Out-Law News 2 min. read
07 Jul 2016, 2:55 pm
Waverley Borough Council (WBC) in Surrey has produced a draft local plan strategic policy document allocating the site of the Dunsfold Aerodrome for a new settlement of around 2,600 homes.
According to a report to WBC's joint overview and scrutiny committee (8-page / 93 KB PDF), the West Surrey Strategic Housing Market Assessment identified a need for at least 9,861 additional homes in the area between 2013 and 2032, meaning the proposed allocation represents around one quarter of the local requirement.
The report said a 2014 consultation revealed "overwhelming support" for building up to 3,400 homes at the aerodrome site, which has been used to record the BBC's Top Gear since 2002. It said the proposed allocation of 2,600 homes took into account factors including "the amount of development that can reasonably be delivered in the plan period".
The communities secretary refused a previous application for a 2,600 home development at Dunsfold Aerodrome in 2009 on the grounds of transport impacts and prematurity. The report said "officers consider that matters have moved on since 2009". It said that the requirements of the National Planning Policy Framework meant "the council is having to consider delivering considerably more homes" and noted that the allocation was "still subject to the provision of appropriate infrastructure".
According to the report and sections the draft strategy document, most development in the plan period will be focused in and around the main settlements of Farnham (2,330 homes), Cranleigh (1,520 homes), Godalming (1,240 homes) and Haslemere (830 homes). WBC has proposed alterations to the green belt north of Godalming and the removal of the villages of Chiddingfold, Elstead, Milford and Witley from the green belt to allow for the expansion of their boundaries.
Planning expert Matthew Fox of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "This is just one example of aerodrome development being used as a panacea to meeting housing need identified through a local plan. By their very nature, such development sites tend to be fairly well connected to the local transport network, helping to make the case that they will be ‘sustainable’ development. They also tend to be large, and fairly easily defined, allowing authorities to more easily make the case for a viable large scale development."
"However, as has been seen with the arguments around the Stratford-on-Avon local plan over potential development at Wellesbourne Airfield that wasn’t taken forward by the council, as compared to Long Marston Airfield that has been allocated, and in other cases that we have been working on across the country, promoting such a site requires bringing the local community, and particularly users of the airfield, with you, to acknowledge that the aviation use of that airfield (and the economic benefits that may bring) is no longer beneficial or necessary," said Fox.
"It is therefore noticeable that Waverley Borough Council has indicated that the proposed Dunsfold development has ‘overwhelming support’ for removing the airfield use. This should hopefully make the passing of the relevant local plan policy and the promotion of the site more achievable."