Mole Valley Housing & Traveller Sites Plan (Ashtead)

CONSULTATION ON ASHTEAD COMMUNITY VISION GREEN BELT BOUNDARY REVIEW AND SITE ASSESSMENTS: 9 JUNE TO 21 JULY 2014

I am writing to invite your views on the following two documents which have been prepared by Ashtead Community Vision and submitted to Mole Valley DC (MVDC) for consideration:

• Ashtead Green Belt Boundary Review February 2014; and
• Ashtead Site Assessments May 2014.

Ashtead Community Vision (ACV) is the working group for Ashtead Neighbourhood Forum, which was established in July 2013. The Neighbourhood Forum is tasked with preparing a Neighbourhood Development Plan for the Ashtead area, under the powers created by the Localism Act 2011.

The Ashtead Neighbourhood Plan is being prepared under the strategic policy framework set out in Mole Valley’s Core Strategy adopted October 2009. The Core Strategy commits MVDC to a review of Green Belt boundaries, in order to meet the District’s housing requirements to 2026.

The decision about which areas of the Green Belt may be released to meet housing needs rests with Mole Valley DC and will be progressed through preparation of the Housing and Traveller Sites Plan. However, as part of the Neighbourhood Planning process, and in the spirit of localism, ACV took on responsibility for undertaking the Green Belt Boundary Review within the Ashtead neighbourhood area.  They have also appraised a number of specific sites which have been proposed by landowners and developers as potential housing site allocations. Council officers have been working closely with ACV to ensure that their methodology matches that followed by Mole Valley DC, elsewhere in the District.

As a consultee on planning policy issues in Mole Valley, you will have received notification of the first stage of public consultation on the Housing and Travellers Sites Plan, which took place between 10 January and 9 March 2014. However, that consultation did not cover the Ashtead area, because ACV’s work was still in progress.

ACV have now submitted their completed Green Belt Boundary Review and Site Assessments to MVDC. I am therefore writing to invite your views on both documents.  Copies are enclosed with the electronic version of this letter. You can also download them from www.molevalley.gov.uk/localplans: please click on “Neighbourhood Planning in Mole Valley” and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Comments should be forwarded by email to planning.policy@molevalley.gov.uk or by post to the Planning Policy Team, Mole Valley District Council, Pippbrook, Dorking, Surrey, RH4 1SJ.

Please submit your comments by 4pm on Monday 21 July 2014.

Your comments will be considered as part of the process of integrating ACV’s work into the evidence base for the Housing and Traveller Sites Plan.  As it progresses, the Plan will cover the whole District, including Ashtead and other NDP areas.  MVDC is working towards publication of a pre-submission draft early in 2015.

Mole Valley Housing & Traveller Sites Plan

Developers proposals for new homes in Mole Valley – further consultation.

In January this year we wrote to all residents in Mole Valley to let them know that the District Council is preparing a document called the Housing and Traveller Sites Plan which will identify land on which new homes could be built in the future.

We explained that between January and March, local residents could comment on the sites that landowners and developers had suggested should be included in this Plan.  We received over eight thousand comments from over three thousand individuals and organisations.

The responses to the consultation included requests by several landowners asking that MVDC consider their site in addition to those in the Consultation Document. These latest sites to have been suggested have now been published in the Housing and Traveller Sites Plan: Additional Sites - Supplementary Consultation Document.

We are e-mailing you because you have responded to a previous opportunity to comment on MVDC’s plans for new homes.

MVDC is now in the process of considering these additional sites and would like to provide you with the opportunity to comment on them and help it to decide if any are suitable for development and therefore inclusion in the Plan.

If you do want to let us have your views, they should be submitted in writing, by email or on-line by 21^st July 2014. They should relate only to the sites in the current Consultation Document as this is not an opportunity to comment on sites in the previous Consultation Document.

The consultation document and supporting information can be viewed on line at http://www.molevalley.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=16351   or by following the links from the Home page . Alternatively, you can see all the documentation at the Council Offices in Pippbrook in Dorking, the Leatherhead HelpShop or in local libraries.   For further information please phone us on 01306 879281.

Agenda for Open Meeting 2 June 2014 at the Letherhead Institute

SLIGHT AMENDMENT:  At the suggestion of Mr. Collier, at 8.00 we shall close the meeting and walk up to St. John's School where we will be met at the former Chapel at 8.15 and, after an explanation of the changes there, move on to their multi-media studio where the talk proper will take place.

1. Apologies:  Cllrs. Shimmin and Dickson.

2. Minutes of the last Open Meeting, i.e. February 3rd.  All on the Website, but I do have some spare copies.

3. Matters arising
        a. A local Flood Forum has been/is being set up by Tim Hall.
            .
4. Correspondence
        a.  A couple from Mr. Roland McKinney,    questioning the number of homes available for       development over the next 5 years.
        b. A letter forwarded by Mr. and Mrs. Moyer from Mr. Mark Ambrose about the dreadful water leaks/flows in Randalls Road
        c. A letter forwarded by a Committee member from people who sit outside restaurants, pubs etc in the
High Street.   They compalin about a. speeding, b. inconsiderate parking and c. parking too early.

5. Sub-committee reports  (only outstanding items only, please)
        a. Planning - the care home mooted for Highlands Avenue  off the Headley Road
        b. Environment - the Open Gardens will be "open" next Sunday, 8th June.
        c. Highways
        d. Membership and publicity, future speakers
        e. Forward planning, Plan L etc.

6. Meetings attended.
        a. The BleAF, from which I will just mention a couple of things.

7. Future Action
        a. Ideas for the next A&L Local?   Also, the Newsletter needs to be started, so, articles, please.

8. Our invited speaker, Mr. Michael Collier of St. John's School where changes and improvements have been being made thick and fast.