Waverley’s Shocking Plan for Cranleigh

Waverley’s Shocking Plan for Cranleigh

With the recent publication of the Agenda and accompanying Local Plan documents for the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee for Monday, 27th June, 2016 7.00 pm came the shocking news that Waverley are  dumping 45% of their total housing allocation in and around Cranleigh, with a new settlement on Dunsfold Park.

Waverley’s published Local Plan documents include Strategic Sites selected across the borough. This includes two strategic sites in Cranleigh, including phase 2 of the Crest Nicholson site with an additional 101 houses off the Horsham Road, this increases the total housing number on this site to 250 houses.

Horsham Road Cranleigh Strategic Site

 

The other site is an amalgamation of the Berkeley Homes, Little Meadow and Knowle Park Initiative sites, creating a huge mega-site off the Alfold Road of 765 houses.  The West Cranleigh Nurseries site (Knowle Park Initiative) which was going to be refused by planning officers, then got called in by Cllr Brian Ellis, thereby by-passing officers’ decision and finally was refused by Waverley’s Joint Planning Committee.

Berkeleys KPI Little Meadow Cranleigh Strategic Site


You can look at the full meeting details and documents using the link below:

https://modgov.waverley.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=171&MId=2028&Ver=4


Dunsfold New Town

It is clear that Waverley are now favouring 2,600 new houses at Dunsfold Park and this has also been identified as a strategic site.

Dunsfold-Park-today_copy

At the moment there is a planning application for 1,800 houses on this site, however, Waverley have delayed making a decision on this. You can still add your comments and objections against this application.

Any housing on Dunsfold is in addition to 1,520 houses in Cranleigh, as well as 335 in the surrounding villages.   This brings the total amount of new housing in this area to 4,455, which is equivalent in total to a new settlement the size of Cranleigh.

Dunsfold in the 2011 census had a population of 989 with 467 dwellings. Should an additional 2, 600, plus 80 dwellings be added to Dunsfold village, this will be almost a six-fold increase in the number of houses and with the proposed business expansion create a new town adjacent to Alfold and Cranleigh.

A previous attempt to develop a new town at Dunsfold Aerodrome was put forward in 2007 and sought to develop a town of exactly the same size with 2,600 houses.  This was rejected by Waverley and dismissed at Appeal as unsustainable.

The planning inspector stated at the 2009 Appeal; “The site is not in a sustainable location and little can be done to improve the existing infrastructure.” Under Overall Conclusions, he stated “The Secretary of State has concluded that the development would generate a considerable amount of additional road traffic and he concludes that this would have a severe and unacceptable impact on an overstretched local road network, and that the scheme would be unsustainable in transport terms.”

What has changed in the surrounding area since 2009 to make the road network around Cranleigh now sustainable to Waverley Planning Officers?

What are the implications for Cranleigh?

With the proposal for 1,520 more houses for Cranleigh and almost 3,000 in total in neighbouring villages the effect on Cranleigh and the high risk of coalescence between Cranleigh, Dunsfold and Alfold is huge.

In the gaps between these three areas there will be continued pressure by developers to acquire land for residential and commercial use. The Cranleigh Neighbourhood Plan provides no policies for any buffer zones or strategic gaps between these settlements, and it does not suit Waverley to limit development in countryside beyond the green belt.  The pressure to develop and fill these gaps could be constant and overwhelming.

Cranleigh is deemed the nearest main service centre for Dunsfold and Alfold and there will be massive impacts on the village from all the development:

  1. Urbanisation of our village and loss of countryside. At the recent consultation regarding the relocation of the Cranleigh Primary School when the developer’s agent was asked about the urban feel to the proposed housing they replied that Waverley wanted an urban look.
  2. 4,500 houses will double the number of local cars on our road infrastructure (this is approximately the same number of houses that Cranleigh has in total NOW). That’s a potential 9,000 extra vehicles.
  3. Increased traffic will lead to increased congestion, especially on the roads in and out of Cranleigh, Bramley and Shamley Green as well as all locations along the A281.
  4. There will be a significant impact on local services including our doctors and schools.
  5. The negative impact on Air Quality from traffic emissions from petrol and diesel-engined motor vehicles include a wide variety of pollutants, principally carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter (PM10), which have an increasing negative impact on air quality, on public health and on the environment. In addition, pollutants from these sources may not only prove a problem in the immediate vicinity of these sources, but can be transported long distances.
  6. The current sewerage system has no capacity and there is no provision being made for a 100% increase in liquid effluent being discharged into Cranleigh Waters and no mitigation being proposed. Waverley have not even done a Water Cycle Study, which is usually carried out at the beginning of the Local Plan process.
  7. Cranleigh is in an area of known severe “Water Stress” as acknowledged by Surrey County Council Water Management Report Sept 2013. This combination of increased housing and limited supply could lead to serious water shortages.
  8. Requirement for large increase in electrical supply. EDF indicated to Waverley in January 2011 that Cranleigh would require an increase in capacity if there was a significant increase in population.  This also appears to have NOT been factored in so far.

