CONCERNS raised by the Witley Neighbourhood Plan team (WNP), have resulted in the parish council handing responsibility for where 480 new homes should be built back to Waverley Borough Council .

Parish council vice-chairman Barbara Kinnes said: "We have taken the decision with great reluctance but we felt we were between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand Waverley officers have made it very clear to us the Witley Neighbourhood Plan will not receive their support if we bring forward the Secretts site, and on the other, Natural England and the Surrey Hills officer have concerns about the A3 sites which Waverley prefers. WNP are not professional planners so it was felt the best course of action was to withdraw from the process of site allocation and to ask Waverley to take responsibility for the allocation of these sites and resolve the difficult issues they have presented us with.

"We all feel badly let down by Waverley, particularly after the commitment made to the local communities about neighbourhood plans having a clear role for the more detailed housing strategy in Local Plan part two, and the clear intention of the Localism Act 2011 legislation, that the neighbourhood plan process would be an opportunity for people to be actively involved in developing the housebuilding strategy.

"The WNP team and Witley Parish Council still believe having a neighbourhood plan will bring significant benefits for residents.

"WNP will be continuing to work on the plan, including identifying and supporting projects that use developer funds to enhance community facilities and mitigate the impact of new housing on roads, schools and medical facilities."

The parish, including Milford and Brook, has to build 480 new homes. Against residents’ wishes the first part of the Local Plan allocates up to 180 houses on land on Station Lane, which currently forms part of Milford Golf Club.

WNP has been working to identify sites where the remaining 300 houses could be built over the next 15 years.

A Milford site belonging to Secretts was put forward for development by the owner. WNP believed this would provide a more sustainable location for new housing than the A3 sites put forward by Waverley, but officers rejected the site.

WNP had advanced the Secretts site because it was preferred by residents, was closer to Milford Station and previously-developed land.