Green field land in Haslemere protected from development
It follows opposition from residents
Last updated 27th Sep 2021
Green fields on the edge of the South Downs in Surrey has been safeguarded from development after a council took it out of its sites allocated for housing following residents opposition.
To the dismay of Haslemere residents, the woodland and paddocks between Red Court and Scotland Lane was proposed to locate 50 dwellings in the Local Plan.
But in a special council meeting last week (September 22) it was removed, with The Royal School site at Hindhead added in its place.
Council leader Paul Follows (LD, Godalming Central and Ockford) said: “The addition will mean that Haslemere will be able to meet the required number of new houses without the need to include the Red Court site, which had been unpopular locally and was the subject of a recent planning application that was refused permission predominantly on the grounds of landscape harm.”
Somerset developer Redwood (South West) is appealing to the planning inspectorate after Waverley’s planning committee said in July their plans for 50 homes, including 15 affordable, would harm the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside.
At least 316 houses need to be delivered by 2032 in Haslemere, which has a population of around 17,000.
The new plan, approved two years behind schedule, suggests locations for 334.
The shortfall from Red Court is to be made up by allocating The Royal site for 90 homes, once the junior school joins the senior school in Farnham Lane.
Another change involves increasing the number of suggested dwellings at the Old Grove, High Pitfold, Hindhead, from 18 to 40.
Land in the Witley and Milford area is set to accommodate around 200 dwellings, mostly at Secretts, Hurst Farm.
Cllr Follows said this would allow for a better road infrastructure and possibly a doctor’s surgery “in an area that badly needs it”.
As of April, Godalming had already exceeded by 177 its minimum housing target of 1,520 dwellings, so no more allocations were required there.
Changes to Haslemere sites were made as a result of a public consultation between November 2020 and January 2021, to which 418 people responded.
Councillor Liz Townsend (LD, Cranleigh West) said in the meeting she was pleased the new version concentrates more on previously developed rather than greenfield land, and was proud the administration “is listening to views in towns and villages”.
She said she wished that the people of Cranleigh and Farnham “were also given that same opportunity to make comments on particular sites”.
She added: “It could even be argued that had the second part of the Local Plan gone through at its original timescale in 2019, building may have commenced on some of the sites and we would have a better position with regard to our five year housing land supply.”
Councillor Mary Foryszewski (Con, Cranleigh East) said Cranleigh is now “almost a concrete village because no one could see what was happening anywhere else in the borough, so they dumped it all on us”.
She said: “Many members expressed serious concerns but we still got the lion’s share, along with Farnham, because we didn’t have the protection of the local plan part one. We have that now.
“I think we need to move on and get this part two adopted so we can… give the whole of the borough the protection it needs.”
Cllr Follows said: “I was a backbencher when part one went through and it was palpable how many groups were ignored. Cllr Townsend’s disappointment was shared by a great many. Some had the courage to change their party politics as the result of this sort of behaviour, some did not.
“The general planning system is geared towards developers at every stage.
“This version is a good compromise between the needs that the planning system puts upon us and the wishes of people, particularly in Witley and in Haslemere, to have a plan that is complementary to their neighbourhood plan.”
The amended Local Plan was approved by 38 votes to four, with Carole Cockburn (Con, Farnham Bourne), Steve Cosser (Con, Godalming Charterhouse), Jerry Hyman (Farnham Residents, Farnham Firgrove) and Anna James (Con, Chiddingfold and Dunsfold) voting against and Jenny Else (Con, Elstead and Thursley) abstaining.
Several respondents in the consultation were concerned not enough housing was being planned to meet the borough’s needs. The first part of the plan was adopted in 2018 and the council said a review, due by February 2023, will consider if housing need has changed.
The public will be given six weeks to comment on the Haslemere changes before the Local Plan is submitted to government for inspection. An inspector’s report is expected in September 2022. When the consultation opens it will be available here.