A NEW visitor survey of Farnham Park could have the consequence of freeing up space for more than a thousand more new homes in the town and surrounding countryside.

Waverley Borough Council is required by UK and EU law to mitigate the impact of new housing within 5kms of the rare heathland Special Protection Areas (SPAs) surrounding Farnham of which Caesars Camp and Frensham Common are two examples.

The council’s avoidance strategy seeks to achieve this by attracting new homeowners away from the SPAs through the provision of Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space (SANGS).

Developers can do this either by providing their own SANGS, as in the case of Taylor Wimpey’s proposed Crondall Lane development, or by ‘buying into’ Waverley’s only current SANG at Farnham Park.

However, with each new house built within the 5km buffer zones of the SPAs, Farnham Park’s unallocated SANGS capacity is rapidly diminishing - with space for just 307 new dwellings as recently as February 3, 2016, severely restricting Farnham’s capacity to accommodate new development.

The new Farnham Park visitor survey, commissioned by Waverley and undertaken in summer 2014, suggested this overall capacity can be “significantly advanced”.

If approved by Waverley’s executive committee on Tuesday, March 1, the overall SANGS capacity at Farnham Park could thus increase to 1,462 dwellings.

A spokesman for Waverley explained: “The SANGS resource in Farnham Park was originally 25 per cent of the park area. This is a long-standing, precautionary figure advised by Natural England, and forms the basis of calculating the parks SANGS capacity.

“As part of work on the Waverley Local Plan, the council has investigated options for identifying more SANGS which has included a re-assessment of the capacity of Farnham Park.

“New information on visitor numbers and usage, along with monitoring of past permissions, has shown an enhanced potential SANGS capacity for Farnham Park could accommodate almost twice as many dwellings than assumed by the current Avoidance Strategy. The methodology and outcome of the re-assessment have been endorsed by Natural England.”

The new visitor survey has attracted the ire of Waverley’s opposition group Farnham Residents which has long-called on Waverley to suspend all housebuilding within the SPA buffer zones until evidence is provided that SANGS successfully attract people away from the SPAs.

Responding to the new visitor survey, Farnham Residents’ leader John Williamson said: “Waverley’s report and revised Avoidance Strategy explain that for the past decade their strategy and its financial formula have been founded upon false assumptions, and must now be changed.

“The council expect us to believe that in their desperation to keep imposing unlimited housebuilding on Farnham’s green fields, they have now managed to package their imaginary SANG mitigation properly. 

“We know that the law requires ‘convincing’ objective evidence that the mitigation is effective, but sadly we are once again faced with a strategy that is self-contradictory, disingenuous and fatuous.

“It admits that assessment of the effectiveness of the strategy is ‘vital’, yet the council still has no convincing objective evidence that the mitigation is working. 

“If it wasn’t such a serious threat to our town and the environment, it would be laughable."

Following the decision by the executive on March 1, a six-week consultation with neighbouring councils, other stakeholders and the community will commence.