The next stage of the Local Plan is about to get underway, with a second consultation which gives Tandridge Residents an opportunity to comment on sites being considered as part of the plan.

The Sites Consultation will last for eight weeks, starting on Friday 4th November and finishing on Friday 30th December. Each site has been through a landscape, ecology and other assessments to look at whether it could be developed or not.

As a result sites have been identified which:

§  Could be realistically developed.

§  Cannot be recommended for development

§  Need more investigation before a decision can be made either way.

The Sites Consultation will include evidence which can be used to protect the Green Belt in the long term. It will:

·         Not allocate any land for development.

·         Not change the boundary of the Green Belt.

Timetable for the Local Plan

The timetable for the preparation of the Local Plan is given below:

§  Agenda and documents published for Planning Policy Committee: 24th October 2016.

§  Planning Policy Committee to agree next stage of consultation: 31st October 2016.

§  Sites Consultation (Regulation 18): 4th November to 30th December 2016 (more details will be released in the next few weeks).

§  Consultation on the Local Plan Preferred Strategy (Regulation 19): Autumn/Winter 2017.

§  Submission of Local Plan to the Planning Inspectorate (Regulation 22): Spring 2018.

§  Public Examination by the Planning Inspectorate (Regulation 24): Summer/Autumn 2018.

§  Adoption of a Local Plan (Regulation 26): Spring 2019.

To be kept up to date with the Local Plan preparations and consultation people can:

§  Register on the consultation portal http://consult.tandridge.gov.uk/portal.

§  Send their e-mail address to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

§  Call 01883 722000 or write to Planning Policy, Council Offices, 8 Station Road East, Oxted RH8 0BT. 

Councillor Peter Bond, Chairman of the Planning Policy Committee, said: “We know residents are concerned about the Green Belt. So is Tandridge District Council. People are also concerned about how much more development can take place without better and new infrastructure. No decisions have been made about the number of homes that can be built. What we’ve had to do is forecast how many people might be living here in 20 years and understand how many houses would be needed for them. This is not the same as the number of houses that will be built.

“Allegations that we just want to concrete over the Green Belt are just not true. It is the last thing we would choose to do. We want to protect the Green Belt. We are concentrating our energies on providing the evidence we need to convince the Inspector the amount of housing which can be built is unlikely to meet the population needs, because it has to be appropriate for the district and supported by evidence. We have to be realistic about providing homes for future generations and ensuring the economic vitality of the district. We desperately need more affordable housing and better infrastructure. As part of this plan, by working with infrastructure providers, we will aim to resolve, as far as is possible, the issues around school places, access to doctors, affordable housing and congestion.”