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Guildford JR Judgement Threatens Death Knell for Britain’s Green Belt

Published on: 4 Dec, 2019
Updated on: 7 Dec, 2019

Wisley protestors at a planning hearing in 2017.

Today’s judgement upholding the Guildford Local Plan sets a new precedent that could sound the death knell for Britain’s national green belt, and a body blow to areas that help fight climate change, according to campaign groups. 

See also: Local Plan Judicial Reviews Dismissed

Ockham Parish Council (OPC) and the Wisley Action Group (WAG) say if the “green belt grab which constitutes Guildford’s Local Plan”, were to be replicated and implemented across the country, our open fields and agricultural land would be quickly gobbled up by developers and gone forever.

Dr Mary-Claire Travers

“Guildford’s Plan rides rough-shod over issues such as currently unfunded necessary infrastructure,” said Dr Mary-Claire Travers, chair of OPC and a member of the WAG committee, in a joint statement. “It now also understates housing supply and has not fully accounted for recently available housing, creating an unnecessary requirement to build on the green belt.”

Dr Travers points to the “extensive list” of reasons why plans to build more than 2,000 houses on the green belt at the former Wisley airfield should never be permitted.

“Unsustainable infrastructure needs,  inadequate cycleway, rail and A3/M25 vehicle links, air quality issues, impact on endangered flora and fauna, the destruction of a 12th-century village and rural life are all valid reasons why the plan should have been rejected, she said today (December 4).

“But it appears common sense and logic have been sacrificed on the altar of expansion and development, even if the people of Guildford repeatedly rejected it.”

WAG and OPC are now considering options for further action to defend the borough from “green belt vandalism”.

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