Waverley Witness: Plan Submitted For 1,800 Homes At Dunsfold Park

Published on: 13 Dec, 2015
Updated on: 15 Dec, 2015

The Waverley Witness gives views and reports from that area, many of which we believe will resonate with, or be of interest to, Guildford Dragon NEWS readers.

Outline plans have been submitted to Waverley Borough Council for a new Surrey village on the Dunsfold airfield site.

A plan of what the proposed development may look like. Image from Dunsfold Park’s website.

The scheme includes 1,800 homes over the next decade with room, for many more over the decades to come.

Dunsfold, known as Surrey’s Secret Airfield, will continue to be the the home of BBC’s Top Gear due to be screened in May with Chris Evans in the driving seat.

Wings and Wheels will continue – but in a different format and the airfield’s famous runway will become a “runway park.”

Aerial displays will continue but as flyovers rather than aerial displays.

The scheme, which has already been unveiled to the public at local consultations, will also include a day nursery, a primary school, a medical centre, café, retail space and a church. It will be attached to the Waverley Borough’s largest employment site and will provide a home/work environment complete with country park.

Dunsfold Park already generates its own energy through a solar farm that serves the site and the National Grid and plans have been approved for a bio digester sewage treatment plant.

It is the largest brown field site in the borough of Waverley and one of the largest in Surrey.

When Waverley council held a borough-wide public consultation in 2014 more than 80% of respondents said they wanted homes built on previously developed land before the green fields in Farnham, Haslemere, Godalming and Cranleigh were used to provide more than 10,000 homes.

An eco village with 2,600 homes was refused by a Labour government inspector in 2009.

The application, though received by the council, has not yet been registered.

Dunsfold Park’s chief executive, Jim McAllister, explained the plans were in outline, and although the initial scheme was for 1,800 many more up to 3,400 homes could be built in 20 to 25 years.

He claims it would protect against development within the green belt. He said Dunsfold Park has the jobs and can provide homes within a beautiful parkland, but will wait and see how Waverley approaches the scheme.

Planning applications and planning appeals are now stacking up in the borough, and with no Local Plan in place, the borough which has boundaries with West Sussex, Hampshire and Guildford now appears very vulnerable.

Click here for Dunsfold park’s website and details about the plans.

Responses to Waverley Witness: Plan Submitted For 1,800 Homes At Dunsfold Park

Chris Cremer Reply

December 14, 2015 at 12:33 am

Dunsfold and Alfold cannot make up 80% of a Waverly poll or consultation.

I don’t know anyone in or around Dunsfold who would be happy with a new village on their doorstep.

Dunsfold Park could not provide enough diverse jobs to keep new village people there to work.

There’s no direct bus or train links to Guildford or Horsham and the local roads are already busy.

Small developments on outskirts of towns that can already cope.
Paul Robinson Reply

December 16, 2015 at 1:26 pm

I really don’t see how they can even contemplate 1,800 homes at Dunsfold plus new developments in Cranleigh while the A281 is no better than it was 60 years ago.
Terry Stevenson Reply

December 22, 2015 at 11:46 am

It does make me laugh…..

When the owner of the site previously suggested using the airfield at levels more akin to those when it was involved in aircraft manufacturing, there were howls of derision.

Now they are looking at an alternative use.

I can only conclude that landowners should be philanthropists, by law.

You’ve just got to love the Brits ‘can’t do’ mentality.
- Paul Robinson Reply
  
  January 3, 2016 at 12:06 pm
  
  I’m more than happy for it to remain an operational airfield
Bibhas Neogi Reply

January 3, 2016 at 9:59 am

“…. a day nursery, a primary school, a medical centre,..” for 1,800 homes? Would the occupants only be very healthy childless couples and singles?

Taking a low figure of one child on average for these homes, 1,800 places would be needed for primary schools and then secondary schools. In the next decade when more housing is built, more schools would be needed and say some 1,000 students have to go to college but where? The only colleges are in Godalming and Guildford.

How would they travel? Yes, you guessed it on the A281. So what do the developers do when they draw up a plan for such large housing schemes? Do they not look beyond their bank balance? Let’s hope Waverley Borough Council demands all facilities to be adequate in terms of schools, colleges and medical centres etc, in keeping with the numbers.

As for the A281, the solution in my view is to improve the sight lines, remove dangerous bends and make it a dual carriageway if at all possible.

On public transport, restore the route of the abandoned railway with a bus or a tram route.

Ask Surrey County Council to rewrite the report on travel needs on this corridor prepared by their consultant a few years ago that is now to become totally out of date if these developments go through.
- Paul Robinson Reply
  
  January 3, 2016 at 8:48 pm
  
  As to the previous reply: “As for the A281, the solution in my view is to improve the sight lines, remove dangerous bends and make it a dual carriageway if at all possible.”
  
  Good idea, everybody will get to the Bramley bottleneck so much quicker.
  - Bibhas Neogi Reply
    
    January 4, 2016 at 12:22 am
    
    But why stop dualling at Bramley? A Bramley bypass from Birtley Road to Shalford maybe the answer?
    
    The route would probably go through the golf course that is too large and a slightly reduced size may be acceptable in view of the benefit of the majority?
    - Paul Robinson Reply
      
      January 4, 2016 at 3:24 pm
      
      So Shalford becomes the bottleneck. Face it, whatever you do to the roads, the Guildford area is going to be a choke point that will just tail back.
      - Bibhas Neogi
        
        January 4, 2016 at 9:35 pm
        
        There are other improvements required to deal with the whole congestion issues through Guildford. Please see my website:
        http://www.spanglefish.com/revampguildfordgyratory/
        
        The Bramley bypass I suggested would connect up at the enlarged roundabout in Shalford junction south of the railway bridge.
        
        The route would then bypass Shalford on to a possible tunnel under Guildford to the A25 Parkway that is shown in the sketch:
        http://s1130.photobucket.com/user/Gyratory1/media/Guildfordtowntunnelrev2_zpscf24e5f1.jpg.html?sort=3&o=10
        
        Large-scale housing schemes in Guildford and Waverley Council areas would require commensurate improvements and expansion of the existing road network without which congestion would be excessive and benefits from developments would be grossly reduced.