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Green Belt: Hundreds write in support of Core Strategy
Hundreds of residents have written in from all over Tandridge appealing to Government Planning Inspector David Vickery, to save the Green Belt, particularly sites near the heart of Oxted, from housing developments.
Tandridge District Council has received 788 letters and emails to send on to Mr Vickey.
522 of these letters are pleas to Mr Vickery to save the two Green Belt fields in Oxted where developers want to build 650 houses.
According to a spokeswoman for Oxted and Limpsfield residents: "The letters and emails are from "households" - which means they represent well over 1,000 individuals. They support the Council's future development plan, known as the Core Strategy, which demonstrates that building on the Green Belt is not necessary.
"The number of letters speaks for itself and we hope the Inspector will sit down and read every one. At his meeting on April 22nd he promised to take full account of them."
The Inspector begins his five day examination of the District Council's plan on June 23 at the Council offices in Oxted. The rest of his hearings are on June 25 and from July 1-3. These are public hearings which anyone may attend to observe.
The Oxted & Limpsfield Residents Group will be represented at each of the hearing sessions. .
The residents spokeswoman added: "Mr Vickery has said that he has "deep concerns and reservations" about the Council's plan. He will decide whether to accept or reject it and whether our Green Belt can be built on. Even if he accepts it he may make changes to it that threaten the Green Belt.Those changes could 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. The Council has to do what he tells it.
"So far eight English local authorities have had their Core Strategies rejected as "unsound". (Just 22 have been passed) Millions of pounds of taxpayers money have been wasted as the Councils are told to start again.The Green Belt is left defenceless against developers. Don't let Tandridge become number nine".
East Surrey MP Peter Ainsworth, has written to David Vickery urging him to give Tandridge District Council's Core Strategy a clean bill of health.
Mr Ainsworth said: "I am aware that the Inspector has received many representations from local residents urging him to give the Core Strategy a clean bill of health, and as a resident of Tandridge, I would like to add my name to that list.
"Tandridge District Council has had many years of experience in balancing the often competing needs of environmental, social and economic well-being. I believe that this professional experience, and a proper sense of balance, are both evident in the Core Strategy which they have prepared for consideration. I hope that the inspector will see fit to pass the Core Strategy as sound."

Residents show the reasons why this field should remain Green

Oxted and Limpsfield residents have made a last appeal to fellow residents to help preserve this Green Belt site near the heart of Oxted.
The residents are urging letters to be written to planning chief Bob Evans at Tandridge District Council before June 5 to express support for the Council's Core Strategy and the need to keep fields like this Green.
The Core Strategy is being investigated for its 'soundness' by a government inspector as developers earmark sites like this for possible future housing development.
The residents illustrate the kinds of activities which would be lost if the site ever became released from the Green Belt - jogging, cycling, horse riding, rambling and dog walking.

Green Belt: Youngsters deliver write here, write now message

Youngsters attending local schools turned up at the Oxted offices of Tandridge District Council to add their youthful voices to the campaign to preserve the Green Belt around the town.
The children, accompanied by their parents, delivered letters addressed to the Council's planning chief Bob Evans.
They will be passed on to government inspector David Vickery who is conducting an investigation into the soundness of the Council's Core Strategy.
Some developers believe the Council's Core Strategy is flawed and are pressurising the government inspector to release two Green Belt sites near the heart of Oxted for housebuilding.
Residents of Oxted and Limpsfield have been mounting a high profile campaign in support of the Council's Core Strategy which is designed to protect Green Belt sites from the bulldozer.
However, the residents only have until June 5 to write letters to Mr Evans.
The pupils were joined by 11 year old Jordan Beech (extreme left) of Oxted who has set up a website urging the Green Belt sites to be preserved,
Photo kevin black

Residents urge defence of green and pleasant land

Members of the Oxted and Limpsfield Residents Group show the green spaces near the heart of Oxted they are trying to prevent from being covered in concrete.
The group is urging local people to write in and tell the Government Planning Inspector, Mr David Vickery, why they don't want these lush parts of the Green Belt built on.
Mr Vickery is the man who will decide whether Tandridge Council's development plan known as the "Core Strategy" will be thrown out or changed to allow building on the Green Belt. He has said that he has "deep concerns and reservations" about the plan.
He's told the Council to advertise and ask for public comments on 12 sites in Tandridge which are being targeted by developers. These include these two Green Belt fields in Oxted where Outwood, near Bletchingley based Village Developments want to build 650 houses.

