Woking green belt land set to be released for 555 homes
Beautiful countryside land in a Surrey village looks set to be released for at least 550 homes.
After six years in the making, a Government inspector has approved Woking Borough Council’s Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD), which makes clear at least 550 homes should be delivered on green belt sites – and assigns that number to West Byfleet.
More than 230 people in the Byfleets and Pyrford signed a petition submitted to the borough council by Alan George saying the DPD was “not fit for purpose since the pandemic”.
They also said the borough council must thoroughly investigate the village’s infrastructure before any development as it “would not be able to handle” the hundreds of new houses.
But last Thursday (October 7), the authority’s executive recommended the council adopts the DPD, with all the inspector’s modifications, at its meeting next Thursday (October 14) for final sign-off.
Conservative council leader Ayesha Azad said: “I think this is a combination of six years of hard work by officers and of course members and is a good sound document in terms of protecting the vast majority of the borough’s green belt.”
Councillor Kevin Davis (Con, Heathlands) added: “We’ve had six years of this, many many several petitions and I’m very happy to support it at this stage.”
The director of planning said the council had drawn the inspector’s attention to a similar petition in 2020, adding: “The potential impacts of the pandemic were considered by the inspector.”
The executive was told council is now not allowed to make any further changes to the DPD and has the choice of either adopting the inspector’s recommendations in full, or not adopting the DPD at all.
Officers said if it did not go through it would leave “a policy vacuum that could be exploited by developers” and the council would “lose control of growth in the borough”, with development instead led by appeals.
Portfolio holder for planning Gary Elson (Con, Pyrford) said: “The likely risk that any green belt land that is not designated or protected by policy would be under threat from development.”
It would take at least three years to prepare a new DPD and the fear is that Woking may then have to meet a need of 431 dwellings per year, as calculated under the Government’s standard method, rather than the 292 it is committing to now.
Councillor Ann-Marie Barker (LD, Goldsworth Park) asked if what Boris Johnson had said this week had any implications on the DPD.
She said: “The prime minister said that there wasn’t going to be any building on green fields and they weren’t going to be just jammed in the South East but he wanted to see beautiful homes built on brownfield sites in places where homes make sense.”
Cllr Elson replied: “I’m aware of what the PM said in his conference speech, officers have listened to the relevant party speeches; we conclude there is nothing in them that is significant or new to cause the council not to accept the inspector’s recommendations or adopt the DPD.”
The inspector’s key recommendations, accepted by the executive:
Land surrounding West Hall at West Byfleet is designated to deliver 555 new homes and 15 Traveller pitches between 2022 and 2027.
The indicative number of homes built beside Woking Football Club in Kingfield will be limited to 93.
Land between Woking and Mayford is no longer designated as an area of visual gap.
Land next to Hook Hill Lane, Hook Heath and also the McCaren campus will continue to remain in the green belt, not released as the council proposed.
Land at Bradfield Close and 7 York Road will not be allocated for housing but will instead remain in commercial use as the owner intends.
The inspector called into question how deliverable the council’s proposal for heritage parkland is at Woking Palace; it does not own the land, down Carters Way in Old Woking, and the owner has made it clear it will not be available for the proposed use.