AS Prime Minister David Cameron announced a national housebuilding “crusade” at the Conservative Party Conference this week, a new study has found more than double the number of new homes are needed in Waverley than previously estimated - increasing the pressure to build on Farnham’s green spaces.

A joint study of housing need across Waverley, Guildford and Woking for the period 2013 to 2033 predicts that 519 homes will be required to meet demand annually in Waverley over the next 18 years.

This far exceeds the 250 figure quoted in Waverley Borough council’s failed 2013 draft Local Plan, setting out where to build around 8,500 new homes over the next two decades.

And with Waverley previously stating that as many as 45 per cent of the borough’s new homes may have to be accommodated in the Farnham area, the new West Surrey Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) means the town may see in influx of up to 234 new homes annually over the next 18 years.

This is more than three times the number of dwellings currently being built, with Farnham accommodating on average 76 new homes per year over the last 12 years – already the highest of any other settlement in the area controlled by Waverley Borough Council.

The new study also outstrips the 470 homes projected in the last West Surrey SHMA, published just months after criticism of Waverley’s housing projections by a government inspector forced the council to scrap its last attempt at a Local Plan.

Waverley has blamed the rising housing need figure on changes to planning rules by central government, which it says have also delayed the production of a new Local Plan, leaving the borough vulnerable to speculative housing developments.

However, deputy leader Julia Potts hailed the publication of the new SHMA as a significant step forward, adding the borough council will now test the 519 figure against Waverley’s capacity to cope with the influx of new homes.

Miss Potts, the councillor for Upper Hale said: “This is an important part of the evidence base for our new Local Plan. Now that we have a housing figure to work with we can now move forward and build on the progress we have already made in developing the new Local Plan.

“The council will continue to test the 519 figure against some considerable environmental constraints we have in Waverley such as congestion, transportation and flood risks and the council is gathering evidence to see if Waverley can accommodate this amount of housing.

“It is also essential that the emerging Local Plan takes into account our many landscape designations and has the appropriate infrastructure in place to support any future housing.

“The most important thing is that any new homes are built in the right places and that the council works with Waverley residents to ensure it has the right strategy in place to meet our community’s needs over the coming years.”

Farnham, where 10 major applications have already been submitted this year for green-field developments totalling more than 700 new homes, is especially vulnerable to development due to its relative lack of protection by national planning designations such as the Green Belt and the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) compared to the rest of the borough.

However, in the wake of the new study, leader of the council’s Farnham Residents opposition group, John Williamson, reiterated the importance of EU habitats directives in protecting the town, and specifically its surrounding heathland, from overdevelopment.

Mr Williamson told The Herald: “The number of homes quoted in the SHMA is absolutely irrelevant. No matter if it is 470 or 519, those numbers are unachievable without great swathes of green-field sites around Farnham going under concrete.

“Large parts of Waverley outside of Farnham have really strong protection from planning designations such as the AONB and Green Belt. But Farnham should have even stronger protection from European law which restricts housebuilding within 5km of the Thames Basins Heaths and Wealdon Heath Special Protection Areas (SPA) north and south of the town.”

Current Waverley planning policy states the impact on the SPAs can be offset by attracting new homeowners away from the SPAs by improving access to alternative recreational areas known as Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG), for instance Farnham Park.

However, Mr Williamson says there is currently no evidence that this approach works in safeguarding the SPAs and has called for an embargo on housebuilding within the 5km buffer zone until this is proven.

He continued: “Waverley is under Government diktat to fit a quart into a pint glass, and it is causing large fissures to form between the borough’s representatives.

“Cranleigh councillors are fighting widespread development in their area, Dunsfold representatives are fighting against housing on Dunsfold Park aerodrome and one of the reasons Farnham Residents were voted in was because people here felt dissatisfied with their representation on planning matters at Waverley.

“But we’re all in it together and I strongly believe that even the Government is not strong enough to circumvent the law.”

This November, Waverley’s executive committee will be asked to endorse a “preferred spatial strategy” that will identify the borough’s proposed housing target and distribution of new homes.

This is expected to reveal for the first time how many homes Waverley is prepared to allow at Dunsfold Park, the Second World War aerodrome south of Godalming and home of BBC’s Top Gear, potentially relieving the pressure on Farnham.

Waverley will then incorporate this information in a draft Local Plan, which will be tested against UK and European law in March 2016 before being approved for publication by councillors in April 2016 and submitted for examination in July 2016.