AN outline planning application has been submitted for up to 130 new homes on a densely wooded 43-acre site in the countryside between Lower Bourne and Frensham.

Developer CEG has asked Waverley Borough Council to support the principle of its so-called ‘hamlet in the woods’, which it romantically describes as “nestled in the lap of existing trees and tucked into the fall of the land”.

CEG proposes a mix of one to five-bedroom “high quality homes nestled in a sylvan and tranquil setting” - 40 per cent of which would be ‘affordable’, available for a reduced market rent or under shared ownership.

Its outline planning application also seeks consent for two proposed accesses in Frensham Vale to the north and Gardener’s Hill Road to the west, with all other matters including the development’s scale and design to be determined at a later stage.

The development site also borders Hillside Road to the south and Edgeborough School to the east, and is just half a mile from Baker Oates Stables, where plans for 43 homes were allowed on appeal last December.

CEG proposes a ‘community facility’ which it claims will overcome concerns regarding the development’s long-term viability.

And a large portion of the greenfield site, 25 acres, will be designated Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space (SANGS), seeking to attract homeowners away from the protected heathland at nearby Frensham Common.

CEG still has a fight on its hands to convince the borough council, however, after the site was also given a worst-possible red ‘RAG’ score in Waverley’s 2014 Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA), forming part of the council’s emerging Local Plan.

In the SHLAA, the council criticised the site’s poor access to a town centre, local centre, schools and railway station, as well as its high flood risk and these concerns have been repeated this week by neighbouring residents.

One such resident, Jasper Evans, also criticised plans to force Frensham Vale into a single lane at the point of the new access, as well as the safety of a proposed painted ‘pedestrian strip’ along Frensham Vale in lieu of a pavement.

To view and comment on the application, visit www.waverley.gov.uk/plan

ning and search for reference WA/2016/1266. The deadline for comments is August 5.