WAVERLEY’S blueprint for future housing development suffered a setback on Budget day with the government decision to "call in" outline plans for 1,800 new homes at Dunsfold Park.

A cornerstone of the borough council’s draft Local Plan to meet increased housing targets is to build 2,600 houses at the airfield by 2032 and if Secretary of State Sajid Javid rejects Dunsfold Park’s application, alternative sites will have to be found for the thousands of new houses required.

Protest group Protect Our Waverley welcomed the news the outline scheme would now be decided at a public inquiry.

"This is significant," the group stated. "Some years ago an earlier application for Dunsfold New Town was considered and rejected by the Secretary of State. The calling in refers specifically to the location and sustainability of the proposal."

Responding to Wednesday’s announcement, Waverley Borough Council leader and Farnham councillor Julia Potts said: “I’m very surprised and disappointed as calling in the Dunsfold Park application appears to go against current government policy and the recently published housing white paper. These encourage brownfield development and the creation of new settlements and garden villages.

"Dunsfold Park ticks all those boxes and provides significant benefits to the local community in terms of affordable housing, jobs and public space, as well as education and health facilities as part of a village centre.

“We have worked hard with the applicant to address the sustainability aspects of the application and secured a commitment from them to deliver significant improvements to the highways infrastructure, such as a high-quality bus service and improvements to existing foot and cycle links.

"The application also secures a significant financial developer contribution to make improvements to local and strategic infrastructure."

And she added: “We understand that the Secretary of State reserves the right to call in planning applications and the application will now have a further public hearing.

“Unfortunately, public inquiries are expensive and we will robustly defend our decision at a time where local government finances are severely challenged. This is really concerning."