WARLINGHAM GREEN BELT

The legal document known as a ‘106 Agreement’ has still not been signed off between Tandridge District Council and Chartwell, which would grant outline planning permission for 150 houses at the Former Shelton Sports Ground. Chartwell hopes to put in a further planning application for Shelton to deal with the outstanding matters of  Appearance, Landscaping, Layout and Scale in Autumn 2024.

At Farleigh Meadows an ecologist working for the developer, has been spotted doing slow worm surveys. SWGB has contacted the TDC ecologist as we found the survey work to be unsatisfactory but have not had a reply.

The developers Welbeck Land have gone quiet since they announced a public consultation would be held at the end of May for Land at Alexandra Ave/Greenhill Lane.

CLLR MORROW

Many of you have asked for an update on Cllr Morrow being caught removing a candidates leaflet from a resident’s post box, during the recent local elections. Police have investigated the matter, which they took very seriously. The residents affected were offered to take him to court, caution or drop the matter. Cllr Morrow has been cautioned by police.

RESIDENT ALLIANCE 

On 27th June 2024, Tandridge District Council Strategy and Resources Committee meeting got rather heated when it emerged that senior members of the ‘Residents Alliance’ had been having meetings with senior TDC Officers over matters needing immediate attention known as ‘fire fighting’. Whilst the Residents Alliance run the Council they are a minority administration. They do not have the authority to make any binding decisions on behalf of Tandridge District Council, when half of the elected Councillors, made up of Independents, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives, are excluded.

UNCERTAIN FUTURE FOR THE GREEN BELT

The Sunday Times (30/6/2024) reports that Labour wants to be the ‘party of housebuilders’ where they wish to build 1.5 million homes over the next 5 years by:

• Publishing a new draft of the ‘National Planning Policy Framework’ reimposing housing targets to ensure Councils are meeting local need. 

This is not good for Tandridge District because our Local Plan is out of date so the Government has imposed a housing target of 634 dwellings per annum. This is a ludicrous figure considering our previous target was 125 dwellings per annum and does not reflect the Green Belt, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, flooding or infrastructure deficit. Tandridge needs a new Local Plan but with limited funds and lack of staff, will Tandridge be able to put in place a new Local Plan, considering they took 5 years to create a draft Local Plan at great expense, which failed at examination. The earliest we could have a new Local Plan in place is 2027.

• Writing to Local authorities to start the process of regularly reviewing their Green Belt boundaries to ensure they are hitting housing targets. Councils will need to identify areas to be reclassified for development known as ‘Grey Belt’.

Tandridge District is 94% Green Belt but many dwellings are in the Green Belt because they existed before the land was designated as Green Belt in 1958. Labour says ‘not all Green Belt is Green’, however will developers and landowners just degrade their land in order to pass it through as ‘Grey Belt’.

• Conducting a recruitment drive for 300 planning officers.

There is a shortage of Planning Officers nationally, partly because developers offer much larger salaries than local authorities. Labour’s promise of 300 new planning officers is a start but in England alone there are 337 Local Planning authorities, who all need planning staff. Tandridge District Council has just lost its Head of Planning, Helen Murch, who left the Council recently after 10 months in post. With no explanation for her departure other than reported rumours of ‘differences of opinion’.