A PUBLIC inquiry is under way at Waverley Borough Council to decide if 1,800 houses should be built at Dunsfold Aerodrome, the home of BBC Top Gear and a key component of the borough’s emerging Local Plan.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid called in Waverley’s decision last December to grant outline planning consent for the settlement, which includes a new primary school and an expanded business park.

The final decision taken following the 12-day inquiry could “make or break” the borough’s emerging Local Plan, which has allocated the airfield as a strategic site for 2,600 houses by 2032.

Having opened on Tuesday, July 18, the opening week of the inquiry has seen big legal guns representing Dunsfold Park’s owners, the council and those campaigning against the development each present their arguments to the inspector Philip Major.

Opening the legal case for Dunsfold Park, Chris Katowski QC said: “The applicants do not need to rely on the emerging allocation of an even larger new village on the site to show that the permission should be granted.

“However, the allocation has been independently examined in the appropriate forum and the Local Plan inspector has indicated he considers this aspect of the plan is sound and there are no reasonable alternative means of meeting the borough’s very real need for housing land.”

Waverley barrister Wayne Began told the inquiry: “Dunsfold Park represents the largest strategic site in the Local Plan, which is now at an advanced stage. Following his examination of the Local Plan, the inspector does not anticipate making any modifications to the spatial strategy for Dunsfold Park.”

Making the case against on behalf of Protect our Waverley and 11-strong Joint Parish Councils, Paul Stinchcombe QC said: “What is being proposed is a new settlement in a location which was held, as recently as 2009, to be wholly unsustainable for such a development, even when proposed as an exemplar of sustainability, because of its isolation and the irresolvable traffic congestion.”

Each interested party will be invited to make closing submissions next Thursday, August 3, with an additional day allowed for any overrun and unaccompanied site visits by the inspector.

The Planning Inspectorate typically aims to issue decisions within seven weeks of the conclusion of an inquiry.