Feature: How a Village Fought and Won Protection for a Treasured Landscape

Published on: 23 Feb, 2018
Updated on: 24 Feb, 2018

Estate agent’s particulars of the land for sale in Wanborough.

Wanborough, a small village of just 30 households, mobilised public opinion and won their campaign to gain additional protection for a beautiful, sweeping landscape close to the hearts of many people in the surrounding area.

Using the tools provided by our local democracy, they persuaded Guildford Borough Council to listen to and eventually grant their request for a restriction.

It was at the beginning of October 2017 when residents of Wanborough began their quest to gain an “Article 4 Direction” on local fields. Their aim was to protect a beautiful, historic landscape threatened by the activities of a land banker.

St Bartholomew’s the church that serves
the small settlement of Wanborough

The campaign concerned 243 acres of agricultural, green belt land at the edge of Wanborough village, purchased for £1.8 million last July by Andrew Beckingham through his company, Barkway Property Holdings.

The land was immediately parcelled up into “paddock” lots for sale as an investment opportunity, at prices said to be, two-and-a-half times more per acre than it was bought for.

Wanborough Fields, as they have become known, provide an open landscape sweeping down from the Hogs Back to Westwood Lane and along towards Normandy. They were probably once farmed by lay brothers, from the Cistercian Waverley Abbey, who are thought to have brought sheep farming to the local downland.

Wanborough Fields – the Hog’s Back runs along the top of the ridge.

So the fields are ancient, unenclosed and lie within the green belt. The upper slopes, forming part of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), rolls down to the lower section which is designated an Area of Great Landscape Value (AGLV).

With these designations, Wanborough Fields are protected from development and planning permission to build houses would not be granted in the foreseeable future. However, the small paddock lots of two or three acres being put up for sale carry the risk of severe degradation to a very special landscape.

The historic Great Barn at Wanborough, built in 1388 and said to be the oldest and most important wooden building in Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire.

Residents feared that the beautiful vista provided by Wanborough Fields would be scarred by mismatched fencing, hard-standing and parked vehicles and equipment, not to mention activities such as car boot sales, clay pigeon shoots, or even dirt-bike racing, all permitted without planning permission on land for agricultural use.

On October 25, residents voted unanimously in favour of seeking an Article 4 Direction at a meeting in the village hall hosted by local ward councillor Tony Rooth. He shared residents’ concerns and actively supported the campaign throughout. He lodged a planning enforcement case, requesting an Article 4 Direction that would restrict what could be done on the fields, and Guildford Borough Council’s planning department began a review.

Wanborough Manor, used for selecting and training SOE agents in World War 2.

But in December 15 the parish council received a letter informing them that the planning department at GBC had rejected the Article 4 application.

Undeterred, Wanborough residents responded by launching, on January 5, an e-petition on the council’s website, backed by Wanborough Parish Council and Cllr Rooth. Letters were written to the local media, including The Guildford Dragon NEWS. The aim was to collect 500 signatures and thereby gain the right for their case to be heard in public at a meeting of the full council.

The petition was successful, rapidly gaining support from neighbouring parishes as well as from Guildford residents across the borough.

A map showing the location of Wanborough Fields on the north slopes of the Hog’s Back west of Guildford.

During January, Council Leader Paul Spooner (Con, South Ash & Tongham) took an interest in the Wanborough Fields case, informing the parish council he would recommend the grant of an Article 4 to the planning committee at their meeting due this week on February 20.

On February 8, however, negating the need for consideration by GBC’s Planning Committee, Cllr Spooner announced his decision to grant the Article 4 under delegated authority. So the petition, which with 475 signatures, just five weeks after its launch and well on the way to its target 500 signatures could be closed.

The Article 4 Direction removes permitted development rights normally enjoyed by owners of agricultural land. “Investors” purchasing the small paddocks being sold by Mr Beckingham’s land agent, Vantage Land, will have to apply for planning permission to erect fences, gates or walls or to hold any temporary activity such as a car boot sale.

Cllr Spooner’s decision to grant the direction demonstrates that a small village of just 30 households can bring about change through democratic processes if they have a strong case that attracts widespread support. It shows that when the people speak, politicians do sometimes listen.

The Article 4 provides transparency regarding the plans new landowners might have for their paddocks and some measure of control. Residents will have to remain vigilant, however, and report activities to the council and requesting that planning permission be granted only for applications in keeping with the nature of this unique and much-loved landscape.

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