ARCHITECTS representing a consortium of 15 landowners have exhibited plans for up to 350 new homes in the fields south of Badshot Lea.

The landowners propose building the homes on a near 90-acre greenfield site between Squire’s Garden Centre to the north, St George’s Road to the east and the A31 to the south - adjoining the land at Little Acres Nursery where Waverley councillors recently granted outline permission for up to 80 new homes.

Included in the consortium’s plans are two new access roads from Badshot Lea Road and from the A31 Runfold slip-road, as well as a new hotel, shop and pub.

They also have an option to restore a section of the Runfold quarry to “natural recreational green space” and plan to complete a continuous cycle link from Badshot Lea to Farnham station.

Ahead of submitting a planning application to Waverley Borough Council, architects from London-based practice JTP held a ‘community planning weekend’ at St George’s Church in Badshot Lea Road.

The event attracted around 80 people and included an exhibition of JTP’s plans, as well as hands-on workshops, site walkabouts and the chance to ask questions.

JTP’s experts subsequently spent three days “thrashing out solutions” at The Bush Hotel before reporting back their findings.

The consortium has promised to hold a further event in January 2017 to “further refine its masterplan and vision” before drawing up an outline planning application for submission in early 2017.

Waverley Borough Council, in the evidence base supporting its emerging Local Plan, has already hinted at the “huge” site’s potential to accommodate as many as 850 homes.

However, as the site falls outside of the built-up area boundaries defined in another emerging local planning policy document, the Farnham Neighbourhood Plan, it is unlikely to gain the support of Farnham Town Council.

The Badshot Lea Community Association (BLCA) has also set out its strong opposition, dismissing the weekend’s event as “no more than a public consultation by yet another developer proposing to build up to 350 homes on the fields to the south of our village”.

In an email to its members last week, a spokesman for the BLCA said: “Badshot Lea is already set to grow by up to 300 homes. In addition two sites on Green Lane could add another 170. And these are just the sites contained in the Neighbourhood Plan. Other speculative proposals like this one are coming forward and should be rejected.

“The people behind this proposal say they are providing much-needed housing for the borough. Badshot Lea is already providing a substantial number of these much-needed homes, we do not need any more.

“Be under no illusions this is a group, led by a PR company, trying to sell us something we do not want or need. There is nothing good in this for Badshot Lea.”

Responding on behalf of the architects, Sebastian Hanley conceded the development’s future likely hangs on whether or not the site is allocated for housing in the Waverley Local Plan, and confirmed JTP has presented its case to the government inspector examining the plan.

He told The Herald: “We believe this is quite a natural development area as it would extend Badshot Lea village without any coalescence with Aldershot or any other settlement, and would have very little visual impact as there are very few neighbouring homes.

“I understand BLCA’s position and we will continue to engage with the association and hope they will take part in the process. But one aspect of our approach is to engage with the whole community - not just members of the BLCA.

“There is a great demand for housing in the Farnham and Badshot Lea area, and we believe this is a deliverable site. But we want to know how we can address people’s concerns and integrate the development with the aspirations of the community as a whole.”