Have your say

Waverley say in the Local Plan documents that:

The vitality and viability of the main centres of Farnham, Godalming, Haslemere and Cranleigh will have been safeguarded in a way that takes account of their distinctive roles.  This will have been achieved through carefully planned development, which meets the need of these centres, whilst recognising the importance of preserving and enhancing their historic character” [our emphasis]

We have never read such utter and blatant ‘spin’ regarding development in and around Cranleigh.  We know that the only reason they are dumping housing here is simply because there is NO GREEN BELT.

It’s time to let the Leader of Waverley Borough Council, Julia Potts and the planning portfolio holder, Brian Adams what you think about their decision to dump 45% of their housing allocation in and around Cranleigh

Tell them by email, always include your name and address and copy in both the Cranleigh Civic Society – info@cranleighsociety.org and your MP Anne Milton – anne.milton.mp@parliament.uk :

Julia Potts – julia.potts@waverley.gov.uk

Brian Adams – brian.adams@waverley.gov.uk

Cranleigh Society Objects to Horsham Road

Cranleigh Society Objects to Horsham Road

The Cranleigh Society has written to object to the Horsham Road FULL planning application by Crest Nicholson.

You can still add your own objections here too:

Application by Crest Nicholson for full planning ref WA/2016/0417 for phase one 149 dwellings on Land At 106 And The Chantrys Bungalow And Land To SW Of Horsham Road,  Cranleigh available on the Waverley Borough Council Planning Portal.


We would like to place The Cranleigh Civic Society’s objection against WA/2016/0417 (Land at 106 and The Chantreys Bungalow and Land to the SW of Horsham Road, Cranleigh).

Firstly, we object to the raising of the ground level on the Northern Boundary of the site. This will have a detrimental effect on existing properties and lead to a further loss of privacy, as well as increase the risk of flooding on the Hitherwood Estate which is at a lower point. The attenuation ponds are all positioned on the northern edge of the site, should these SuDS fail there will be a catastrophic effect on neighbouring properties. This proposal appears to channel all surface water flow towards these existing properties.

It is also ridiculous to state that as in point “4.6. As it is proposed to limit all rainfall events to the Qbar greenfield runoff rate, it is not necessary to provide long term storage within the surface water drainage network.” of the Ardent report, as it has been proven time and time again that current greenfield rates already lead to surface water flooding of adjacent properties and the flow cannot currently be accommodated.

Flooding occurred in adjacent properties in in Dec 2013, Jan 2014 and Jan 2016. Although we see no mention of the latest flooding in this document. Savills letter dated 19 April 2016 states that they are “not aware of any flood data being available for the 2013, as it was a local event”. This is simply untrue this flooding covered almost the entire Wey Catchment and Thames River Basin.

On the grounds that this will increase flooding elsewhere, we object to the discharge of surface water from the site into Holdhurst Brook and the widening of the brook without consultation with the Environment Agency (EA). We cannot find reference to the EA approving this strategy. The Environment Agency have confirmed that Cranleigh is a flashy catchment and as such our rivers and streams respond very quickly to rainfall, the flow of water rising rapidly to a high peak and liable to flooding similarly, leading to a complete loss of flow at time of minimal rainfall.

The foul water pumping station is not situated in the centre of the site as stated in point “5.1. It is proposed to drain foul sewer from the development to a pumping station located in the centre of the site towards the northern boundary. The foul water would be pumped out to the existing Thames Water sewer beneath Horsham Road.”  But is situated on the northern boundary of the site and adjacent to existing properties, clearly outlined in Appendix D of the Ardent report. This will lead to constant noise pollution from the pump, especially as this appears to be a wet well, and the noise and disruption of tankers when pumping out is required, in addition to unpleasant odours adversely affecting residential amenity. In addition to this we believe there should be a buffer zone between the SuDS attention pond and the pumping station to guard against raw sewage entering the adjacent pond and adjacent watercourse.

