Waverley Borough Council Local Plan Part 2 Revised

Waverley Borough Council has drawn up a new revision of its Local Plan Part 2 – one of the key documents that sets out its vision for future development in the borough.

The revisions have been made following consultation on the previous draft Local Plan Part 2, which took place between November last year and the end of January 2021.  During the consultation, 1,242 comments were received from 418 individual respondents.

The new draft includes a new site at Hindhead comprising previously-developed land, which, once it becomes available for development after the Royal Junior School relocates to the senior school in Farnham Lane, planning officers believe will be able to deliver a substantial number of new homes within the Plan period to help in meeting our identified housing needs for the area. Another site that has been identified as having additional capacity for housing is the Old Grove, High Pitfold, Hindhead.

Council leader Cllr Paul Follows said: “The addition of these two sites will mean that Haslemere will be able to meet the required number of new houses without the need to include the Red Court greenfield site in Scotland Lane, which had been unpopular locally and was the subject of a recent planning application that was refused permission predominantly on the grounds of landscape harm.”
Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy and Services, Councillor Andy McLeod, said: “We are pleased that we have been able to identify extra capacity at one site proposed under the previous public consultation, along with a new site utilising previously-developed land that will deliver in accordance with our objectively assessed housing needs and are both appropriate and sustainable.”

The proposals will proceed through the council’s democratic processes and, if approved at the Special Full Council Meeting on 22 September, will then require a focused consultation on some of the specific changes. Following the consultation, the council hopes to submit its Local Plan Part 2 to the Government for examination by Christmas.

The meeting agenda is available on the council's website which includes the Local Plan Part 2 report.