COUNCILLORS have agreed to extend Bewley Homes planning permission for 72 new homes, up from 65 as previously agreed, at the former Garden Style Nursery site in Wrecclesham Hill - despite criticising a succession of “appalling” planning breaches on the site.

The litany of failures, which includes the removal of an area of ancient woodland, was revealed as Waverley Borough Council’s joint planning committee met to discuss the revised application on Wednesday last week.

Bewley Homes, one of the UK’s top 50 house builders, first secured consent for 65 homes on the Garden Style Nursery site in 2015, and commenced construction earlier this year following Garden Style’s relocation to Forest Lodge Garden Centre - marketing the new development as ‘Acacia Gardens’.

Trouble arose, however, after council enforcement officers became aware that the developer had breached a series of conditions of its 2015 planning consent.

These range from the irreparable damage to a “significant belt” of protected trees at the site’s frontage onto the A325, to the construction of a pumping station within the ‘buffer zone’ of an area of ancient woodland, the felling of an area of this ancient woodland, and the filling in of a pond without Waverley’s consent.

In response, Waverley’s enforcement team has launched a criminal investigation against the developer, while planning officers have also secured extensive ‘compensation’ for the damage.

This includes a revised landscaping strategy, replacing the entire row of trees bordering the A325 with semi-mature oaks and maples, and extensive ‘land stabilisation’ works in the buffer zone of the ancient woodland.

Bewley’s revised application sought formal consent for this compensation, as well as seeking retrospective permission for the pumping station, and consent for seven additional homes by replacing a number of larger detached four-bedroom homes with three-bedroom semis.

Addressing councillors at the meeting, Bewley Homes’ land director Stephen Trenwith issued a grovelling apology for the errors and gave his assurance that they wouldn’t happen again.

But responding, councillors described the planning breaches as “appalling”, with Shortheath and Boundstone councillor John Ward dubbing Bewley Homes a “disgrace” and several questioning why the developer should be trusted.

However, after expressing widespread indignation at the developer’s actions, councillors resolved that the revised proposals would allow Waverley to retain some control over the compensation, while also providing a housing mix “more suited to local needs” - voting the application through 12 votes in favour to two against.

On a busy night for the committee, councillors also renewed outline consent for 105 homes on land west of Green Lane in Badshot Lea, as proposed by Lamron Developments Management Ltd.

This development was first granted outline consent in July 2017, but was resubmitted after the developer failed to sign a ‘Section 106’ legal agreement with the council within six months.

A detailed planning application is expected to follow at a later date.