We were delighted that members of Waverley’s Joint Planning Committee deferred a decision on the Horsham Road site on Wednesday evening 24 August 2016. Crest Nicholson already have outline planning permission for 149 houses (stage one) on this site. This meeting was to decide detailed planning permission for this site, which includes the type, design and layout of the housing.
We think that existing residents who live adjacent to the site have been extremely reasonable in their response to the building of 149 dwellings on this beautiful open green field next to their homes.
The original site layout which accompanied the outline planning application, establishing the principle of building on the site was very different to the final layout in the detailed planning application.
The original layout was (note the northern boundary of the site that abuts existing housing):
We are constantly warning residents that the artists impressions that developers provide when they first consult with residents may well bear no resemblance to what is finally built on that site.
The design that was before the council last night was this:
We think that Cranleigh residents deserve better than looking out onto drainage ditches as well as a sewage pumping station (which could be noisy) and car parks! We are very glad that Councillors agreed with this, however the application has only been deferred and Crest Nicholson may decide that they don’t want to change their plans.
Other areas that Councillors expressed concerns about were:
- the provision for sewage and the lack of capacity in Cranleigh’s sewerage infrastructure.
- the fact that zero one bedroom market homes were being proposed and the one bedroom affordable housing numbers had been reduced
- a lack of public open space
- the drainage system being adequate on the site and the risk that this could exacerbate the flood risk for adjoining properties.
- about the ownership of the existing drainage ditch, which residents claim they own half of, if proved to be correct this will mean that the drainage system proposed for the site could be invalid.
- ongoing management and maintenance of the drainage system by a private management company.
- clustering of affordable housing, rather than including with other market housing (pepper-potting).
- Roof heights and further expansion of homes into roof space.
- Visual impact on existing residents who currently look over an open green field.
- some of the properties were smaller than national standards, particularly the 1 bed ground floor apartments.
Until a decision has been made you can continue to submit your comments against this application WA/2016/0417
