – 19:00. A slot-system will be enforced to ensure fosterer drop-off and pick-up is to be staggered throughout the 2 and 3-hour periods. It is therefore anticipated that during the drop-off period, 33 fosterers will arrive and depart the site per hour and during the pick-up period, 22 fosterers will arrive and depart the site per hour. place with the proposed development.

When comparing the vehicular movements with the existing operation to the proposed, the development proposals would have the potential to generate an additional 42 and 28 vehicular movements during the AM and PM peak hour periods, in comparison to the existing operation.