We also do not agree that 88m3 is adequate onsite sewage storage capacity calculated for the development and will lead to sewage flooding in times of heavy rainfall when the sewers quickly and regularly become overwhelmed with surface water. Properties on the Horsham Road and Cromwell Place already are known to suffer from foul water flooding in their gardens, which has been reported to Thames Water.

Finally we object to the building of 2.5 storey properties on this site as the height is not at all “sympathetic to its context” and contrary to the Cranleigh Design Statement 2008.


 

You can read more about the Crest Nicholson application in our previous articles:

CRANLEIGH RESIDENTS FEEL LET DOWN

THAMES WATER SEWAGE CRISIS IN CRANLEIGH

CREST NICHOLSON HORSHAM ROAD GRANTED

CREST NICHOLSON MEETING WITH THE CRANLEIGH SOCIETY

CREST NICHOLSON SITE FLOODS WITHIN WEEKS!

 

Knowle Park Initiative & Little Meadow before Planning Committee

Knowle Park Initiative & Little Meadow before Planning Committee

PICTURE ABOVE SHOWS SEWAGE FUNGUS IN CRANLEIGH BROOK 10 APRIL 2016


On 27th April 2016 at 7pm both applications for the Knowle Park Initiative and Little Meadow (Crownhall Estates Ltd) amounting to another 340 houses off Alfold Road go before the Joint Planning Committee (JPC) in Waverley.

Come to the JPC meeting, it is extremely important that councillors make this decision directly in front of Cranleigh residents and we know exactly how they vote, especially our local Cranleigh councillors.

If approved, this would bring the total number of new houses  off Alfold Road to 765.

The nearby Hewitts Industrial Estate application for another 120 houses is also due to be heard at Appeal by the Planning Inspector in October 2016. That would bring the TOTAL JUST in this part of the village to 885.


Where’s the Sewage Going?

We also note that Thames Water have not raised any objection to either of these applications based on sewerage capacity and yet they have placed Grampian style conditions on both Cala Homes and Crest Nicholson, which means that development cannot commence on these sites until foul water drainage strategies for on and/or off-site work, has been approved by Waverley Borough Council and Thames Water.

We have written to Thames Water to point out this discrepancy and the fact that we believe that it is in breach of its statutory obligations as the water and sewage undertaker if it now fails to raise an objection to the Knowle Park Initiative and Little Meadow applications.


Knowle Park Initiative Saga

For those of you who have been following the Knowle Park Initiative (KPI)  application, you might remember that Thames Water originally objected to the application on the grounds that the existing waste water (that’s sewage) infrastructure couldn’t accommodate another 265 houses in addition to 425 on the Berkeley Homes site.  It also confirmed that the water supply infrastructure didn’t have sufficient capacity either.

When the Berkeley’s application for 425 homes was refused on 6 January 2015, KPI’s advisers moved swiftly and contacted Thames Water on 7 January 2015 to point out that in light of the refusal there was now some notional sewage capacity available to them, although we wonder where this was, seeing as Cala and Crest were told there was none?

Thames Water faced with the fact that they had not objected at all to the Berkeley Homes application on sewage grounds had to concede on this point and issued a letter on 15 January 2015 ( view KPI Correspondence to Waverley regarding Thames Water ) withdrawing their objection. However, the letter from Lance Cooper of Thames Water did point out that: “Please note that the views expressed by Thames Water in this letter is in response to this pre-development enquiry only and does not represent our final views on any future planning applications made in relation to this site.”

Now you might think that in light of the decision for Berkeley Homes Appeal on 31 March 2016 giving permission for 425 houses, and bearing in mind the recent  widely publicised sewage issues in Cranleigh, which are referred to by planning officers in their report for the meeting on 27 April, Waverley officers would go back to Thames Water and get an updated statement before they recommended 340 more houses for approval in Cranleigh?

And especially as the sewers becoming overwhelmed by another 340 houses and foul water flooding would be an environmental and a public health risk.

