Our planning team have been considering the draft Guildford Local Plan since it went out for consultation last month. It will be responding by making many points, on the basis for housing figures, Green Belt and the environment in particular.

In looking at what residents can do to object, it considers that it would be best for residents to focus on objecting to the inclusion of development of the Former Wisley Airfield and it has drafted some bullet points for residents to use as below. It is important to state an objection whenever that is appropriate.

It is vital that, for your objection to register, it reaches Guildford Borough Council by Monday 18th July 2016.

For most in our area, as you are likely not to live in the borough, we suggest that you identify living outside the Borough of Guildford (your full name and address is needed anyway) but saying that you have a greater interest in what goes into the Guildford Local Plan for the local area than those living on the far side of the borough.

You will need to email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or write to Planning Policy (Local Plan Consultation), Guildford Borough Council, Millmead House, Millmead, Guildford, Surrey GU2 4BB. We suggest heading your submission as "Objection to Guildford Borough Council draft Local Plan (June 2016) and to the inclusion in the Plan of Site Allocation A35 - the Former Wisley Airfield - for a new settlement with 2,000 dwellings".

Bullet Points for objections:-

• Object to the removal of the Former Wisley Airfield from the Green Belt. The area serves a vital role in preventing urban sprawl from London and a development would create an urban corridor stretching from London to Guildford.

• No exceptional circumstances have been established to warrant removing the site from the Metropolitan Green Belt.

• There is ample brownfield land in urban areas which needs to be regenerated, without the need to encroach on protected Green Belt land.

• Object to the disproportionate allocation of a proposed increase in housing to the nearby localities of Ockham, Ripley, the Horsleys and Effingham.

• Object to the threat the Local Plan as drafted poses to the historic rural settlements of Ockham, Hatchford and Downside.

• The plan calls for Ockham, a hamlet of 159 residences to be subsumed into development, on presently open land, with 2,000 dwellings and other urban-style buildings up to five storeys high and a population density higher than most London boroughs. Hatchford, south of the M25, has some 60 residences off narrow Ockham Lane that would be greatly affected by the proximity of development.

• Object to the potential harmful impact on transport, local roads and road safety by the suggested development. The result of an additional 2,000 homes would be an estimated 4,000 additional cars together with other vehicles, including HGVs, to service the development.

• The increased traffic would cause congestion and danger on the narrow rural roads in Ockham, Hatchford, Downside and Cobham. Cobham is the closest shopping centre to the proposed development. The village could not cope with the additional traffic and car parking involved in serving some 5,000 additional occupiers at the site and would experience a significant increase in stationary/idling traffic at peak times and at junctions.

• Due to the absence of cycling paths and the lack of footpaths (and the space to provide them) the assertion that the development would result in a meaningful shift to cycling and walking is unbelievable. The increased traffic would add danger to cyclists and pedestrians (including those increasingly using local roads for recreational purposes).

• There would be an increase in the already severe congestion on the Strategic Road Network of the A3 and M25 and the junction of those as well as local roads. The current planning application by RHS Wisley would already have significantly added to visitor traffic.

• Any proposed secondary schooling would add additional congestion.

• The lack of suitable public transport. The local rail stations of Effingham and Horsley could not cope with the proposed increase in passenger traffic and car parking is already at capacity. In the refused planning application there had been a suggestion that Cobham & Stoke D’Abernon Station could be used. That or use of stations further north at Weybridge or Walton would increase congestion and pollution on local roads in Elmbridge.

• Object to the issue of air quality not being taken seriously. Air pollution in this area in the north of the Borough of Guildford and the south of the Borough of Elmbridge and particularly near the M25/A3 junction already exceeds EU-permitted levels. Additional traffic would worsen the situation, affecting the health of all current and future residents.

• Object to insufficient consideration being given to the environmental and ecological value of the site and the area around it, taking account of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area (SPA), Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI).

• The area is a haven for wildlife, some of which is already endangered. The introduction of residences would mean the import into an ecologically sensitive area not only of humans and their increased footfall, but also of pets, and cats and dogs in particular, that can have a devastating effect on wildlife. Protected species on and near the site and wildlife corridors would be destroyed.

• Objections are supported by the unanimous rejection of application no 15/P/00012 by the Planning Committee at Guildford Borough Council on 8th April 2016 on the recommendation of Planning Officers. The Planning Report identified the serious concerns now being highlighted.