HINDHEAD and Grayshott residents are up in arms after developers of the former Happy Eater A3 site began building work last week ahead of schedule, in a move that breaks agreed planning conditions.

Concerns were raised in The Herald last week when resdients contacted Waverley Borough Council to say that workman had started to dig footings for the 68-home site on the corner of the A3 and the A287.

After an official site visit, Waverley Borough Council confirmed this week that the work had begun, despite the fact it breaks conditions imposed on developers not to begin work until the road widening being carried out by the Highways Agency on the Hindhead crossroads was complete.

A spokesman for Waverley said: "The work has begun, for various technical reasons. The Highways Agency is behind schedule with the roadworks, which has had a knock-on effect for the developers, Fairview Homes."

She continued: "The Highways Agency is therefore happy for the developers to do some limited site preparation."

The spokesman was not able to confirm how much scope "limited" gave the developers to build, but added that the Highways Agency's road improvements were now expected to be completed by the end of February.

Referring to the planning condition that prevented work being started, the spokesman for Waverley said: "It has technically been broken, but we don't know at this stage if the council intend to take the matter further."

Ann Mugford, current chairman of the southern area development committee that approved the application, told The Herald that she had been alerted to the problem and was currently looking into the matter.

The Highways Agency was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.