Planning Matters #5 of 2025 

14 July 2025

Dear NAG Follower, 

In this edition: 

·         Understanding Taylor Wimpey’s ‘Vision’ 

·         AONB Consultation Concludes

 Understanding Taylor Wimpey’s ‘Vision’ 

In its leaflet, distributed to households in Normandy Parish to announce its first ‘Public Consultation event’ on Friday, 17 July, and on its website, Taylor Wimpey (TW) lists a number of elements of its ‘Emerging Vision’ for its site at Normandy and Flexford. We have posted on our website an article that examines each of these claims in turn, aiming to give residents relevant background information that will help them to ask the right questions and make up their own minds about TW’s ‘vision’. It turns out that most of what is claimed is simply a reflection of any developer’s obligations under existing planning regulations. 

Meanwhile, Normandy Parish Council has issued a Position Statement explaining its role in the process when a planning application is made, and the factors it will take into account. You can read it here, and contact them if you have views (please do!). And in a different vein, NAG is quoted in this article that appeared on the Guildford Dragon website on 13 July. 

AONB Consultation Concludes 

NAG followers will know that since 2023 Natural England has been consulting on possible extensions to the Surrey Hills AONB, now National Landscape. The final report has now been published and is available at the bottom of this page here (‘SH Consultation Analysis Main Report’), although there are still a few important steps remaining before any proposals can be signed off by the Secretary of State. 

From a local perspective the good news is that the vast majority of the originally proposed ‘Hog’s Back’ extension has been retained; more disappointing is that in addition to the small area at Flexford that was removed during the 2024 consultation, the much larger area to the east where the University of Surrey is proposing to install a solar farm has now been removed as well: predictable, but disappointing. Both these areas (D3 and D15) can be seen by downloading the map behind the link ‘Fig.14b Hog’s Back (2025)’ on the a/m page. An area has also been added to the east of Tongham (A1).