It means that these sites are being considered for housing development. According to the Council, they would deliver a total of 4022 homes.
Thirteen of them are in Oxted, Limpsfield and Hurst Green - among them Chichele field (150 units) and Stoney field (250 units) in Oxted and Land at Holland Road in Hurst Green (200 units).
The document has just been published on the Council's website. To see details of which Green Belt sites near you have an amber rating click here. The document takes a while to download.
You'll see that despite grading these sites amber, the Council has not made any consideration of infrastructure provision.
The Council has graded some Green Belt sites as 'red'. The Planning Department says red land will not be considered for development but we believe it is not safe because it has already been flagged up as 'deliverable and developable' in the Council's previous consultation and developers can still submit planning applications for these sites.
Rather than protecting the Green Belt, the current approach to the new Local Plan effectively invites developers to put forward planning applications on Green Belt sites. This has just happened with a site in Warlingham where Chartwell Land and New Homes Ltd have applied to build 146 homes in the Green Belt.
The Council has accepted an inflated and flawed housing need figure of 9,400, the vast majority of which is for inward migration from London.
Two areas - one at Blindley Heath and one at South Godstone - are being considered for a new town with at least 2,000 houses.
In addition, sites owned by Tandridge District Council are earmarked to be sold off for new housing development.
These sites include Oxted's Ellice Road car park, which is being considered for new flats; Boulthurst Way recreation ground in Hurst Green, estimated for 35 new units; the Warren Lane Depot in Hurst Green, estimated for 48 new units which, on its own, is expected to generate £4-5 million for the Council's coffers; Chestnut Copse playing field in Hurst Green where a 3 storey block of 12 units could be built netting the Council £900,000.
In Caterham, Council owned land including the open space between Yorke Gate and Hambledon Road known as 'the Bellway strip' and the Timber Hill Road Recreation Ground is being earmarked.
Resources Committee Councillors are due to approve these sites for the Local Plan process at their meeting on October 25. To read the details click here. See item 6 and Appendix A for the list of Council owned sites to be included in the first stage of the Plan.
A financial briefing for Councillors was held this week which showed the Council has a predicted shortfall of £1.4 million in 2017/18.
When discussing the proposed development of the Ellice Road car park, a senior officer stated the Council needed to develop what it could to remain solvent over the next few years.
We believe that the picture is now becoming clear that one of the unwritten objectives of the new Local Plan is to make this small Council financially viable.
Please be assured that OLRG will not stand by and let this cash-strapped local authority destroy our precious Green Belt and open spaces, destroy the character of the area, and put intolerable pressure on our already struggling infrastructure simply to ensure its own survival. Exceptional circumstances are the only basis for changing the Green Belt boundaries and raising money is not one of them.
More details of the Council's Sites Consultation are on its website: click here
Councillors on the Planning Policy Committee will be asked to approve the Sites Consultation at their meeting on October 31. The Consultation is due to take place from November 4 - December 30.
