Dear NAG Follower,

A very full newsletter this edition with a large number of planning applications locally and further afield that directly and indirectly affect Normandy.

In this edition:

• New National Planning Framework
• Report from our Annual General Meeting
• Challenges of Enforcement
• 'Limited Infilling’ in Normandy
• Other local cases
• Applications from further afield

New National Planning Framework

The long-awaited revision to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was published on 19 December. Housing targets are now advisory rather than mandatory, although Government has elsewhere given itself greater powers to overrule Local Plans. There is no longer a requirement for Green Belt boundaries to be reviewed or changed when Local Plans are being prepared or updated.

Report from our Annual General Meeting

The draft Minutes of our meeting on 31 October are on our website here. We were pleased to be joined by three Guildford Borough Council (GBC) Councillors, and much of the discussion was about the constraints under which the Council was operating, especially regarding enforcement. We did suggest they could do better at keeping the public informed, though, to maintain some faith in the system. For more details, please see the draft Minutes.

Challenges of Enforcement

The most recent visible evidence of the enforcement challenge is the unauthorised development of the plot to the south of the A323 between Wyke and Ash – see previous newsletter. The situation now is that GBC will (belatedly) decide on the original planning application 21/P/02167. If it is approved, no further action will be taken. If it is rejected, the applicant has the right to appeal, and only if the appeal is rejected can enforcement action begin. This whole process takes a great deal of time, so do not expect to see any action on that site in the foreseeable future. The original application attracted only two public objections; as we say in our regular articles in The Villager: “Join our free mailing list and become better informed about local issues. Don’t wait until something you don’t like starts happening on your doorstep!”

The delays inherent in the system, which always favour those who choose to ignore or push the boundaries of the rules, are also evident in the continuing eyesore at Wanborough Fields. There are 11 open enforcement cases there, going as far back as 2018, with at least one new one every year. We reported in our last newsletter that one of these, relating to the unsuccessful application 18/P/00044 for conversion to equestrian use, was about to go back to court, but frustratingly the hearing has been postponed to May 2024. Meanwhile the subsequent owners of the same plot have now taken to appeal the refusal of their application 22/P/01326 for an agricultural storage barn and chicken house…

'Limited Infilling’ in Normandy

We reported in our last newsletter on the application 23/P/00361 for the construction of two detached houses and garages at Wyke Lodge (opposite St Mark’s Church), and said this would be a further test of how the concept of ‘limited infilling’ in areas of Green Belt that fall outside the official settlement area is interpreted. That application has now been approved, as has 22/P/00174 for 5 detached houses at the rear of Vaglefield Farm in Glaziers Lane. Both these decisions have been justified as ‘limited infilling’ in areas that although outside the settlement area are deemed to be part of the village of Normandy. Because this policy of ‘limited infilling’ could have an important impact on how Normandy looks in future, we have summarised some of the issues and relevant cases in an article on our website here.

Other local cases

We reported in our last newsletter on application 23/P/01507 for a care home to the south of North Wyke Farm with 17 one bedroom bungalows with staff accommodation and 10 one and two bedroom affordable homes. This attracted 7 objections from members of the public and Normandy Parish Council; it has now been withdrawn.

Application 23/P/01744 is for the proposed conversion of the existing stables and storage barn into a single residential unit at Fairoaks Smallholding, Aldershot Road. This site is in the Green Belt, but surprisingly, there is no reference to this in the ‘Design and Access Statement’.

A similar case 23/P/01436 at Woodlands Stables, Green Lane West, Ash (but falling in Normandy and Pirbright Ward), also in the Green Belt, is for a change of use of land to a travellers caravan site. This has already attracted 15 objections from members of the public. Both of these proposals would appear to fall outside national and local rules for development in the Green Belt.

A reminder that NAG does not try to comment on all planning applications in Normandy, only those that raise wider policy issues. All applications in Normandy go to public meetings of the Planning Committee of Normandy Parish Council; conclusions are on their website.

Applications from further afield

Here we mention:

23/P/01831 for a McDonald’s Restaurant at Tongham service station, adjacent to the nature reserve at Tice’s Meadow (105 objections, plus a Petition),

23/P/01850 for a major residential care development at The University Of Law, Portsmouth Road (64 objections)

23/00794/REVPP for the Farnborough Airport proposals (2406 comments – presumably mainly objections!).

22/P/02178 for a solar facility proposed to the west of Blackwell Farm (64 objections). There is still no decision on this application.