The Surrey Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has welcomed the decision by the Government to dismiss an appeal against the refusal of planning permission for Dunsfold Park New Town. The Department for Communities & Local Government has announced that it agrees with the conclusion of the Planning Inspector that Waverley Council was right to reject the scheme for 2,600 new homes at Dunsfold, as the scheme was “environmentally unsustainable” and went against local, regional and national policy. CPRE Surrey Branch Director Andy Smith said: “We are delighted that...

CPRE Surrey’s campaign to protect our Green Belt ! The Metropolitan Green Belt, which has protected tens of thousands of acres of countryside in Surrey for the past five decades, is now at risk. Government proposals for new housing development mean that the Green Belt no longer provides a guarantee that green spaces will be safe from development threats. Ministers want to amend the South East Plan – the region’s planning framework for the next 20 years – to allow for increases in housebuilding in Surrey of 22.7% over and above the figures already agreed. They are demanding that the revised...

What a long, frustrating and complex process it is to get the important Local Development Framework (LDF) Core Strategies through the adoption process! Epsom and Ewell was the first borough or district council in Surrey to adopt its Core Strategy. Few people objected and the public hearing was quick and uneventful, although it did make CPRE Surrey appreciate that if we wish to give evidence we have to make representations at the consultation stage. The only other Core Strategy to reach the final hearing stage is that of Tandridge. This is the sixth smallest council in the country in terms of population...

Tim reports on some of the developments in regional planning over the past few months Walking in the wilderness The prospects for a speedy introduction of a ‘Spatial Strategy’ for the South East now look problematic. The positive work done on the draft 20-year Plan for the SE Region is in turmoil and the morale of all concerned with its preparation badly affected. Alterations in Government policy are also seriously undermining progress on the Local Development Frameworks that are to be the new Local Plans of the future. CPRE played a prominent participatory role throughout the 42 day Examination...

The numbers for Surrey and particularly the London Fringe are up. The new target for the South East is 33,125 homes per year. It could have been worse – after the original Regional Assembly target of 28,000 new houses a year in the South East, and the Panel Report’s recommendation to the Government of 32,000 following the “Examination in Public” in which CPRE participated, the new figure from the Government Office for the South East (GOSE) is 33,125 The figure of 36,000 had been mentioned frequently in the press, and the Government’s advisers NHPAU, who had been appointed to look at how to...