West Dorking Resident's Group

A copy of this letter can be found by clicking this LINK.

Re - Proposed building in the Green Belt at sites formerly known as DK-18, DK-14 and building in the Green Belt in principle.

 Dear Sirs,

The Green Belt and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB’s) should be retained intact forever. The reason each was established in the first place; the green belt to be the lungs and playground of and to feed London etc. In addition, housing should follow employment and infrastructure, not the other way round. Perhaps the derelict centres of places such as Stoke which have large areas of redundant land after the decline of the pottery industry should have the benefit of government funded enterprise allowances (tax free/business rate free zones) this is also an area that, I believe, has 20% unemployment compared with 7% on average in the south east and so should be considered as a priority for investment in both business and enterprise followed by housing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the point of the consultation process;

1) Many local residents are unaware due to delivery of the information by the RPS/Gleeson's notice. Most people treat this as junk mail and recycle it without opening, let alone reading.

2) On two occasions now planning officers have stated that the number of objections do not count, surely this is wrong.

For the above reason RPS/Gleeson's should resend the information with personally addressed notices of the consultation.

Firstly the proposed building in the Green Belt at Sondes Place Farm, Dorking - DK-18

I strongly object to the above proposal on the following grounds;

1) Access/Traffic- The A25 and Coldharbour Lane are already in a "High stress situation,” any development at this site would increase stress on both roads and the already over stressed junctions of Vincent Lane, Westcott Road, Station Road and West Street. If both proposed sites were developed then 1,400 to 2,000 extra car journeys could be expected with their only access via the A25. Any proposed extra access to Priory school would not reduce traffic as according to the MVDC web site only one coach comes in towards Dorking from the west and drops children off at Milton Court car park.

2) Public transport - the bus service is poor on the A25 and the station to London is about 50 minutes’ walk which is likely to lead to a considerable increase in car journeys to the congested station car parks.

3) Education - local St. Joseph’s school children have learned about growing vegetables and grown their own on part of this land for number of years; this would be lost.

4) Views to and from the Green Belt - the development will be clearly inappropriate and visible from the Nower, Ranmore Common and the North Downs. The views across the green belt from the aforementioned and the A25 provide a bold differentiation between the Green Belt and the built environment .... this would be lost.

5) High density - Such high density would be totally out of character.

6) Openness - this is an important function of the Green belt which would be lost if developed. Whilst Milton Heath is nearby it is not open. Sondes Farm is the only open farmland between Dorking and Westcott on the South side of the A25 and needs to be preserved.

7) Setting - The adjacent Sondes Farm conservation buildings (a model farm built for Lord Ashcombe) the view to these historic buildings will be lost from the A25 and seriously diluted by any new development in the Green Belt which would wrap around it on three sides and overlook the resident’s existing homes. The views to Sondes Farm create a strong boundary reflecting the character of the market town.

8) Light pollution -- this area of Green Belt is beautifully dark at night. This would be lost and highly visible from A25 and the surrounding Green belt beauty spots.

9) Air pollution - with a proposed 190/200 homes there would likely be 400 to 800 resident’s cars plus visitors to the dwellings. In addition there will be numerous associated delivery and maintenance vehicles adding to the noise, light and air pollution levels.

10) Noise pollution -- currently there is no noise pollution. However, were this sensitive Green Belt to be developed there would be considerable vehicular noise, music, voices and pet noise too.

11) Loss of local food production - there is a need to retain local food production as a sustainable resource and the land is currently highly productive and even sells their asparagus in the local market and Dorking Waitrose.

12) Loss of biodiversity - there are important hedgerows on site and particularly a long broad hedge in the centre in addition to the ancient pond, both of which provide valuable wildlife habitats. Deer, slow worms, foxes, badgers, pheasants, Roman snails, dormice, voles, skylarks, barn owls, tawny owls and little owls, woodpeckers, buzzards and many small song birds, butterflies, moths, and bats are frequently seen on site ... travelling, hunting, feeding, mating, nesting and calling. This Green Belt would be a great loss to the local biodiversity and would fragment nature corridors. Over the past 10 plus years the farmer has maintained an undisturbed 4m to 6m buffer zone around the proposed site and receives a grant from Natural England to maintain this biodiversity.... this would be a great loss and further seriously limit the range of local wildlife. I understand that only a desktop study of nature has been carried out which is highly inaccurate.

13) Farms by their nature and purpose should have adjacent farmland -- this would be lost.

14) Tree preservation - there may be a need to fell part of the historic lime tree avenue on the A25 to gain access and visibility splays. This would be a great loss.

15) The need for affordable housing should not take priority over the Green Belt

16) Travellers - this is highly viable Green Belt and is not an appropriate location for a travellers site they would be better sited by enlarging existing sites or where they are separated from existing residential areas e.g. the Dorking waste site in Ranmore Road. Not adjacent to sensitive areas of education and vulnerable retired people.

17) The mix of proposed homes - this would be out of character with those adjacent to the Green Belt.  On Gleeson's website their homes are far from attractive and would result in 'Uncharacteristic high density urban sprawl'. Packed so close that no trees would be between them.

18) Land contamination - with the site developed there is a likelihood of ground pollution.

19) Footpaths - the footpath along the Southern side of the A25 is narrow and in poor condition which would encourage crossing of the dangerous busy road.

20) Cycle paths - there is no direct cycle path to site which would further stress the A25 traffic situation.

21) Local employment -- there is little or no local employment or plans to expand employment.

22) Flood risk - The southern part of the proposed site is sloping and considerably elevated above Sondes farm and Glebe Road homes and there may be a risk of floods due to “runoff".

23) NHS Dentists - it can take up to 5 weeks to get an appointment. So the NHS dental practices of Dorking also need to be expanded prior to any new development.

24) More suitable sites with better access -e.g. the Friends Provident buildings and site is likely to become vacant in the years to come (previously proposed as a Sainsbury's site) and would make a good housing development with great public transport access and easy A24 access. Also the former Clockhouse Brickworks Site at Capel would make a wonderful use of green belt that has a brown field use, great access to A24 and ideal for those working in Horsham or wanting to drive to Holmwood Station to go onto London. One large development here, in the form of a new village or town would be better than piecemeal developments continuously eating into the green belt. The development thus self-contained could be built with the appropriate physical (railway station, schools, doctors, dentists, shops, playgrounds, employment, cycle paths, gas supply and drains) and social infrastructure and the developers could fund the duelling of the A24 from Capel to Horsham.

25) Children's recreation grounds - there are no children's play areas to the west side of Dorking which would involve children walking along busy roads or many unsustainable extra car journey

26)  Children should walk or cycle to school. Negating the need for the 'Section 106' school access and additionally intolerable congestion.

27)  Offices above many of Dorking's shops are turning into flats so the essential workers can start by living there and benefit from the Government backed 'Help to Buy Scheme.' Negating the need for 'affordable homes' in the Green Belt.

Secondly the proposed building in the Green Belt at land off Milton Court Lane, Dorking - DK-14

I strongly object to the above proposal on the following grounds (as numbered above).

(1), (2), (5), (6), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (14), (15), (16), (17) (21), (22), (23), (24), (25), and (26).

 

I trust the above will ensure that this valuable Green Belt asset will be preserved for future generations.