Archive May 2010 front page
Development at Oxted Sandpit & Chalkpit Quarry proposed in the Surrey Minerals Plan.
Latest: There has been a delay by Surrey County Council in submitting the Minerals Plan to the Secretary of State. This had been expected to happen in March but still has not occurred at the end of May. SCC say this is because it is has taken longer than expected to deal with the representations. No date has yet been given for submission. It now seems unlikely that the Plan will be examined by a government Planning Inspector in June/July as had been suggested originally.
There have been widespread protests against Surrey County Council's plans for massive new development at Oxted Sandpit in Barrow Green Road which will mean a huge number of extra lorries on the roads and 'HGV hell' for nearby residents.
The story was covered on The Politics Show on BBC One. To watch it see second headline
Also on BBC Radio Surrey - third headline
To read the Sunday Telegraph's coverage click here
The residents' group has sent in a 14 page objection to Surrey County Council which details why their proposals break planning law. It says the County Council are 'irresponsible' and 'unreasonable' to put them forward knowing the existing problems caused by the huge numbers of HGVs already using the Chalkpit Quarry, less than a mile away from the Sandpit. It says it is 'incomprehensible' that these problems have not been properly taken into account and that the Council have chosen a course of action which makes them worse.
To read the full submission click on the fifth headline
The County Council are targeting the Sandpit for extension in their Minerals Plan. They also want to make it an aggregates recycling centre for construction and development waste. This waste would be brought in to the site by HGV where it would either be dumped as landfill, or recycled and driven away again - by HGV.
This is as well as the existing Chalkpit operation. That's not even referred to in the Plan despite all the protests, petitions and evidence of major road safety risks and major environmental damage that local people have presented to SCC over the past two years. No attempt is made to address the lorry issue or to consider the cumulative impact on the community and the environment of operating the two sites together.
As well as Oxted, the Minerals Plan targets sites in villages all along the A25. Residents in Nutfield, Bletchingley and Godstone have also been protesting about environmental destruction. They fear their villages and rural roads will be choked with heavy lorries. The sites are all in the Green Belt and some are in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Three planning applications have already been submitted for Pendell Farm in Bletchingley and we wonder what is the point in producing a Minerals Plan if major applications are made and decided before the Plan has even been considered.
The Minerals Plan also names Mercers Farm, Nutfield Marsh as a preferred site. This is totally unsuited for access by large numbers of HGVs. It is in the Green Belt, is a Site of Nature Conservation Importance, and is important for great crested newts and over-wintering lapwings - their habitat would be destroyed if the proposal goes ahead.
The next stage is for the Plan to be examined by a government Planning Inspector. The Group intends to take part in the examination with the aim of persuading the Inspector that the Plan is seriously flawed and should be rejected as 'unsound'.
Full details of the Surrey Minerals Plan can be read here: click here
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NB: In the Queen's speech on 25 May the government said it would abolish regional spatial strategies. This means scrapping the South East Plan - the government's 20 year development strategy for south-east England. It is this plan that sets the house building targets for Tandridge. If the Plan is scrapped so too are those targets. The new Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has written to Council leaders highlighting the government's commitment to return decision making powers on housing and planning to local councils. He says decisions on housing supply will rest with local planning authorities without the framework of regional numbers and plans. The government has also pledged to stop "garden grabbing" by changing planning law so that back gardens are no longer classified as brownfield sites available for development but as greenfield sites and therefore not suitable for development.
It's not yet clear how these changes will be implemented by Tandridge Council and the information below relates to the existing system, brought in under the previous government.
Back Garden Development in Tandridge
The Core Strategy Policy, CSP3, which restricts uncontrolled back garden development has now been reinstated by Tandridge Council. It was brought back into operation on 1st December.
The policy was dropped in April 2009 because the council's housing supply figures showed a surplus of less than 20%. CSP3 only operates when the surplus is above 20%. The residents' group and others queried the council's figures and, as a result, it agreed to carry out a review. That review confirmed a surplus of 25%.
The latest review, April 2010, has confirmed a large surplus with most of the district's big development sites now going ahead. This means that CSP3 will be in operation for the next 18 months.The new Housing Supply Statement is on the council's website click here
For information: Policy CSP3 says that in order to manage the delivery of housing, if the surplus is more than 20%, the Council will not permit the development of residential garden land where there is a net gain of 5 units and above or where the site is larger than 0.2 hectares (subject to a few exceptions)
During the last few years the numbers of homes built in Tandridge has far outstripped the government target. For example, for the period 1 April 2006 to 30 September 2009, 1,110 homes were added to the district's total housing stock which meant that within just three and a half years, 44% of the required 20 year supply (2,500 homes for the period 2006 -2026) had been achieved.
It was to try to regulate this large oversupply that Policy CSP3 was brought in; it was designed to control back garden building which was not needed to meet the housing target and was causing a great deal of concern to residents.
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Green Belt
The adoption of the Tandridge Core Strategy in October 2008 made sure that the overall policy for development in Tandridge did not rely on Green Belt sites to fulfil the housing targets imposed by central Government. Unfortunately that wasn't the end of the process.
The Council then began the next stage - drawing up 'The Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment.' (SHLAA) Its aim is to identify all the potential housing land in the district, how much housing can go on each site and when that site can be developed.
It is up to the Council to carry out a thorough and careful investigation which will ensure that all suitable sites in the built up areas are identified, brought forward and used to their full development potential.
The residents' group is doing all it can to assist with this and to demonstrate that it is not necessary to build on the Green Belt. With this in mind, it is taking part in the consultation panel which is overseeing the SHLAA.
It is very important that all suitable sites are identified so if you are aware of any site within the built up areas that may be suitable for housing please let us know or call the Council's Planning Policy Team on 01883 732764 or email planningpolicy@tandridge.gov.uk
Details about how the assessment is being carried out are on the Council's web page click here
Latest: The coalition government said the Regional Spatial Strategy had forced councils to "redraw the lines of the Green Belt" and designate large areas of countryside for new development between now and 2026.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said scrapping the strategy showed the new government's commitment to protecting the Green Belt, while giving councils and communities the freedom to decide where new development will go. He said: "The previous government gave a green light for the destruction of the Green Belt across the country and we are determined to stop it.
"We've promised to use legislation to scrap top-down building targets that are eating up the Green Belt, but I'm not going to make communities wait any longer to start making decisions for themselves. That's why I have written to all councils to let them know they can make planning decisions in the knowledge Regional Strategies will soon be history.
"It will no longer be possible to concrete over large swathes of the country without any regard to what local people want. From now on communities will be trusted to make the right decisions."
And finally: The residents' group is quite large but bigger is better if it wants to stand a chance of being heard on planning issues. Please encourage people to join. All they need to do is email oxted.residents@btinternet.com
or, if they don't have or like email, write to: Oxted & Limpsfield Residents Group, P O Box 233, Oxted Post Office, Station Road West, Oxted, RH8 9EH and we'll keep in touch by post.
Most members are from Oxted & Limpsfield, but there are others from across northern Tandridge and anyone in the district is welcome to join. The group is solely concerned with planning matters.