The draft Local Plan 2033 may be ‘dead and buried’ in some councillor’s eyes but it continues to have a major impact on Warlingham’s Green Belt and our infrastructure because we are still expecting planning applications on Alexandra Ave/Greenhill Lane, Farleigh Meadows and Greenacres Sports Ground.

At the Full Council meeting, Cllr Robin Bloore, put forward a motion to stop the ‘withdrawn’ Local Plan Evidence Base being put back onto the Council’s website until it is reviewed and updated. This is because:-

• It is out of date 
• Will be used by developers to support their Planning Applications
• The documents are a material consideration when determining planning applications
• Genuine concerns of how long it will take the Council to update the information.

Keith Prew and Jeremy Pursehouse voted in support of Robin Bloore’s motion, which was the correct decision for Warlingham but our Lib Dem councillors, Perry Chotai and Anna Patel ‘abstained’. How can the Warlingham Liberal Democrats claim on their election material that they will ‘resist inappropriate development which would damage Warlingham’s character and environment’ when they should have supported this motion and not sat on the fence. 

There are 42 Councillors who voted on the motion:

• 6 were in support
• 26 were against 
• 8 Abstained
• 2 Councillors were absent from the meeting.

Please watch ‘item 5g’ labelled as ‘Planning Policy Committee – 21^st March 2024’ here.