HASLEMERE landowner Tony Lawson has accused Waverley of wasting tax payers money pursuing a ‘crazy’ High Court challenge about a plan, which was allowed at appeal, to build 29 new homes at Longdene House.

The housing scheme was refused planning permission by Waverley in September 2016 for causing material harm to an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) with no exceptional circumstances in the public interest to justify a major development.

But planning inspector Ken Barton overturned Waverley’s decision at appeal a year later, concluding: “I consider the benefits in this case would not be significantly and demonstrably outweighed by the limited harm the proposal would cause to the AONB.”

Mr Barton was also critical of Waverley’s recently completed draft Local Plan, claiming the borough council’s housing figures were ‘more optimistic than realistic’ and could not deliver enough new homes to demonstrate the necessary five-year housing supply or meet the five per cent “buffer” required under the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

He considered the “material need for new affordable housing in Haslemere, with over 100 residents looking for affordable housing there”, outweighed the limited harm his scheme would have on the AONB.

Mr Lawson objected this week that Waverley’s grounds for its legal challenge were ‘peripheral’ to the actual application and had more to do with his comments about the Local Plan – and had effectively delayed a scheme which would provide 10 affordable homes.

Waverley originally sought the judicial review on three grounds, but one that objected to Mr Barton’s view the council could not meet its five per cent buffer, was rejected.

A Waverley spokesman confirmed two legal challenges would now go to a High Court hearing scheduled for May.

The spokesman said: “The council has challenged the inspector's decision to allow the appeal under Section 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The council's grounds for challenging are firstly, that the inspector misdirected himself in law by misunderstanding and misapplying the ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’ in the NPPF. Secondly, the inspector erred in law by applying a ‘policy on’ housing requirement in order to determine the level of housing supply.”

Mr Lawson told The Herald: “Waverley has tried to keep it quiet.

“This legal challenge is crazy. None of the grounds relate to the reason why the appeal inspector rejected Waverley’s reasons to refuse the application. Why is Waverley wasting rate payers money? It costs hundreds of thousands of pounds to argue these cases.

“The challenge that the appeal inspector should not have applied a policy on housing is historic as far as we are concerned, because Waverley has now agreed an increased local plan housing target of 590 new houses a year.

“This legal attack has nothing to do with the inspector’s ruling the scheme would have little impact on the AONB and also that he did not view it as a major development.

“The irony is the inspector ruled in our favour and yet Waverley is still pushing less sustainable plots along the edge of Sturt Road.”

Mr Lawson already has outline planning consent for 135 houses at Sturt Farm in the AONB next to Longdene House. An outline scheme to demolish Longdene House and build an apartment block with 10 flats was submitted last month and has a target decision date of March 12.

This month, a fresh hybrid planning application was submitted identical to the scheme allowed at appeal last year.

It is for 29 houses, following demolition of two existing semi-detached houses, glasshouses and outbuildings. The plan has been submitted on the grounds it is not a major development, following the inspector’s decision.

A supporting covering letter stated: “It is being submitted in an effort to resolve the outstanding planning position at the site and aid the council in avoiding unnecessary expenditure of resources.”

Several neighbouring residents have repeated their original objections when responding to the latest application, protesting the increase in traffic on “narrow” Longdene Road and Courts Hill Road will cause road safety problems.