HOMEOWNERS were united in their opposition to an outline planning application for nearly 40 homes on a treasured beauty spot at a meeting last week. Residents of Sturt Farm and Sun Brow attended a Haslemere Town Council (HTC), meeting last Thursday to oppose an outline planning application to build 36 key workers' homes. The site of the proposed development is part of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, AONB, and an Area of Great Landscape Value. Sturt Farm resident Ophelia Eldridge spoke on behalf of the other members of the public at the meeting. "These fields are not ours to ruin, they are Britain's and we need to look after them for the future," she said. "If we start building on the Green Belt wedge, we will destroy the beauty of our country." As well as the anger at over- development of the area, there were demands that other questions were answered, primarily what the term "key workers" meant. The chairman of the planning and highways committee, Michael Biddescombe, said that he believed that the term referred to people who worked in the public sector, such as teachers, doctors and police officers. "It's a central government term but it is not clear exactly what it means in this context," he explained. "It could mean anything, so it's certainly an area of concern." Mrs Eldridge was sceptical, asking if the term was not, "a smokescreen to get the application passed". "Developer and philanthropist are not two words I would usually put together," she added. The design statement issued by the developer said that landscaping would be carried out to maintain the wooded appearance of the area, but Mrs Eldridge believed that outline plans indicate that the 36 homes might not be the end of the development. Access to the proposed site would come from a new lane leading off of Sturt Road, but plans show that it will split and end abruptly. Mrs Eldridge drew attention to the two roads which, "lead to nowhere". "It clearly indicates the strong possibility of future development," she said. Peter Isherwood called the project a "massive overdevelopment", and agreed that there was scope for the roads to be joined up at a later date. He asked what provision the developer had made for social housing allowance, and how the development would be administered. Residents and council members were also concerned as to whether the infrastructure of the site would be be able to meet the demands of the new homes and their buyers. A former mayor, Michael Foster, referred to a failed application to build on the land around 20 years ago, which was rejected on these grounds, and asked whether the issues had been resolved. Mrs Eldridge claimed that no environmental survey had been carried out on the site and was angry that a haven for wildlife was under threat. "The impact on the environment could be catastrophic," she said, adding that the area was home to badgers, bats and deer. After hearing the views of all the speakers, the council unanimously voted to oppose the outline application. Mr Biddescombe proposed that the council should send a representative to Waverley for the next stage of meetings.