Green Belt danger - 56,660 new homes in Surrey
An average of 2,833 new homes must be built in Surrey every year for the next two decades, according to a government-appointed panel of inspectors (December 2007)
An average of 2,833 new homes must be built in Surrey every year for the next two decades, according to a government-appointed panel of inspectors. In their long-awaited Panel Report following the Examination in Public of the draft South East Plan, the inspectors call for a staggering 20% increase in the new housing figures for Surrey – significantly higher than for other parts of the SE region.
Overall, Surrey must build at least 56,660 houses in 20 years, say the inspectors in their 460-page report. The largest increases are proposed for the “growth hubs” of Guildford (+31.1%), Reigate & Redhill (+19.4%) and Woking (+20.7%), posing a direct threat to areas within the Metropolitan Green Belt in their vicinity.
In Runnymede, the panel is calling for the figures in the draft SE Plan to be almost doubled – from 2,920 to 5,720 new homes – though most of these are earmarked for a single site at Longcross next to the M3. Erosion of the Green Belt is to be expected in other areas too where there is insufficient previously developed land for all the new housing allocated to them.
Brushing away the concerns of local authorities, the inspectors want the next wave of housing development in Surrey to go ahead even if there aren’t enough schools, hospitals or other public services in place to support it.
Stipulations in the draft SE Plan that more infrastructure investment is needed before large-scale housing development can take place have been disregarded by the panel, which argues that infrastructure can follow housing. Such proposals further threaten Surrey’s thinly stretched public services and under-funded public transport on already heavily congested roads.
Against this background, Ken Livingstone, the London Mayor, is now calling for Surrey with its ominously named “London Fringe” Sub-Region to meet more of the Capital’s housing needs as well as its own – a major reversal of his original position. At the same time the government agency Natural England is preparing a public consultation on a new proposal to sweep away Green Belt development restrictions to allow more housing schemes to go ahead.
CPRE and local authorities are waiting to see if the government will insist on even higher figures than those put forward in the Panel Report. The South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) claims that the region needs at least 34,800 new homes per annum in order to meet its targets for economic growth. This is an increase of 2,800 every year on even the Panel Report figures. In the development agency’s view at least 50% of new houses should be built in the “Inner South East” – specifically Surrey and the Thames Valley.
Surrey County Council leader Nick Skellet said: “I shudder to think, with the already disproportionate share of the increase in new homes proposed for the county, what the implications for the Green Belt in Surrey will be if the government chooses to impose some of the figures that are being banded about.”
The government is keen to put new housing on Green Belt sites in the London Fringe Sub-Region, originally designated for “containment” but now opened up for development growth under the new proposals. This Sub-Region includes the three hubs of Guildford, Reigate & Redhill, and Woking.
Those parts of Surrey directly bordering Greater London – the boroughs and districts of Elmbridge, Epsom & Ewell, Reigate & Banstead, Runnymede, Spelthorne, and Tandridge – will be most at risk.
CPRE Surrey chairman Tim Harrold said that “Green Belt campaigners must shape up for another battle with the government over housing, and Surrey is now firmly in the front line. The Regional Assembly, which the government has decided to abolish, agreed high enough housing figures for Surrey in its South East Plan. We are seeing a return to the bad old days of ‘predict and provide’ top down directives that disregard professional local expertise and its democratic input on quality of life and environmental capacity issues.
“The Panel Report is now recommending a further 20% increase in the figures for Surrey – and we know that the government and its regional development agency want even higher numbers still. They are pushing for huge and unsustainable developments to the north-east of Guildford and south of Woking. And they will get away with it unless we fight them every step of the way. Our countryside and open spaces are under threat as never before. Only by stiff resistance can these nightmare proposals be blocked.”
The proposed changes to the draft SE Plan will be published shortly, followed by a 12-week consultation period this winter, and publication of the revised Plan in autumn 2008. CPRE will be mobilizing all its resources to ensure that the housing figures are kept as close as possible to those in the draft SE Plan. If you would be prepared to write a letter of objection to your local MP, county or district councillor, please go ahead now quoting Surrey Voice as your source of information.
NEW HOUSING ALLOCATION FOR SURREY DISTRICTS
Draft SE Plan Panel Report % increase
Elmbridge 4,620 5,120 10.8
Epsom & Ewell 3,620 3,980 9.9
Guildford 6,440 8,440 31.1
Mole Valley 3,420 3,720 9.9
Reigate & Banstead 7,740 9,240 19.4
Runnymede 2,920 5,720 95.9
Spelthorne 3,020 3,320 9.9
Surrey Heath 3,740 3,740 0.0
Tandridge 2,240 2,500 11.6
Waverley 4,600 5,000 8.7
Woking 4,840 5,840 20.7
SURREY TOTAL 47,200 56,660 20.0
From the Chairman (December 2007)
CPRE Surrey is concerned at the profusion of “top down” government directives, and the way in which local grass roots input from “bottom up” is often ignored. We are particularly worried about the reinstatement of the discredited mantra of “predict and provide” for housebuilding in place of the proven system of “plan, monitor, manage” that has served the community well as a guide for the planning process.
We live in an age of targets and deadlines that seem to value quick rather than good decisions. CPRE tries to keep in touch with the grass roots in Surrey by attending meetings of volunteers in Residents Associations and Parish Councils where they reveal their intense concern about what is happening to their community in a bewildering world of local government reform, planning upheaval, consultation overload, and inadequate funding.
