A PROPOSAL to "create" a new community in Waverley looks set to be shelved, leaving the borough's town and larger villages likely to bear the brunt of new development. Dunsfold was likely to be at the top of the hit list to be turned into a new purpose-built community to accommodate the new homes, but now looks as though it has been given a reprieve. Space to build hundreds of homes must be found by the council, despite the reaction of local residents who want to limit the number of new homes which are built. The government has given orders that spaces for tens of thousands of new homes must be found in south east England in the the proposed South East Plan, which will run until 2026. The South East England Regional Assembly has been consulting on the plan and has suggested that a maximum of 32,000 new homes a year should be built in the region. However this figure, which the government's South East England Development Agency wants to push up to 36,000 a year, has yet to be agreed. Until the region's housing figures have been finalised, Waverley Borough Council does not yet know how many homes it will be forced to accommodate but it has made a start on finding space for them. As part of its own future development plans, it is working on a local development framework - a replacement for the local plan which acts as a blueprint for the borough. The framework puts forward four options for accommodate the extra homes in the future: Stick to its present policy of promoting the use of previously developed land to protect rural areas; channel development to Haslemere, Farnham, Godalming, Cranleigh and villages along principal roads and railway lines; concentrate development on the existing four main settlements only or create a whole new settlement to accommodate the extra homes. Dunsfold has found itself the anticipated target as no comprehensive plans have been put forward for the 528-acre aerodrome site, which has been vacated by British Aerospace. Currently it is being used for a number of different uses including the filming of BBC's Top Gear. The four options went out to public consultation and the options of keeping in line with present policies or concentrating development in the borough's main towns and cities were the most popular. In a report, due to be considered by the council's environment and leisure overview and scrutiny committee on Tuesday, officers outline the problems raised with the two other options they recommend should be rejected. For the option where development is concentrated only in Farnham, Haslemere, Godalming and Cranleigh, officers point out that this would lead to "pressure for higher densities" and create "more congestion" while smaller settlements would made "less viable". With the option for the new, specially designed settlement, its biggest downfall would be the 10 years required for it to come to fruition. On top of this, the council would also be powerless to stop "windfall" development on previously developed land in other parts of the borough. However, officers have only ruled it out as a short- term solution because the Surrey structure plan, a development blueprint for the whole county, has already allocated space for around 2,800 homes in Waverley up to when it expires in March 2016. This means that a comprehensive development of a large site is not yet needed. "Current indications are that there is sufficient land to meet the housing allocation development needs up to 2016," the report said. "It is therefore not necessary to consider the need for this option until the longer term." In their report, officers were recommending that councillors consider a combination of the remaining two options to tackle the problems which both, on their own, create. Maintaining the status quo results in higher densities of infill development, councillors were due to hear. However, allocating land for development only in the borough's main towns and villages could harm the viability of more remote villages and increase the number of younger people having to leave the area due to the lack of affordable homes. This would also lead to higher-density developments in the areas where development is allowed. After the report is discussed by the committee, its views will be passed to the full council which will have the final say over which option to choose.
