Category Archives: planning

EEBC Local Plan Clutches at Green Belt Straws for Houses

Posted on by
Reply

Opinion Piece – #greenbelt #epsom #surrey

– Saving of Downs Farm only bright spot , as brownfield priorities missed

Given the Government’s “brownfield first” brief, it looks like the planners did not get the memo. They certainly did not get the new memo from Government saying that it is not necessary to review Green Belt for housing. And they appear not to have taken the hint from neighbouring Elmbridge, who creatively avoided any Green Belt destruction, and Mole Valley, whose councillors this month voted unanimously to remove all Green Belt sites from its Local Plan.

Out of 5,400 new homes proposed in the Draft Local Plan (2023-2040) , with Epsom & Ewell BC councillors due to take a final Section 18 publication decision on 30 January, some 2,175 homes (almost 41%) are earmarked to be built on the borough’s Green Belt land.

Of nine “Preferred Option” development sites proposed, five are Green Belt – with Downs Farm, where 650 homes were proposed, only narrowly missing the cut after a huge campaign by residents.

Over 55 hectares – or some 137 acres – of Green Belt land could be sacrificed. The plans include one gigantic estate of some 1,500 homes on land around Horton Farm, which will have its Green Belt status stripped away.

The “Preferred Options” for Green Belt development are:

  • 150 homes around West Park Hospital
  • 1,500 homes around Horton Farm
  • 25 homes next to Chantilly Way
  • 350 homes on the sports fields by Ewell East Station
  • 150 homes on sports pitches at Hook Road Arena (land owned by the Council)

Only on its own land can the Council specify 100% affordable homes – the rest will be 40% at best, as developers have many canny ways to get round this stipulation and build more profitable higher end housing.

The Council even admits that they have already taken some slugs of Green Belt land for housing, on the NESCOT campus and the five hospitals housing developments – but they need more.

There is a whole Appendix (Appendix 4) revealing yet more Green Belt sites that have been offered up by opportunistic developers in a “ Call for Sites” that have been mercifully excluded as “Preferred Options”. Much of the analysis seems subjective and open to question.

And then there is this – the previous Council Green Belt studies of 2017-19 have been considered out of date and a new 2022 Green Belt Study has been commissioned- but we all have yet to see this document.

EEBC needs to plunder more Green Belt, as it appears only a few brownfield landowners came forward in its “Call for Sites”. So the Plan is offering just around 1,000 homes in Epsom Town Centre until year 2040, and the same meagre number over 15 years on Urban Land Availability Assessment sites, and it reckons the same number again for existing planning permissions.

So where is the real challenge taken up, to redevelop Epsom Town surroundings, which most commentators agree could do with some rejuvenation, to say the least? Well, the Kiln Lane and Longmead industrial areas are said to be off limits, according to consultants for EEBC, because of the 1,800 jobs there. So not a single new brownfield affordable home is put forward here, with no imaginative plan to mix housing with job creation and revitalise an area close to the station, shops and entertainment facilities that many people prefer.

Smaller brownfield developments of around 5 to 10 homes each, do not seem to be in the Draft Plan either, although we may have missed the brownwood for the trees “We are left with the conclusion that the planners – and by extension our ruling Councillors – are in a “Call for Sites” trap. This has inhibited visionary thinking and pro-active engagement with urban developers on how much-needed affordable housing might be built in tandem with an exciting redevelopment programme that Epsom’s brownfield areas so desperately need” said Yufan Si, campaign leader for

Keep Epsom & Ewell’s Green Belt

“All they seem able to do about it is to bulldozer yet another field of our Green Belt heritage” said Ms Si.

24th January 2023

Licensing and Planning Committee (19th Jan 2023)

Posted on by
Reply

A determined group of Epsom & Ewell residents, representing over 1,700 petitioners , that took to the podium at last night’s Planning Committee (Jan 19th) at Epsom Town Hall to ask councillors eleven questions about the threat of Green Belt sites being included as “Preferred Options” in the imminent Draft Local Plan.

Epsom & Ewell Green Belt Group

Given every indication that the Government no longer thinks Green Belt reviews are necessary with housing targets advisory only, and fresh from Mole Valley District Coucil’s unanimous vote to remove Green Belt sites, residents challenged the councillors and planners to seize the opportunity to save the Green Belt now and focus on brownfield sites for new affordable homes. 

In answer to one question about whether planners had consulted HM Inspectors about Green Belt removal, council officers confirmed that, as EEBC was at an initial stage of decision taking , they had no need to consult the Inspectorate at this time, unlike Mole Valley are now required to do.

Given this difference, residents believe that it will now be entirely the responsibility of Councillors – the majority of whom are Residents Association voted in to preserve Epsom & Ewell’s special character, if Green Belt land ends up being destroyed forever. According to CPRE, over 99% of sites earmarked for development by local authorities eventually get built upon, so it is both crucial and necessary to ensure no Green Belt sites are included at the outset.

Residents vow to return to make more representations at the final decision-taking Planning Committee meeting on 30th January before the EEBC Draft Plan is published on 1st February 2023.

