Mole Valley adopts new Local Plan
“This Local Plan removes just 0.67% of the total Green Belt in the District,” stated Councillor Margaret Cooksey, Mole Valley Liberal Democrat cabinet member for planning. Cllr Cooksey also emphasised “the Plan will now protect Green Belt from speculative attack by developers.”
In way of background, Cllr Cooksey accepted the post of cabinet member for planning at Mole Valley District Council in May/June 2019. She had no idea it would take almost five and a half years to get the Local Plan to completion.
The Council Meeting in Dorking on Tuesday 15 October 2024, in which the Adoption of the Local Plan was on the agenda, finished around 10.20 pm.
To non-councillors though what does the Local Plan mean? How many residents in Mole Valley could accurately describe it?
How many residents know that policies have been developed to enhance the future shape of the area, whilst providing homes for young people, identifying how we can provide for those who are less fortunate and require truly affordable homes, whilst protecting our environment, increasing biodiversity, and providing the necessary infrastructure to support the new homes?
The Local Plan is much more than a document about meeting housing need as Cllr Cooksey explained: “It has been an incredibly important, major piece of work which has included three public consultations, a four week-long Inspectors Examination, 6000 consultation responses, time, effort and worry about specific development sites, particularly Green Belt sites, some very unhappy residents and developers to deal with, and hurdles and hold-ups due to outside influences. The Planning Policy team produced 2,325 pages of documentation for the examination alone and produced and wrote 16,512 pages to justify the plan”.
The Inspector commended MVDC for its plan-making, stated the plan was evidence- based, its methodology robust, logical, extensive, and detailed. She also said that in reaching its housing target of 336 new homes per year, MVDC had balanced local housing need, with anticipated supply, and the district’s constraints, whilst identifying only 0.65% of the existing Green Belt to be released for future development.
TAKE NOTE:
ONLY 0.65% OF THE EXISTING GREEN BELT IN THE DISTRICT HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED TO BE RELEASED FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT.
Liberal Democrats removed many Green Belt sites from the Tory plan that they inherited but were prevented from removing more due to the decisions of the then Tory Secretary of State.
Cllr Cooksey: “There are sites in most of our wards that we wish were not there. As I said in my speech on the opening day of the Inspectors Examination, I felt it was a fair plan, in as much as what could be seen as pain, was spread as evenly as possible across the district. The sites within the Local Plan, which have been found by the Inspector as sound and legally compliant, can now be scrutinised in depth through the Development Management process.”
BENEFITS OF THE NEW LOCAL PLAN INCLUDE:
- More affordable housing, 40% for most larger sites, including homes for social rent.
- Stronger policies for the design of new buildings and ensuring it blends with the local character.
- Over 230 new Locally Listed Buildings
- Over 27 parks and open spaces given extra strong protection.
- Zero carbon homes for all new large housing developments
- Electric vehicle charging points at one socket per new home.
- 20% biodiversity replacement to compensate for new development.
- Additional temporary bulge school classes as required.
- New or expanded primary care.
- New publicly accessible open space
- New children’s play space
- New early years facilities
- Refreshed and new community hubs
- Transport improvements
- Flood mitigation measures.
- Water capacity improvements
- Wastewater network improvements
- New Gypsy and Traveller pitches
- Protection for shopping centres
