Tandridge Core Strategy adopted - October 15th 2008

Tandridge Core Strategy adopted

The Tandridge Core Strategy was formally adopted by the Council on Wednesday 15th October and now forms the basis for all future planning decisions. It says the Green Belt should be left alone for the next 10 years. It also gives valuable protection against back garden development.

There were fears that the Government Office for the South East intended to challenge the Core Strategy in the courts but that has not happened. Developers had threatened a challenge but have not made one.

Now that the plan has been adopted the Council will draw up several other documents that flow from it, including a 'Site Allocations Development Plan Document' which sets out specific sites that will be developed and an 'Affordable Housing Development Plan Document'. Oxted & Limpsfield Residents Group aims to contribute fully to these and to all other parts of the planning process.

For more details see the Council's web page
click here

We are delighted that the Inspector's report says:

1) The Strategy is 'sound'.

2) The Green Belt should be left alone for at least the next 10 years.

3) There is no requirement that the plan should be subject to an early review.

4) The Council planners produced an accurate snapshot of the district and properly reflected the wishes of local people. They got it right when they spelt out their vision and objectives for Tandridge.

(para 1.3) says

'I consider this vision to be well founded and locally distinctive, and to be 'place-shaping' and spatial. Those who wished for something more radical, out of the ordinary, or ground breaking have missed the point of local spatial planning based on community involvement'.

' Tandridge is not an area of great change with major development allocations to be accommodated'. (para 5.2)

The report concludes that in the first 5 years of the plan (April 2008 - March 2013) the Council has identified many more development sites than it needs to meet the low housing number given to it by the Government. It also concludes that in years 6-11 the Council will satisfy Government requirements WITHOUT needing to release any Green Belt land for new housing. The Council will achieve this by a combination of known sites earmarked for development and by carrying over part of the surplus from previous years. (Years 6-11 were the ones the developers were arguing about)

Tandridge has been given a low housing number by the Government in the recently amended South East Plan (SEP) The report accepts the Council's argument that this low number reflects what the infrastructure can deal with. Building at a higher rate, which is what developers wanted, means a high risk of pushing services into tailspin leaving them unable to cope.

We especially welcome these statements:

* Para 2.4: 'In particular, local people understandably became concerned when a number of developers put forward specific sites for development which, under the 2004 Regulations, the Council was obliged to advertise. I deal with these sites later in my Report where it will be seen that I have not recommended any to be allocated.'

* Para 5.2: 'Tandridge is not an area of great change with major development allocations to be accommodated. There are a limited number of key challenges and opportunities because Tandridge is the sixth smallest District in South East England in population terms (2001 Census) and as a result has one of the smallest urban areas. It has the second lowest housing allocation in the SEP. There is no identified need for other significant development (e.g. retail and commercial). Over 90% of the District is GB with large Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs)'

* Para 6.14: ' the (housing) allocation in the SEP is based on the fact that existing levels of infrastructure provision will be able to cope with the number of dwellings proposed. Building at higher rates brings a high risk that infrastructure and services would not be able to cope.'

* Para 6.25: 'Neither the Core Strategy nor its policies require any alteration to the boundaries of the existing built up areas or the Green Belt as currently defined in the Local Plan.'

* Para 6.27: 'I agree with the Council that other additional suggested changes by respondents would allow development involving a significant proportion of affordable housing to take place on green field land outside the built up areas, and thus they would be unsound as they would be contrary to the CS's fundamental strategy of concentration.'

* Para 6.45: Conclusion
'With the changes that I propose, I am satisfied that the development location and housing policies are soundly based, appropriate for this District, are supported by a robust and credible evidence base, and reflect national and regional policy.

There will inevitably be ongoing pressure on the Green Belt especially in the longer term, but this Core Strategy offers the best protection it can get. The result is a real success and reflects the tremendous effort by so many people in writing letters, delivering leaflets, making suggestions and, of course, attending all those meetings........