The Story so Far
This is a summary of the main stages of the WBC public consultation on the Site Allocations Development Planning Document over the period from 2014 to the present time.
Public Inspectors Preliminary Report Jan 2020
The initial planning Inspectors report – “without prejudice for the final report” – was issued on Friday 14th February.
For a full copy of his recommendations click Post Hearing Letter
He suggests a number of changes to the plan for WBC to consider and respond. One of them is a consultation until 9th March on the Annual Housing Management Review (AMR) published on 19 December 2019.
Again for full details click here . Interestingly the AMR suggests that the forecast housing supply will exceed the Core Plan targets by 1,394 but in reality a lot could change. e.g. planning applications approved but any completions are not delivered in the forecast timescale or sites not reaching planning approval in time to deliver.
In addition, the inspector asks WBC to clarify the policy on when ex Green Belt sites, like West Hall, are released for development.
Public Hearing 2019
However these things are never over until the ‘fat lady sings’ and the final proposals from WBC (without use of our fields) must gain the approval of the Secretary of State and a Public Hearing is now planned for 2-13 December 2019.
There is an outside chance that proposals might yet be changed again and the Forum has taken steps to minimise this possibility and will attend the hearing in the WBC Council Chamber. By definition the general public may also attend on this basis and if you are interested please note:
Hearing sessions are planned from 3-6 December when morning sessions will start at 10am and afternoon sessions will start at 2pm
Friday the 7 December is a contingency session and further similar sessions in the am/pm will be held from 10-12 December with contingency sessions planned for Thurs 12 Dec from 2pm and Friday 13 December am and pm.
For full details of the hearing and it’s scheduled sessions click on https://www.woking2027.info/allocations/sadpdexam
SADPD Reg 19 – 2018
Although use of Martyrs Lane was rejected, by Nov/Dec 2018 proposals for the final statutory Regulation 19 consultation proposals to develop the fields on both sides of Upshot Lane had been dropped entirely. – A great result for us in Pyrford. Details at https://pyrfordforum.org/wbc-development-proposals/
Martyrs Lane – 2017
As a consequence, of the action we took, a site in Martyrs Lane was identified as a possible alternative for all WBC proposals for safeguarded development land and we campaigned very actively to have that proposal accepted as more suitable than our fields. See https://pyrfordforum.org/martyrs-lane-consultation/ for further details of the on-going story.
SADPD Reg 18 – 2015
Randall’s Field on the West side of Upshot Lane and the Aviary Road Filed on the east side of Upshot Lane were included in the SADPD as land they proposed be taken out of green belt and safeguarded for development purposes in a time frame between 2027 and 2040. These proposals formed the basis of the first statutory consultation known as Regulation 18 in June/July 2015.
The Forum hired consultants to help us object to these proposals and members responded magnificently with responses supporting our objection. Further details can be found at https://pyrfordforum.org/green-belt-review-2015/
Peter Brett – 2014
As you will recall the fields on both sides of Upshot Lane first became a concern in December 2014 when they featured in the Peter Brett Green Belt Review aimed at identifying green belt that could be released for future housing development all across the Woking Borough .
In 2015 WBC published their Site Allocations Development Proposals Document (SADPD). This was a strategic document aimed at identifying land for development agreed as necessary with the government and covered the whole Borough.
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