They are the field and woodland by the graveyard and St Mary's Church and the field and bluebell wood by St Mary's School.

These proposals have already led to protests by hundreds of local residents who have besieged Mr Vickery's meetings.
Concerned locals have until June 5 to send a letter to Bob Evans, Director of Planning, Tandridge District Council, Station Road East, Oxted, RH8 0BT or email to: LDF@tandridge.gov.uk

The Group is distributing leaflets throughout the District. Residents in Godstone and Nutfield, where there are also fears for the Green Belt, are distributing similar leaflets. They ask people to tell the Inspector in their own "heartfelt" words why the Green Belt should be saved.
The Group gives the following reasons why the Tandridge Green Belt should be left alone:

* There is no need to build on the Green Belt. Tandridge District Council is more than meeting Government housing targets and has shown that it will continue to do so without touching the Green Belt.

* Tandridge has to build 125 new homes a year. It meets that target mainly by building on 'windfall sites' - small sites that come up at random around the district. The Council has already earmarked places to build more than 800 homes. Enough to meet its target for the next six years or more without touching the Green Belt.

* The Government says that windfall sites should be taken into account if there is good reason. There is good reason in Tandridge. To ignore the existence of the windfall sites is to ignore reality.

* If the Green Belt is built on it will be in addition to these windfall sites NOT instead of them. If the Green Belt is breached they will still build on the windfall sites. It's not one or the other.

* Developers who want to build on the Green Belt are motivated by greed not need.

* The infrastructure in Oxted is totally inadequate to support development on this scale. The schools, health services and roads are already stretched to the limit.

* The Green Belt fields under threat are much loved and well used. One adjoins an area of Ancient Woodland and a Site of Nature Conservation Importance. They are fertile agricultural land which has been cultivated for centuries. At a time of soaring food prices they are the kind of land we should be protecting not destroying.

* They are major public amenities and are part of the Metropolitan Green Belt protecting both London and ourselves from urban sprawl. They should be saved for future generations to enjoy.

* Both epitomise all that is good about Oxted. They are why so many people choose to live in and around the town.

The leaflet goes on to urge residents: Please write today.

A spokeswoman for the Group said: "The Government Inspector is visiting these sites to assess their suitability. The Council only has a small team to defend its "Core Strategy" and protect our Green Belt. They need local residents' help."
Photos kevin black

'What do you want me to do with this?' asks Inspector as he receives Green Belt petition

It wasn't exactly the response she was hoping for when Oxted School head girl Charlotte Sorensen handed in a petition at the Tandridge District Council offices in Oxted last week.
Charlotte, who lives in Old Oxted, was there to hand government inspector David Vickery a 1,000 name petition she has collected on the internet, calling for the protection of the Green Belt around Oxted from housing development and for Tandridge District Council's Core Strategy, its development plan to be backed by Mr Vickery.
He is conducting a series of meetings to investigate the 'soundness' of the Council's core strategy while a number of development companies pressurise for Green Belt sites near Oxted - and elsewhere in the District - to be released for housing projects.
On receiving the petition Mr Vickery asked Charlotte: "And what do you want me to do with this?"
The head girl replied that she hoped he would take the petition on board as proof of local residents' feelings about possible house building on Green Belt.
"I promise not to throw it in the bin" joked Inspector Vickery then asked Charlotte what school she was at.
The head girl later said:" He didnt exactly urge me to stick at my A Level studies but he did say something along the lines of don't spend all my time on the petition. He was pleasant enough but I dont really know how seriously he took the petition"
Photo kevin black

