THE Haslemere owner of Sturt Farm has this week given his reasons why he has plans to build 36 homes for key workers on the controversial site off Sturt Road. Well-known company director Tony Lawson revealed why he is on a mission to provide half- price affordable homes for people who play a pivotal role in local services. His scheme for key workers, among them nurses, policemen, teachers and firefighters, includes giving the land to a housing trust, of which Mr Lawson is adamant that he will not be a member, to allow key workers to move into the town. The private initiative he says is "quite simple". "In this area, the cost of land represents 50 per cent of the total package and by giving the land to the trust, residents will pay a mortgage on only half the price of their home." When the properties are sold on the open market or change hands, the proceeds are shared between the seller and the trust. Mr Lawson masterminded the scheme to help key workers buy their own homes after being nursed back to health following a critical illness. "It was a learning process. I learned about the problems faced by key workers and came up with this personal initiative." Mr Lawson, who moved into Haslemere in 1970, runs his business from Longdene House, which he has had since 1980. He has owned the 30 acres of Sturt Farm for three years. "I am not going to be distracted from doing what I want to do. I have been trying to discuss this with Waverley Borough Council officers since September." But he claimed he had been "stone-walled". "Out of sheer frustration, I put in a planning application and have now been told that it is not Waverley policy to discuss planning applications once submitted," said Mr Lawson. With plans to provide public access through a two- acre area of woodland, which he intends to develop if he gets planning permission for the homes, Mr Lawson gave no guarantees that he would not build on more of the land. "I am not saying 'never say never'. And he said: "I am about to retire and it would be a shame to waste the benefit of 30 years in this business and this would keep me fully occupied in my retirement." After carefully studying the area, he said his architects have come up with a mix of two, three and four-bedroom homes similar in style to the nearby Sickle Mill housing development. He has drawn on their expertise and work with the Duchy of Cornwall. "We believe we are treating the site very cautiously." But so determined is Mr Lawson that if the application fails and he does not get support from the local council, he said: "I will go straight to appeal." He is now planning to publish notices shortly in local papers, inviting key workers to send in details of their housing needs. A spokesman for Waverley Borough Council said this week: "The site being proposed for development is outside the current settlement boundary and therefore, any application for a housing development would be contrary to planning policy. "If Waverley were to support development in this location, it would have to be satisfied that there was an overwhelming case to allow the development as an exception to normal planning policy. It is not necessary for pre-application discussions to always be held in the form of a meeting. Since the autumn, Waverley has corresponded extensively with the agent acting on behalf of the landowner. It is our belief that this has been extremely effective in dealing with the issues raised."