Langley Bottom Farm, Langley Vale Road, Epsom KT18 6AP

Posted on by
Reply

Please see the update below from Epsom Civic Society on the planning application to demolish Langley Bottom Farm, build 20 houses.

Langley Bottom Farm Langley Vale Road Epsom KT18 6AP – Appeal Update

21/00044/REF Demolition of the existing buildings on the site and construction of twenty residential dwellings, of which eight (40%) would be affordable together with associated access, landscaping and parking.

https://eplanning.epsom-ewell.gov.uk/online-applications/appealDetails.do?previousCaseType=Application&keyVal=QZ45TMGY0BY00&previousCaseNumber=20%2F00475%2FFUL&activeTab=summary&previousKeyVal=Q7I1Y3GYHH300

Reference: 21/00044/REF
Alternative Reference: PP-08519985
Address: Langley Bottom Farm Langley Vale Road Epsom Surrey KT18 6AP
Nature: Demolition of the existing buildings on the site and construction of twenty residential dwellings, of which eight (40%) would be affordable together with associated access, landscaping and parking. (Amended site location plan received 06.08.2020)
Status: Appeal Granted
Appeal Type: Appeal against refusal
Decision: Appeal Granted (Allowed)
Case Officer: Not Available
Ward: Woodcote
Procedure: Informal Hearing
Decision Date: 14 Jul 2022

See the original planning application at 20/00475/FUL

http://eplanning.epsom-ewell.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=Q7I1Y3GYHH300

Recent News on a Brownfield Plan

Posted on by
Reply

Interesting Article on one of the many Brownfields Regeneration alternative options. Please see the full article via the link below.

MP’s housing solution for Epsom and Ewell

Epsom and Ewell and indeed the whole country has a real shortage of homes. We cannot go on with a generation of young people who aspire to home ownership but have little hope of achieving this. And we must have more affordable homes locally.

As a country we are already now building more homes than at any time for decades, but there is still more to do. Locally precious little has happened in recent years. Four years ago, just before the local elections, the Borough Council was due to publish its plan for housing and for the area for the future. It was postponed then, and only now is the Council in the process of publishing and developing its local plan for the area for the next 10-15 years.

But here we do need to do all we can to meet the housing need and not nearly enough has been done on this locally in recent years.  That’s why I have proposed a comprehensive redevelopment of the Kiln Lane and Longmead areas to achieve this without building all over our green belt.

I hope that as the local plan develops the Council will adopt this plan. I think it’s the best way forward for our area.

#planning #epsom #surrey

Save Epsom & Ewell Green Belt

Posted on by

Epsom and Ewell’s Green Belt, especially in areas like Downs Farm, Greater Horton Farm, Hook Road Arena is under GREAT threat, as EEBC Council is scheduled to finally publish its much delayed Local Plan on 1st February 2023. Local Residents heard authoritatively that these Green Belt lands would became “Preferred Options” to be advised to build thousands of houses on.

Research shown once Draft Local Plan is published, it would be extremely challenging to alter the Preferred Options. Therefore, PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION NOW (https://www.change.org/EpsomGreenBelt) to help stopping this before it is too late. ONCE IT’S GONE, IT’S GONE FOREVER

This would be an easier option for the Council to quickly meet a large portion of its target, but NOT a sustainable solution to meet the needs of Epsom Community. Why?

1. The housing target pushed top-down by Central Government is unrealistically high based on outdated 2014 ONS data and some inaccurate estimation. If EEBC challenged the numbers like Elmbridge did, then there will be no need to use Green Belt.

2. There are alternative brownfield plans which offer more affordable homes, together with town rejuvenation and employment opportunities. EEBC just received a £75,000 Government grant for brownfield development. Epsom urgently needs affordable homes in central easily accessible locations with superb transport links. However, it seems the current approach is largely based on land promoted by developers/land-owners. 

3. Out-of-town Green Belt area such as Downs Farm (110-acre open land on either side of College between Epsom and Nork) has no infrastructure (surgeries, schools, dentists are all oversubscribed), limited public transport subsequently adding hundreds more cars to the already congested and polluted roads which is certainly not a sustainable way for development. In addition, Downs Farm is adjacent to a Conservation Area which limited the type of houses can be built, and that won’t be affordable homes supporting young families and people look to down-size but stay in Epsom.

4. Developing the green and beautiful Green Belt with an abundance of wildlife (skylarks, deer, bats, hedgehogs, owls, woodpeckers and many more), will set the precedent of horrendously ripping up Epsom’s Green Belt, destroying biodiversity and the green space that is crucially needed right now with climate change, and changing Epsom into another over-developed urban town forever.

Please also register your objections to EEBC Licensing and Policy Committee (Contact Link here: https://democracy.epsom-ewell.gov.uk/mgCommitteeMailingList.aspx?ID=131) and EEBC Local Plan officers: lplan@epsom-ewell.gov.uk

Please follow us on
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087921227030   Instagram:  epsomgreenbelt       Twitter: @epsomgreenbelt         

Contact us: epsomgreenbelt@gmail.com

#greenbelt #epsom #surrey #SaveEpsomGreenbelt