Take for example the Normandy Action Group appropriately known as NAG. Their village lies between Guildford and Ash to the north of the Hog's Back and is surrounded by attractive countryside. Over 80 people turned out for an evening meeting at their Village Hall recently to hear about the inability of the Environment Agency and Surrey County Council to take effective action against a site in the village run by Pathfinder Recycling that causes noise disturbance, smell, dust and is visually intrusive. Described at the meeting as “an environmental menace”, there were numerous complaints of HGVs and other heavy equipment operating in the vicinity of people’s homes.
In fact, so bad is the obtrusive presence of HGVs in this area that one local resident has launched a campaign entitled “Lorries Off Rural Detours” or LORD for short that is seeking to impose weight and width restrictions on lorries travelling on inappropriate rural roads. Over 40 Parish Councils across Surrey have indicated their support for LORD. Contacts in Kent, Sussex and Dorset complain of the same problem often exacerbated by inappropriate satnav equipment. Eleven Surrey MPs are supportive too, and now the Highways Department at Surrey CC is taking notice. If you would like more details contact peter.jelffs@waitrose.com
The meeting then went on to discuss details of the inadequate surface drainage at Glaziers Lane, where the sewers are too small to cope in heavy rain storms causing flooding both on the roads and in some homes, forcing owners to live in caravans while the mess is cleared up. No wonder that NAG is bothered about plans for additional building in the village which will only make matters worse unless Thames Water spends money on infrastructure first. Perhaps this is why one of those present described Normandy as “the forgotten parish” at least in this context.
Unfortunately, the foot and mouth epidemic in Surrey has put Normandy very much on the map and in the public eye for the wrong reasons along with Pirbright, Egham and other affected communities. CPRE is very concerned at the continuing threat to the farming sector, and in particular dairy farming not only in this county but across the country. We depend on grazing animals to maintain the North Downs landscape we cherish and value so highly for its beauty. We have collaborated with the NFU to produce a report on the financial cost met by the farmer in maintaining hedgerows, rights of way, and the countryside in general. They deserve the support given to them with the Country Stewardship Schemes. Farming is essential to the Surrey countryside, with its distinctive landscape and high quality environment.
The half yearly meeting of the Cobham and Downside Residents Association had only one major item on the agenda when 140 members met at Cobham Village Hall in October. This was the new M25 Motorway Service Area at Downside, which first appeared as a threat on the horizon in 1995.
Despite a marathon struggle by the RA and CPRE against Swayfields, the developer, whose applications have been repeatedly refused by Elmbridge Borough Council over many years, and always appealed, the final verdict, after yet another public inquiry, was to allow permission for the proposal to go ahead. A model of the site was on view in the hall. The RA keeps in close contact with Elmbridge planning officers and intends to monitor and comment on each individual application from Swayfields as it is submitted. The first of these is currently under consultation. CPRE Surrey will also be watching this process closely as the site will occupy 50 to 60 acres of Green Belt land.
We shall be looking to minimise air, noise and light pollution, and try to make the site as inconspicuous as possible. There is also the possibility of low noise tarmac being used so that some of the noisy concrete surface of the M25 is covered. Strong reservations were expressed at the meeting about the motorway service area and how it will work. One councillor stated that “it will cause more problems than it solves.”
At this time of growing threat to the Green Belt across Surrey, my CPRE colleagues and I will be happy to meet residents’ associations, parish councils and commu-nity groups, to keep in touch with grass roots opinion and encourage local democratic involvement in the planning process.
Tim Harrold
Panel report – ‘a mixed bag’ (December 2007)
The inspectors’ report on the draft South East Plan is a mixture of good and bad news for Surrey.
On the minus side, as well as the significant increase in the district housing allocations, the panel endorses the government’s desire for further runway expansion, overturning the Regional Assembly’s attempt to block the growth of Gatwick and Heathrow airports. On the plus side, the inspectors have agreed with CPRE Surrey on the need to keep Farnham out of the Blackwater Valley economic growth area, and sided with CPRE against the proposal for a massive 2,500-home development at Dunsfold, which they said would “seriously unbalance the regional strategy” and “would be likely to remain unsustainable.”
The panel also accepted the widespread concern that “windfall sites”, whose availability cannot be planned in advance, should be taken into account when forecasting district housing allocations.
CPRE played a prominent participatory role throughout the 42 day Examination in Public of the draft SE Plan which was produced under great time pressure against a constant background of new policy announcements from the Government Office of the South East (GOSE). The SE Plan has obtained its “seal of approval” on 11 of the 12 tests of “soundness”. The Panel Report criticises the draft South East Plan for giving too much weight “to the views of existing residents”, presumably meaning locally expressed democratic opinion.
Bill Bryson takes over (December 2007)
American-born author and journalist Bill Bryson OBE is the new President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. In his inaugural speech to the CPRE annual meeting in London, Bryson said he was “proud and excited to be part of this heroic organization.”
The best-selling author of Notes from a Small Island and A Short History of Nearly Everything also said he had “often wondered why we don’t make the whole of England a national park… Of the surface area of the Earth, only a tiny fragment – 0.0174069, or so I gather – can call itself Great Britain. The fragment that is England is even tinier. So it’s rare and dangerously finite, and every bit of it should be cherished.”
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