But you would be wrong, the planning officers have recommended both of these sites for approval, relying on what might be a verbal update from Thames Water prior to the meeting on 27 April. This seems to amount to a serious oversight by Waverley Borough Council Planning Officers.


What about the Water Supply?

And what of the water supply infrastructure you might ask? That’s the stuff that comes out of your taps. Thames Water has maintained that the water supply infrastructure CANNOT SUPPORT either of these developments, however, this appears to have been completely overlooked by officers. There is no mention of a condition regarding this in their recommendation to approve these sites, and there is no mention of the impact study that Thames Water requested.

We think this is yet another serious oversight by Waverley Planning Officers and we would like to know why.


What are we doing?

Yesterday we wrote to Thames Water regarding the Knowle Park Initiative and Litle Meadows applications requesting that they uphold their statutory obligations and we copied in our MP Anne Milton, Waverley Planning Officers and the Environment Agency.

We also met up yesterday with a representative of Waverley’s Environmental Health Department, who seem to be taking this issue seriously.

We will keep you informed of the outcome.


What can you do?

Demand to know what is going on with Cranleigh’s sewerage system:

Send ONE email to the following people quoting references KPI WA/2015/1569 and Little Meadow WA/2015/0478 (please copy us in at info@cranleighsociety.org):

Email your MP Anne Milton anne.milton.mp@parliament.uk

Email Elizabeth Sims, Head of Planning Services (Chief Planning Officer)  elizabeth.sims@waverley.gov.uk

Email the Current Leader of Waverley Borough Council Robert Knowles robert.knowles@waverley.gov.uk

Email the New Leader (from May) of Waverley Borough Council Julia Potts julia.potts@waverley.gov.uk

Thank you for your continued support.

Cranleigh Residents Feel Let Down

Cranleigh Residents Feel Let Down

The application for Full Planning Permission submitted  by Crest Nicholson to Waverley Borough Council  has left Cranleigh residents, especially those directly backing onto the site, feeling let down and upset.

(You can still add your comments and objections against this application for Full Planning Permission.)

Residents have already had months of uncertainty and distress at the loss of the stunning view of rolling green fields and trees they have enjoyed from their homes, now to be replaced by a Crest Nicholson housing estate.

Chantreys Horsham Road Crest Nicholson site

When the original outline permission for 149 was dwellings was applied for by Crest Nicholson, residents took small recompense from the fact that at the Northern boundary of the site by Nightingales there was to be an access road, providing a buffer zone, between existing and new housing, as well as a mixture of housing; detached, semi-detached and terraced homes, set back from each other. This meant that, although residents views were still obliterated, this was not being completely replaced by a continuous line of brick walls of a single house type.

Original plans (view a fuller layout of the Chantreys, Crest Nicholson Site, Horsham Road):

Crest Nicholson Chantreys Cranleigh site plan

The plans now submitted have been met with complete dismay by residents. The housing mix, as well as the access road at the edge of the site, has now been replaced by far more dense terraced housing and car parking bays. Where there were peaceful green fields, with the odd flock of grazing sheep, now existing residents will be faced with the prospect of lines of cars and brick walls.  Perhaps Crest want to ensure that the best views of the countryside are reserved for new residents.  Although new people on the Southern boundary should be aware of a proposed Phase 2,  approximately 115 dwellings, coming soon!

New layout of the top northern boundary:

Final Boundary housing scheme - crest nicholson cranleigh

Outline of affordable housing strategy horsham road cranleigh

 

We have continued to warn residents about being taken in by the artists’ impressions accompanying outline planning permission applications. They are just a drawing (not to scale) to lull residents into a false sense of security. Outline planning grants permission for the number of houses to be built, it does not include the design and layout of those buildings, this is submitted when full permission is subsequently applied for.

Residents are also facing the prospect of large underground tanks of sewage next to their boundaries, due to the lack of sewage capacity in Cranleigh.  You can read more about this in our Thames Water Sewage Crisis article.

Sewage tanks on Crest Nicholson Site

Crest Nicholson PR company Cratus is attempting to set up a residents’ liaison group, we think that that a member of Crest Nicholson staff must be present at these meetings, so that residents queries and concerns can be answered by the actual people building the development, rather than going through a third party whose obligation is to their client and not to the people of Cranleigh.

Thames Water Sewage Crisis in Cranleigh

Thames Water Sewage Crisis in Cranleigh

SEWAGE CRISIS IN CRANLEIGH CONTINUES!

