CPRE Surrey Branch opposes Guildford Borough Council’s plans for large-scale housing development in the countryside around Guildford and has expressed its dismay at the council’s proposals for “inappropriate urban extensions, large housing estates and widespread ‘insetting’ in Green Belt villages”. In its response to the consultation on GBC’s revised draft Local Plan, CPRE Surrey criticizes the council for its failure to give proper consideration to “the widespread and serious constraints on development within the borough” and says that councillors should be doing more to “protect and enhance the Green Belt” rather than undermining it.
Mole Valley District Council is consulting on its draft Local Plan and is holding a series of public meetings and exhibitions around the district. CPRE is urging residents to take part by completing the Future Mole Valley online survey, and hopes that public opinion will steer the Council towards options that focus on regeneration of urban and brownfield sites rather than allowing housebuilding and other development to sprawl out into the countryside, the Green Belt and AONB.
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!
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…
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.”
