Mole Valley Council is trying to DESTROY our rural Village AGAIN

MVDC has been working on a Local Plan and has published the Proposed Draft Local Plan for the next 15 years. Their consultation starts on the 3rd February until 23rd March 2020.

The government has given every council a formula to work out how many houses the council needs to be built over the next 15 years and it is the same formula as every other council in the country. If MVDC does not update its local plan then a developer can put in a planning application and win on appeal.  The inspector has said the council must have a 5 year land supply and MVDC has an out of date local plan at the moment it seems every year MVDC delays the local plan the housing number appear to go up.
 

There are two sites being proposed;

One is land South of Beare Green known as 18-BG-02

What the council wants to do here is build 480 houses, 2 Traveller Sites and a New Primary School to replace the Weald School.

What this proposal could do for our rural village:We will lose of over 79 acres of open countryside in Green Belt Land which is being overlooked by an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Surrey Hills. To put this into prospectus a football pitch is around 2 acres of land.  So they are proposing a development the size of 39.5 football pitches.

•  If the school is moved to the opposite side of the village the Weald School the existing school will be demolished and will be declared as Brownfield site.  Opening the possibility of a further development the other side of the village.
• If The Good Shepperd Trust does move the school we could see 3 rural villages travelling into our village for a school run Beare Green, Capel & Ockley.
• There will be an increased reliance on private cars because there is not sufficient reliable public transport.  Holmwood Station stops running from 6 PM on Saturday and there is no service on a Sunday.  The bus service only runs every 2 hours on a Sunday.  MVDC cannot order other providers such as Surrey County Council or Network Rail to increase their services. 
• The Good Shepperd Trust Could see this opportunity as a cost saving exercise to close down another smaller rural school such as Capel.
•  There could be a link road built on Highland Road/Springwell Road and off of Ockley Road on the A29.  However if a Link Road is built on Highland Road/Springwell Road there is still only one way into Beare Green through and out through Merebank.  Its highly unlikely the public will want to drive around a dangerous Roundabout on A24 at Beare Green onto the A29 and will use Merebank Road as a rat run.
• The new development will cause a huge level of light pollution in an area that is overlooked by an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
• Traffic along the A24 and A29 will increase on an already dangerous road with no suggestion that the road layout will improve on the Roundabout at Beare Green because Highways and Surrey County Council has said it's too expensive. Take a look at the CRASHMAP and search for Beare Green Roundabout A24.
•  Flooding is a major risk to this village as the land in Beare Green has clay soil. With Climate Change we here on the news that we will see an increase in rainfall and heatwaves.  When we get persistent rainfall the soil is saturated and runs off of Surrey Hills into Old Horsham Road, Flooding the railway track at Holmwood station, flooding Willow Close and Leith Road.  If this proposed site is developed areas could see flooding in areas we have never seen flooding such as Highland Road, Anstiebury Close and Springwell Road.
• Our village does not have sufficient infrastructure to support a further 485 homes.  We have no post office, limited local shops and no doctors surgery.
•  If the council develops here it will go against its core strategy to Protect the Green Belt at a time when they declared Climate Emergency in Mole Valley Council.  Calving up our countryside will add to climate change for all the reasons listed above.
•  Great Turners Wood site is protected by Site of Natural Conservation Interest (SNCI) and in the field around Highland Road and Springwell Road have Tree Protection Orders (TPO) on them which means you cannot cut them down without council approval.
• The council is proposing 40% of the houses built to be affordable.  What affordable mean a mixture of part buy part rent and social housing which is rented out at 80% of the market  value.  However this area is very expensive so what do you call affordable.

Land at Breakspear Farm  18-BG-001

This site was put forward as part of our Neighbourhood Development Plan  (NDP) done by Capel Parish Council with residents working along side them.  There was a referendum and the residents of Beare Green, Capel and Coldharbour and it won that vote and adopted the NDP with the approval of MVDC and the Inspector in December 2017.

What this proposal could do for our rural village:

• The council is proposing 40% of the houses built to be affordable.  What does affordable mean in an unaffordable area like Surrey.  Well it will be a mixture of part buy part rent and social housing which is rented out at 80% of the market  value.  
• This site will take out just above 7 acres of Green Belt Land but does currently form part of the Green Belt Boundary to stop encroachment on another village.
• They say they will provide open space and infrastructure which could be another playground within the village.
• They are proposing a car park for 16 parking spaces for commuters.  However that wouldn't be nearly enough if build 535 in our village.
• The NDP proposed around 35 houses but MVDC is now increasing this to 55 homes.
• There is a proposal to provide a water course into this site to prevent further flooding on Old Horsham Road near the pond at the side of Moorhurst Lane.
•  There is a suggestion a pedestrian road can be put on that side of the street near the bus stop.
• We would need the tree line and hedges to be improved to provide a better quality tree line to ensure the housing development will be hidden from the street.
•  Any new development that seems to appear in Beare Green are unadopted roads taking the burden off of Surrey County Council Highways from maintaining these roads and drains.  Putting a further financial burden on any resident that choose to move to these new developments.  Sly way of us paying more and getting less from our council tax.

REMEMBER - these are not the only reasons you can use to object, just some suggestions.  Please add any information that you may have to your objections - more the merrier and share.