Dear NAG Follower,

In this edition:

• Race Against Time in Bailes Lane
• New application for solar facility to the west of Blackwell Farm
• Other applications of interest/concern

Race Against Time in Bailes Lane

In our Planning Alerts of 26 and 28 March we alerted you to a potentially serious situation concerning the sale of this 28-acre plot to the west of Bailes Lane in Normandy:

The fields were due to be purchased by a company, Land4Life, that specialises in sub-dividing agricultural land into affordably priced small plots and marketing them for leisure use, mainly as orchards. Whatever one thinks about this as an idea, it raises two major issues. The first is the resulting loss of openness, which is a defining purpose of the Green Belt, and has guided numerous decisions by the Planning Inspectorate regarding local planning applications. This is something that needs to be determined in a proper way through the planning system.

However, the second issue is that whatever the intentions of the vendor it is hard to see how the latter can control how the plots will eventually be used unless there are specific covenants attached to the sale: the results of this lack of certainty and control can be seen in the environmental disaster currently prevailing at Wanborough Fields:

While we initially hoped that the meeting on 27 March of the Guildford Borough Council (GBC) Planning Committee would provide an opportunity for GBC to approve the serving of an Article 4 Direction on this field (which would remove ‘permitted development rights’ and require any development to have prior planning permission - including fencing and the temporary use of caravans) we were informed by GBC officials that this would not happen at the Planning Committee as the power to do this is delegated to the Executive Head of Planning Development.

Our initial, urgent, contacts with GBC Councillors and officials before Easter were encouraging in that they appeared to recognise the seriousness of the situation, given what has happened at Wanborough. However, despite numerous local residents submitting Letters of Representation to GBC to encourage them to act, the following week we were very disappointed to be led down a different bureaucratic pathway that seemed to serve no additional purpose.

Meanwhile the sale of the land has been concluded, and this week surveyors have been out in force, seemingly marking out the individual plots, as shown by the flags in the images below, looking out across the fields from Bailes Lane. There is therefore a risk that marketing of the individual plots will start very soon, and whatever the expressed intentions of the vendor (about which we make no judgment) the reality is that the risk to this sensitive landscape is very high.

This is therefore rapidly becoming a serious situation. Once the individual plots are sold there is no knowing the uses to which they might be put. An Article 4 Direction significantly reduces the risk of inappropriate development and use, but GBC appears reluctant to act decisively to impose it. We must hope that when key officials return to their desks on Monday morning this will change. We shall keep you posted, and depending on how the situation unfolds it may be necessary for us all to make further representations to GBC on the matter.

New application for solar facility to the west of Blackwell Farm

We have reported in the past on the joint application from the University of Surrey and Scottish and Southern Electricity (SSE) 22/P/02178 - The installation of a 12.21 MWp solar facility comprising ground mounted solar photovoltaic panels and associated infrastructure including inverters, transformers, a GRP switchgear enclosure, fencing, infrared cameras, motion detection system, underground cable connections, access works including new tracks, and landscape planting. Land west of Blackwell Farm, Hogs Back, Guildford, GU3 IDG. This attracted 64 objections from members of the public.

It has now been withdrawn and been resubmitted as application 24/P/00441 with a new access route from the University’s estate in the east, rather than down from the Hog’s Back/A31 as in the original application. It will still occupy the same fields at Chalk Pit and Wildfield Farms and will have the same impact on the landscape (which is entirely within the Green Belt and includes an Area of Great Landscape Value, ancient woodland, and Grade 2 listed farmland). Two of the three fields proposed to harbour solar panels have been proposed for inclusion in the revised Surrey Hills AONB (now known as National Landscape), but this issue is not addressed in the revised proposal. Astonishingly, despite the fact that in all other respects the application appears to be much the same as before, local residents have been told that their previous objections will not be taken into account, and that new ones will need to be submitted. We therefore strongly recommend that if you have concerns about this proposal and perhaps made an objection before, that you revisit it and resubmit on the new page given above (24/P/00441). You might also wish to revisit the article we published on our website in February last year about the original proposal.

The deadline given on the planning portal for comments on the application is Saturday, 4th May. 

Other applications of interest/concern

21/P/02167 - Mixed use application for the stationing of caravans for residential use and the keeping of horses; with stables and day rooms ancillary to that use, and development of new hard surfaces. Land to the west of North Wyke Farm, Guildford Road, Normandy, GU3 2AN. There is still no ruling on this application, which is now three years old. In the meantime the unauthorised occupation and development of this Green Belt site, which began in earnest last August, continues.

23/P/01990 - Proposed 2.9m vehicle crossover to plot no 4, Anchor Copse, Guildford Road, Normandy GU3 2AS. This is now ‘awaiting decision’ by GBC, although there is already a great deal of activity on the site, to the concern of local residents.

24/CON/00011- Consultation from Surrey County Council for the importation and deposit of inert materials and soils on 55 hectares of land to construct and remodel the existing golf course with associated water features and the creation of heathland and wetland habitat, Merrist Wood Golf Club, Holly Lane, Worplesdon, Guildford, GU3 3PB. This consultation, which was due to close on 30 March, has attracted 57 comments, of which 56 are objections, many focusing on the proposed 282 heavy vehicle movements a day for a significant period of time that the proposal would entail.

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.

Drop-in event on proposed flood prevention scheme in Guildford

The Environment Agency is considering a major new flood prevention scheme for Guildford which, some claim, will also release land for housing development in the town centre. A public drop-in event is to be held at the Yvonne Arnauld Theatre on 18 April between 14:00 and 19:00. More details in this BBC article here.

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