Surrey Hills boundary review
In 2021, Natural England announced that the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) would be considered for boundary expansion. There were two public consultations, where residents and organisations were asked to give evidence to nominate their areas.
In July 2024, Natural England presented their findings, and we are very pleased to see that Beddlestead will be included. However disappointingly Chelsham, Farleigh and pockets of Warlingham have been left out.
There is to be a further consultation in September 2024 so it’s very important that we all get behind Beddlestead.
Once the AONB extension has been approved by the Secretary of State, then areas like Chelsham and Farleigh look like they could lose the designation of ‘Area of Great Landscape Value’ (AGLV) which was created to make sure that valued countryside was protected so there would be areas to evaluate for expansion. Chelsham and Farleigh have been AGLV since the 1980s and it is SWGB’s hope that a new local plan will have a landscape policy to continue protecting AGLV land because it has been recognised for many years as valued countryside.
Labour’s proposed revisions to the ‘National Planning Policy Framework’ could see large areas of our Green Belt concreted over.
Labour have announced they wish to build 370,000 homes per annum over the next 5 years. To do this they have come up with a new calculation for the numbers of houses to be built in each district/borough based on current housing stock and affordability.
Tandridge currently builds around 232 dwellings per annum however Labours new calculations increase our target to 773pa. Therefore, over the next 20 years it would mean that Tandridge District would be expected to build 15,460 dwellings. Our current housing stock of 35,780 would increase by 43%. In terms of land coverage, it would be roughly 3.5x the size of Warlingham Village on mainly Green Belt.
Labour is proposing that local authorities review their green belt and boundaries for housing and commercial need, Tandridge District is 94% Green Belt.
Housing targets would be ‘mandatory’ and they want universal local plans, which sets out policies and land for development over the next 20 years. Local constraints such as flood risk will be allowed to reduce housing numbers but must display that everything has been done to reach the target.
Labours new housing target for Tandridge would hit our rural district hard as they intend to bring down house prices and improve affordability but in reality, inward migration means that demand will remain high, and prices will continue to rise to new record levels.
The only truly ‘affordable’ homes being built are council homes as these are rented at 70% market value. Developers offer ‘affordable’ dwellings at 80% of market value.
If the Government is serious about building affordable homes, it needs to redefine it in terms of local incomes and not market price because only 6% of the Tandridge Housing Register can afford 80% market value.
The Government wants to help local authorities to secure more ‘Social Rent’ dwellings (50-60% market value) but give no details of how this is to be achieved. Historically developers often wriggle out of providing enough ‘affordable’ units.
The average salary in Tandridge is £33,748 and mortgage lenders, will lend approx. 4.5 times the annual salary so with no debts, the maximum mortgage offer would be £151,866, which isn’t enough, when the average prices in Tandridge as of June 2024 were:
- Detached properties: £933,000
- Semi-detached properties: £554,000
- Terraced properties: £440,000
- Flats and maisonettes: £272,000
The average house price paid by first time buyers in June 2024 in Tandridge was £393,000 which would require an annual salary of £80,000 to £100,000. These first-time buyers would not qualify to be on the Housing Register as they earn above the threshold of £80,000 per household.
Current average rents per month in Tandridge are:
- One bedroom: £1,037
- Two bedrooms: £1,323
- Three bedrooms: £1,656
- Four or more bedrooms: £2,612
(Rightmove August 2024, to rent in Warlingham: a Two bedroom: £1,900pm and Five bedroom: £3,250pm)
Whether any of these prices to buy or rent are at 70-80% of the market value, they are still out of reach of many Tandridge residents. Especially when new builds carry a premium of 10% more than existing homes.
Labour wants to encourage building on ‘Grey Belt’ which is defined as low quality Green Belt which is previously developed land, and land which makes a limited contribution to the five purposes of the Green Belt.
Grey Belt development will have to apply to the five ‘Golden rules’:-
- Brownfield first: Within the green belt, any brownfield site must be prioritised for development.
- Grey Belt second: but this needs far more clarification as the only example given by the government is a disused petrol station in the Green Belt in Tottenham. How much Grey Belt Tandridge has could cause debate and exploitation.
- 50% would have to be affordable and a proportion of ‘social rent’ (50-60% market value) unless viability issues. (Currently Developers have the right to 20% profit on all housing schemes).
- Developments to be supported by infrastructure: GPs, schools and close to transport.
- Improve genuine green spaces: improve existing or create new woodland.
These ‘golden rules’ are all very well, but we are asking a lot from developers whose interest is in executive market housing.
The Government wants to cap land values so why would a landowner release land on the cheap.
We don’t have enough skilled labour, as there is a shortage of building trades, bricklayers, carpenters etc as well as materials shortages, which have also increased construction costs. To build 1.5 million homes that quickly will be extremely challenging, particularly ‘affordable’ dwellings. The last time we built 300,000 homes pa was in the 1970s.
Developers will likely ‘land bank’ because while the government’s intention is to flood the market to bring down house prices. Developers are based on profit so will build out slowly to maintain higher prices and satisfy their shareholders.
As well as the 1.5 million dwellings Labour wants to build 10 new towns with 10,000 to 25,000 more dwellings per town. A task force has been formed to find these locations.
What is the definition of ‘Inappropriate development on the Green Belt’ as it really depends on what you think is inappropriate!
When asked if you are for ‘affordable homes’ just bear in mind that this is likely to mean large green belt sites would need to be developed.
Other news
It has been highlighted to us that Tandridge cannot take any more ‘brown bin/green waste’ customers or offer additional bins. They suggest you either compost or take it to a recycling centre. While you can join the waiting list, one Warlingham resident has been waiting since May 2023 for a brown bin. It makes us question how many more dwellings Tandridge can take until it affects our rubbish and recycling bin collections.
Also, if every dwelling in Warlingham wanted to install an electric car charging point, there isn’t enough ‘Power infrastructure network capacity’ to achieve this (this is a national issue too). All new builds are required to install an electric charging point for each associated parking space, that is equal to the total number of dwellings so we question how this will be achieved.
What can we do
Tandridge District Council will have to make a local plan as soon as possible using the new version of the NPPF which is currently being consulted on. If they don’t, the Government has said they will step in.
Please sign up to be able to join in with the consultation of the new local plan for Tandridge District by following this link.
If you haven’t done so already, please do fill in MP Claire Coutinho’s Green Belt survey:
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