Email Anne Milton MP anne.milton.mp@parliament.uk TODAY and let her know that Cranleigh has a sewage crisis. She has previously said that if she gets more than 5 emails from residents on a given subject she will act. Let’s make sure her Inbox is bursting!

It’s official, there’s no capacity in the sewage system for Crest Nicholson’s 149 houses off the Horsham Road and it could end up being stored on Snoxhall playing fields!

In a report from Thames Water (Thames Water Report on Capacity April 2015) they confirm that:

5.1.3 Foul System Improvement Works
The hydraulic model indicates that the foul network does not have available capacity downstream of the proposed connection manhole to accept the proposed development flows. On inclusion of the additional flows from the development site, an increase in the predicted volume of flooding and surcharge on the downstream sewer network is predicted to occur.

Thames Water statement on Crest Nicholson Site

Then Thames Water has come up with two options for all that raw sewage flowing from these houses.

Option 1: to provide a pumping station which could only operate in dry weather, or when existing sewer levels are low, which as far as we are aware would be rarely!

It will be based on a telemetry system, which if this is reliant on a good mobile signal, there will be simply no hope for it! A similar system in Alfold has consistently failed due to flooding of the equipment and poor phone signal.

Crest will need to conceal in the ground on the north-eastern edge of the site a huge 821m3 storage tank, which needs to store up to 19 hours’ worth of sewage from the estate.

This capacity is what the developers have calculated they need in the event of a 1 in 20-year flood (which happens when surface water caused by rainfall overwhelms the sewage network and/or when groundwater levels are high); this can also be referred to as a 20% chance of a flood occurring within any given year.

There seems to be no accommodation in the tank’s capacity for multiple flood events so we’re not sure what they propose if we have several days of heavy rainfall as we did in the winter of 2013/14 – these tanks would fail if that same event occurred.

Another problem is that after 12 hours of storing sewage there is a high risk of septicity which means that bacteria will multiply and this produces hydrogen sulphide. This is a colourless gas with the characteristic foul odour of rotten eggs; it is heavier than air, very poisonous, corrosive, flammable, and explosive!

The image below shows where this tank could be buried.

Sewage tanks on Crest Nicholson Site

Not very comforting for existing residents that will be living right next to this tank, which if it fails the effects would be catastrophic.

It is the developer’s responsibility to size this tank, not Thames Water, who are obviously washing their hands of this task, perhaps because if it fails it isn’t their liability!

Then there’s

Option 2: to stick an even bigger storage tank somewhere. Now where would be the perfect place? One of the community’s much-loved green spaces and our children’s football pitches perhaps? Yes, you guessed it, Snoxhall Playing Fields!

We would like to know who offered the Parish Council owned field for the storage of 1216m3 of foul waste, this is basically a sewage plant on Snoxhall.

It has the potential for the same problem with septicity and spillage as the tanks on the Crest site, however, there are very few details provided by Thames Water. A case of dump and run perhaps!

The image below shows the proposed position of the sewage tank under Snoxhall football pitches.

Sewage tanks on Snoxhall

You might at this stage be wondering where the sewage is going to go from the 125 houses at Amlets, we have heard that Thames Water has not given permission for these houses to be connected to the sewage system yet.

Then there’re 425 houses on the Berkeley’s site that have just been approved, we can’t wait to see what Thames Water’s strategy is going to be for this massive housing estate. Perhaps they have been saving a bit of space for Berkeley’s as they seem to have a special relationship.

We have already uncovered and advised Waverley Borough Council of the sewage issues, they are fully aware, however, they continue to dump all the Borough’s housing here and leave us with the mess.

Surprise, surprise now Berkeley’s has been approved we have been told that the Knowle Park Initiative (West Cranleigh Nurseries) have come out of the woodwork and could be in front of Waverley’s Joint Planning Committee as early as 27th April.

WHAT CAN WE ALL DO?

Email Anne Milton MP TODAY anne.milton.mp@parliament.uk and let her know that Cranleigh has a sewage crisis and we need her help!


 

Read more about the sewage crisis in our articles

NO MORE SEWAGE IN CRANLEIGH WATERS

and

WHERE IS BERKELEY HOMES GOING TO SEND THEIR SEWAGE?

and

SEWAGE COVER-UP