The Annual General Meeting of CPRE Surrey Branch will take place at Painshill Park, Cobham, on Wednesday 21st June 2017, starting at 2.00pm. The principal guest speaker will be Su Sayer, National Chairman of CPRE. Please contact the CPRE Surrey Branch office in Leatherhead, email cpre.surrey@btconnect.com, for details.
The Surrey Branch of CPRE has issued a “Manifesto for Surrey” setting out policies to protect our countryside and Green Belt. Candidates of all political parties in the General Election are being encouraged to endorse the Manifesto and agree to incorporate its policies in their election addresses. Here are the CPRE Surrey policies:
● Protect the Green Belt and other countryside and green spaces in Surrey from inappropriate development…
The Spring 2017 issue of SURREY VOICE, the CPRE magazine for Surrey, is out now – with articles on the Guildford and Waverley local plans, the Housing White Paper, the Surrey Hills ‘Quiet Lane Zones’, the Woodland Trust’s WWI Centenary Wood, an update on the Elmbridge Sports Hub saga, and much more!
There will be a Public Inquiry into the planning application for 1,800 houses at Dunsfold, approved last December by Waverley Borough Council. This follows a request from CPRE’s Waverley group to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid, to “call in” the application.
The Surrey Branch of CPRE has welcomed the Government’s Housing White Paper, in particular its focus on addressing market failure in the housebuilding industry. Andy Smith, CPRE Surrey Branch Director, said: “The White Paper sets out policies that aim to give England the right houses in the right places, rather than just more urban sprawl into the countryside which is what the developers have been agitating for. It is a great relief that instead of giving in to the developers and opening up the Green Belt for development, which we had feared, the Government have opted to defend the planning system and push for more urban regeneration and brownfield development instead.
The High Court has ruled that Elmbridge Borough Council’s scheme to develop a ‘sports hub’ at Waterside Drive, by the Thames in Walton, was unlawful. The site is a large area (14 Ha) of Green Belt land which used to consist of a small playing field for Walton Casuals FC, a large grassed area, and scrub, overlying an old landfill site. CPRE Surrey branch director Andy Smith said: said “CPRE has supported the local campaign against this development since 2015, so we are delighted with today’s judgment. It is vital that we oppose unwanted, unnecessary and inappropriate developments like this, especially when they threaten the openness of the Green Belt and destroy local tranquillity. The fact that Elmbridge Council gave itself permission for this Sports Hub development, disregarding Green Belt planning constraints, was a major concern for CPRE and we are pleased that the High Court judgment reflects this.”
CPRE has written to Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, urging him to call-in the application to build 2600 houses at Dunsfold.
Full text of CPRE’s letter follows…
Waverley Borough Council’s draft Local Plan is “not fit for purpose”, according to CPRE Surrey, which has submitted its reasoned objections to the Draft Local Plan. CPRE Waverley Group Chairman Anthony Isaacs MBE said: “We have examined the Draft Local Plan thoroughly and have come to the conclusion that it is not fit for purpose.” The group gives six reasons for its damning indictment of the Draft Plan. Firstly, the Plan is based on out of date information which greatly exaggerates the Objectively Assessed Need for housing (OAN). CPRE thinks it should be around 400 new dwellings a year, not 519.
