Rail line concerns over Ash Gypsy site plans - Surrey

From Get Surrey

A DECISION over whether to develop a new Gypsy site in Ash has been delayed.

The proposed site, a field south of Guildford Road, was recommended for approval at Tuesday’s meeting of Guildford Borough Council, despite more than 130 objections.

However councillors voted to visit the site to check concerns over traffic and the proximity of a railway line, before ruling on the application.

The empty field would house four pitches, each of which would be able to house a pair of caravans. The application was also backed by a petition with 129 signatures of people with no objections.

Matthew Green, of Green Planning Solutions LLP, agent for applicant Alan Bath, spoke in support of the application. He claimed that the council’s officers ‘should have gone further’ than simply recommending the application.

He said: “You don’t have a five-year land supply for Gypsy and Traveller sites and that is something that you must have. Instead you have a backlog of needs.”

He explained that changes to priorities in the National Planning Policy Framework mean that councillors’ concerns about the effect on the appearance of an area no longer carried sufficient weight.

“The impact of character and appearance no longer offers the same protection as it has in the past,” he said. “The fact that it will have an impact is no longer a negative.If you are talking about protecting valued landscape you need to have an independent assessment of that landscape. The assessment by your officers does not meet that.What I am saying to you is that you have a recommendation for approval, but that is something that should be going further in light of the presumption in favour of sustainable development. You don’t have a respectable basis to refuse this.”

Councillor Jayne Hewlett, of the Ash Wharf ward, called for the application progress to be deferred for a site visit.

She said: “I have a number of concerns about this application, especially in relation to proximity to the railway line. An average of 166 trains pass on that line per day.

“The line is serviced by a level crossing and that is lowered and raised for each train. Each time that happens it is signalled by the sound of a horn. This noise could affect any caravans in the site. There are flats nearby, but these are brick buildings.

“Because the crossing is down so often, there is often a queue back to Normandy. All of these cars will be queueing with a view into the site. Does that provide the necessary level of privacy?”

Cllr Hewlett said the site would also need to be assessed for safety concerns in relation to the railway line, with regard to suitable fencing to protect children playing ball games.

She added: “We have to look at the suitability of the site. This is a primary place of open land and development will harm the rural character and amenity of the area. This is countryside beyond the green belt.”

The council agreed to defer a decision in order to carry out a site visit at the earliest opportunity.