The Taylor Wimpey applications for up to 950 new builds on the Green Belt in Normandy, along with the associated one for 'Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace' (SANG), have now been published on the Guildford Borough Council (GBC) website and are open for public consultation, under the references 25/P/01725 and 25/P/01726 respectively. 

There is some confusion regarding the closing date for public comments. The website states 27 February, but residents have been receiving letters giving the date of 19 February. We believe the latter deadline would be far too short, given the volume of documents that have to be read (178 and 55 respectively), and we have sought urgent clarification from GBC. We shall update this page as soon as we have a response.

Update 2 Feb: GBC have explained that the discrepancy is due to an automated case management system over which they have no control. But they have assured us that comments will be accepted until the Officer’s Report is finalised. That will certainly be some time after 27 February, but people are advised to submit their comments as soon as possible so that they are recorded in the report. We hope this clears things up.  

We shall also be issuing further guidance to those on our mailing list (see the 'Follow Us' button on this site) about the basis on which it is possible to object to these applications. In the meantime, the image above is a heat map, based on Ordnance Survey data, showing the density and heights of buildings in Guildford and Aldershot and the area in between. The bright green to yellow dots show buildings that are at the proposed maximum height of those proposed for the Taylor Wimpey development (up to four storeys).

In other words, were the development to go ahead, it would completely change the face of the local landscape. The graphic below shows part of the site with proposed layout and heights of buildings - taken from the application on the GBC website: 'Design and Access Statement 5/9, page 74, section 5.15 Building Heights.

We believe that Taylor Wimpey have been obliged to include such high buildings because a large part of the land that is available to them is out of bounds because of the high level of flood risk; therefore, if they want to meet their target number of new builds (and their desired profit margins) they have to build 'up'.

That alone should disqualify the site from being considered as 'Grey Belt', in our view (this is a technical point, on which we shall provide further guidance). But it also brings the proposal into conflict with the Guildford Local Plan Development Management Policy D1 on 'Place Shaping', which states that "All new developments will be required to achieve high quality design that responds to distinctive local character (including landscape character) of the area in which it is set.”  

These two considerations alone offer solid grounds for objecting to the development, but there are others, for example relating to the developer's failure to provide evidence on the sustainability of local infrastructure (e.g transport, sewerage) if such a large number of additional homes were built, and to the extent of biodiversity and habitat loss. We shall issue further guidance on these and other points in due course.

In a nutshell: this development would be completely inappropriate and disproportionate in Normandy. It has come forward on an opportunistic basis when something on this scale should only be considered strategically as part of a Local Plan process, which GBC is already in the process of revising, and which is in line with what Government says it wants. For these and other reasons we shall be arguing strongly that GBC should decline to approve it.