THE chairman of a residents group fighting plans for 28-flats in Shortheath Road has branded a planning inspector's decision to allow the development as "incomprehensible".
Alan Johnson, chairman and founder of the More House Action Group, which opposes the scheme proposed for the site of the former More House Nursing Home - right next door to Mr Johnson - told The Herald: "We're very disappointed. We find it incomprehensible given that the planning department are against it, the planning sub-committee was unanimous in its rejection and that there were 370 signatories in a petition against it.
"We thought the council's (Waverley's) barrister put forward a good case, Bill Tichener of the Farnham Society put our case very fairly and David Munro (county councillor for the area) made a very stirring speech.
"My only hunch is that the inspector's taken into account the government's requirement for low-cost housing, but I doubt the flats will stay low-cost for long."
Mr Johnson objects to the size of the proposed four-storey building, saying it will rob his house of daylight, and claims its rear windows will overlook his back garden.
He told The Herald that 28 flats seems too many for the area and out of step with planning guidelines.
Last week, The Herald reported how David Munro had vowed to look at grounds for a judicial review.
Assessing this course of action Mr Johnson said: "You can only shoot them down on procedural grounds, or perhaps for not sticking to planning guidelines, but they're not binding."
Meanwhile, in a letter to The Herald, fellow More House Action Group member Bob Blackman, who lives in nearby Gorse Lane, writes: "The die is presumably cast, with the genuine opinions of the Waverley Borough Council officers, all elected councillors and 371 residents who signed the petition counting for nothing.
"Possibly the greatest casualty of all in this sorry case is local democracy itself."
The 28-flat development has been given the go-ahead after a two-day appeal following Waverley planning councillors' rejection of that, and a scaled-down 12-flat scheme.