New Homes Plan Submitted for Manor House Site in Ash Green

Published on: 11 Sep, 2025
Updated on: 11 Sep, 2025

Ash Manor House. The latest plans involve building 53 homes nearby

By David Reading

Bewley Homes have put in a new application to build housing on land at Ash Manor, the ancient moated manor house in Ash Green.

According to the application before Guildford Borough Council, the plan is to build 53 homes, with vehicle and pedestrian access from Ash Green Road.

A previous application for 69 homes was turned down on appeal by the Planning Inspectorate after the scheme had been refused by the council.

The borough council has this week launched a consultation exercise on the new scheme, inviting comments from residents.

The application for 53 homes includes parking, on-site open space, landscape and ecology management and servicing. This is a slightly amended application from a 2024 proposal.

Both GBC and the Ash Green Residents Association (AGRA) opposed Bewley’s appeal at the 2022 inquiry, which was held online due to Covid.

The inspector, Christina Downes, concluded: “The appeal site is as important to the setting of the heritage assets as the other land surrounding them. Overall, the wider setting of the listed buildings contributes to their special interest both individually and as a group.”

Bewley produced witnesses to give evidence in support of their appeal, commenting on numerous issues including planning matters, affordable housing, heritage, ecology, trees, highways and transport, drainage, flood risk and hydrology, landscape and design.

After the inquiry AGRA said it was delighted with the planning inspector’s decision, noting that the heritage setting, the buffer zone between Ash and Ash Green and the pond were of concern to the inspector.

Cllr Sue Wyeth-Price

The planning proposals for the site have a controversial history. In 2020 a High Court judge quashed planning permission for 73 homes on the site because a planning officer’s reports “seriously and materially” misled GBC’s Planning Committee.

The application for a judicial review had been made by Ash Green resident Sue Wyeth-Price, now a borough councillor for Ash South, on behalf AGRA and the residents of Ash Green. They were determined to protect the historical Ash Manor and its setting.

The judge, Mrs Justice Lang, said: “I am satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the planning committee could have reached a different decision if they had been properly advised.”