The deadline for objections to Gleeson Land’s application 25/P/01521 for permission to build 200 homes at Shortlands Farm is showing on the Guildford Borough Council (GBC) website as 2 January, but we are told that GBC “will accept comments until the officer closes their report and the application is determined.” As we don’t know when this will be it would be best to submit comments as close to the 2 January deadline as possible, and we would urge you to do so if you agree with us that this speculative development, outside of the Local Plan process, should be resisted.

We believe there are several grounds for objection. This is already evident in a number of the responses submitted by statutory consultees - see under the ‘documents’ tab on the link, above. We recommend you look in particular at the excellent one submitted by Normandy Parish Council, which contains most if not all of the arguments. You need to express your views in your own words and according to your own priorities; boilerplate responses will not count. Our own headlines would be:

•    The site serves to prevent urban sprawl and as such should not be judged to be ‘Grey Belt’. Building on it would undermine the purposes of the wider Green Belt in the area and would be inappropriate development.
•    The applicant has not demonstrated that the surface water flood risk can be managed adequately - as has been pointed out by the Surrey County Council Sustainable Urban Drainage Scheme (SUDS) officer.
•    There is no evidence that the foul water drainage capacity is sufficient to cope with these additional dwellings (Thames Water have yet to comment).
•    The impact of the development on traffic on the A323 and further afield has been seriously underestimated. The Surrey Highways response makes clear that the applicant has not provided sufficient information for this to be judged properly.
•    The site is not in a sustainable location. The likely use of Ash Station for journeys to work, and of existing footpaths along busy main roads to take children to school, have both been exaggerated. 
•    The ecological impact of the proposal has not been adequately addressed, neither on the site itself nor given its proximity to the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area.

We have expressed these in greater detail in the objection we have submitted to GBC; see below.

If you visit this page on the GBC website, you will see that you can object in one of three ways. The easiest is by completing the online form, for which you first need to register your name and address. You can also send your comments by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or put them in the post to Muhammad Saleem, Guildford Borough Council, Millmead House, Millmead, Guildford, GU2 5BB. 

Attachments:

Shortlands Farm NAG Objection

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