WORK has started on 31 Hoseasons' holiday chalets in Tilford, nearly two years after developers first won planning permission for a similar scheme.
Groundwork has started and the timber frames for the chalets are being made off-site for the £1.7 million complex which will transform the existing Tilford Road caravan park.
Tilford father-and-son business partners John and Andrew Donnachie of Antshire Ltd, were given consent for 34 mobile homes in December 1999. But work never started and the pair, who will manage the site, submitted a scaled-down plan for 31 homes with disabled access early this year.
Amid much opposition from Tilford residents, Waverley planning councillors twice delayed the plans' progress. First they insisted on design changes and then, despite voting in favour of the subsequently revised plans, "re-advertised" the planning application in the local press and on posters.
This process was set in motion because the chalets were "a departure" from planning guidelines in Waverley's development plan. If there were no new significant objections, the scheme could go ahead. There were none.
Graham Aslet, of GJ Associates, agent for Antshire Ltd, said final approval had to come from the Government Office of the South East in Guildford (GOSE). That came about two months ago.
Mr Aslet said the chalets number, layout and design would be no different from those in this year's planning application.
He said it is hoped the development will be up and running in April.
"It's been a long time coming," said Mr Aslet, adding that building costs have gone up between six and 10 per cent over the last year
Waverley planning officer Graham Parrott said the application was referred to GOSE not because it represents a "planning departure" but because certain applications need regional government approval.
"I think it was because the development's in the Green Belt," he said.
He added the developers have entered into an agreement to build only one of the schemes for which they have been given consent.