Green Belt: Time for protestors to put down the banners and start writing

Concerned resident Catherine Sayer gets her views on film
Tandridge District residents have until June 5 to put down their protest banners and get writing their letters and e-mails to the District Council to express their fears about Green Belt sites which have been identified by developers as possible locations for more housing projects.
The Core Strategy has been prepared by Tandridge District Council following extensive consultations with the local community, but some developers have objected on the grounds there is insufficient land identified for future development.
A number of developers have responded to the Council's Core Strategy by suggesting a number of sites which could be removed from the Green Belt and identified for future development. Some developers and landowners have identified specific sites which they consider could make up any shortfall in the future.
The District Council has not identified any specific sites as part of the Core Strategy, but relies on existing and future planning permissions within the communities, with existing Green Belt boundaries remaining scarosanct, unless there are indications that some release would be necessary.
Even if such action was required in the future, this would not be a matter for the Core Strategy, but any land would need to be considered as part of a comprehensive review to choose the most appropriate and most sustainable.
In the meantime, the District Council will be upholding its Core Strategy, as submitted, as part of the Examination which starts on June 23 , but the Planning Inspector presiding over the Examination, David Vickery, has said the alternative sites put forward by developers must be advertised by the District Council, even though he will not be considering specific sites.
A Public Notice has been published in a local newspaper and letters sent to those properties most closely related to the sites suggested by the developers.
The Council's Director of Planning, Bob Evans, said: "There is already widespread knowledge of some of these sites among the local communities affected, but clearly we need to comply with the regulations about publicity and we will be sending out letters to those properties adjoining or close by the sites. I confirm there are no planning applications for these sites and the Council does not consider any of them should be removed from the Green Belt."
Over a hundred objectors, mainly from Oxted and Limpsfield - they included a posse of riders from the Tandridge Priory Riding Centre who are concerned at developments at the Chalkpit Lane, Oxted, quarry - turned up at the Council offices in Oxted last week to watch Inspector Vickery handle the latest round of his testing of the 'soundness' of the Council's Core Strategy.
Before the meeting started Mr Vickery received a 1,000 name petition backing the District Council's Core Strategy and protesting at the use of Green Belt land - two sites near the heart of Oxted have been identified by developers - for housing.
BBC TV cameras covered the protest and Catherine Sayer of Wheeler Avenue, Oxted, one of the prime movers in the local Green Belt housing protest said: "Mr Vickery has confirmed that he would be taking account of all the views expressed in response to the adverts in the local paper.
"We're pleased that local people now have a real chance to let the Inspector know what they think.
"We're also pleased that Mr Vickery is allowing residents to participate in the detailed hearings into the plan which he is holding in June and July."
Another protestor Jackie Wren of Gordons Way: " Now the residents have been given an opportunity to comment I guess it is now a question of getting as many people as possible to write letters."

Anyone who wants to comment on the developers' suggested land, whether they receive a letter from the Council or not, should write to Bob Evans at the Council Offices, Oxted RH8 0BT before Thursday, June 5.

Green Belt: Inspector gets a plea from the horse's mouth

Among the four-legged protestors at last week's Core Strategy meeting at the Tandridge District Council offices in Oxted was 20 year old Jimmy.
With him was his owner Alice (12) who carried with her a letter from Jimmy which was handed in to the Council office for the attention of planning inspector David Vickery.
In his letter Jimmy protests at the speed of large lorries along Barrow Green Road on the outskirts of Oxted - his stable is at the Tandridge Priory Riding Centre - and he tells Mr Vickery: "If you let the people build the houses at the end of my road we will get more lorries coming down the road and my favourite bridle path across the field where I like to have a gallop when Alice comes home from school will be turned into a tarmac road. Please don't let this happen."