Three weeks left to save the Green Belt. Write in now.
We have got just three weeks left to tell the Government Planning Inspector, Mr David Vickery, why we don't want developers building on the Green Belt. There are proposals for 650 houses on 2 Green Belt fields in Oxted. If the council's Green Belt policy is breached it won't just be Oxted but everywhere in Tandridge that is at risk.
Write to: Director of Planning, Tandridge District Council, Station Road East, Oxted, RH8 0BT. Or email your letter to LDF@tandridge.gov.uk
You have until June 5th to do it. Your letters will go straight to the Inspector. At his meeting on April 22nd he promised to take full account of them Please do write in with your views. To see what one resident is saying click here
Mr Vickery is the man who will decide whether to throw out or change the Council's plan which we support. He will decide whether our Green Belt can be built on. The council have to do what he tells them.
This is the list of sites being put forward by developers who are trying to get Tandridge District Council's development plan (Core Strategy) thrown out or changed so that the Green Belt is up for grabs.
Site List:
1 Village Developments: Land adjacent to graveyard & St Mary's Church, Barrow Green Road, Oxted
Residential. 400 houses To see the plan click here
2 Village Developments: Land adjacent to St Mary's School, Chichele Road & Laverock School, Bluehouse Lane, Oxted
Residential. 250 houses To see the plan click here
3 Mr Keyte: Essendene Park, off Whyteleafe Road, Caterham
Residential
4 Mr Samarasekara: North west end Hillbury Road, Warlingham (267 and land adjacent)
Residential
5a Clifford W & R C Shrimplin: Redhill Aerodrome, South Nutfield.
Suggests a new settlement at Redhill Aerodrome would be a preferable strategy.
5b Jim Cobbe:Redhill Aerodrome, South Nutfield
Location for strategic housing and employment
6 Metropolis Planning and Design: Land north of Felbridge Hotel,Felbridge
Extra Care Housing
7 Mr D Post: Land opposite Doves Barn Nursery and 103-109 Copthorne Road Felbridge
Residential
8 Cophall Farm: Cophall Farm, Effingham Road, Copthorne
Major Developed Site in the Green Belt (commercial use)
9 Asprey Homes: Occasionally Yours Nursery, Lingfield Common Road, Lingfield.
Residential
10 Stephen Smith:The former Bays Nursery,Godstone Road, Lingfield
Suggests a green belt boundary review would resolve the situation with regard to the site
11 Mr Raison: Land at Willow Cottage, Newchapel Road, Lingfield
Refers to site on edge of Lingfield as boundary anomaly
12 Arena Leisure: Lingfield Park Racecourse and surrounding land
Lingfield should be designated as Broad Location for development, reference to 125 acres of surplus
land.
Surveyors have been marking out the 2 Green Belt fields in Oxted in preparation for the housing developments.
If you want to save the Green Belt, not just in Oxted, but in the whole of Tandridge please tell the Planning Inspector why these sites are not suitable for development and why the Council has got its plan right. That plan says there is no need to release Green Belt land for building. You have until June 5th, to write in.
So far only the views of those opposed to the Core Strategy have been heard.
Mr Vickery has said that he has "deep concerns and reservations" about the plan
But he has at least agreed to give residents a voice at the hearings he is holding later in the year. This is a welcome move as it's important that supporters of the plan should be able to put their case.
As a result of these hearings and our letters the Inspector will decide whether to accept the plan and, if he does, whether he wants to make changes to it.
These changes may include an instruction to Tandridge Council to quickly draw up a list of sites for development and this list could well include the Green Belt fields. Mr Vickery's decisions are binding on the council.
The Key Facts
1. The council has put together a plan, (called the Core Strategy) which does not involve building on Green Belt. We support this plan.
2. We want this plan to be accepted by the Inspector, without any changes, in order to protect the Green Belt. The Core Strategy in our opinion is sound.
3. We do not want the Inspector to say that the council has to change the Core Strategy by naming Green Belt fields to build upon. This is what the developers want (650 houses on Green Belt) and so, apparently, does the Government. We want our Core Strategy left alone because that way our Green Belt remains protected.
If the plan were to be rejected that would be quite against the publicly expressed views of local people, but quite in line with pressure from the unelected body "The Government Office for the South East"
Village Developments have submitted proposals to build on Oxted's Green Belt fields. One plan is for 400 homes on Stoneyfield, in an area of Great Landscape Value, at the end of Wheeler Avenue. To see the plan click here
The other is for 250 homes on the field at the end of Chichele Road behind Bluehouse Lane. To see that proposal click here
An article by the company in the County Border News states:
"Reading between the lines Inspector Vickery is giving the District Council clear indications that he thinks the whole strategy is unsound. The council would be wise to withdraw it and if so the entire process would have to be reworked."
"We will prove that this core strategy is unsound and eventually we will build our affordable houses. It is only a matter of time."
Sign the Save the Green Belt petition NOW by clicking the button on the left.
