Frensham Vale Action Group

What do we know?

 

• We know that there is enough derelict land to build 1.5 million homes close to where people work

• We know that there are 1 million empty homes in the UK – many more if you count accommodation above shops.

• We know that 300,000 private homes are vacant for more than six months.

• We know that large numbers of companies have ‘banked’ land.  An example is Tesco who revealed recently they have enough unused land to build 15,000 homes – roughly the size of the Governments plans for Ebbsfleet Garden City.

• We know that builders have Planning Permissions in place but have failed to start work on them; East Street being a prime example of this.

• We know that buy to let owners are holding stocks of housing of up to 3.2 million homes thereby taking them out of the market.

Bearing the above in mind, one has to ask why developers are consistently trying to build on greenfield sites not only in Jeremy Hunt MP's constituency in Farnham but all over the country.  Mr Pickles (ex-communities minister) and the George Osborne (ex-chancellor) changed their position and thrown their weight behind using brownfield sites but the underlying problem is the changes made to the Planning Laws.  They are not protecting our green spaces, wildlife corridors and the general amenity of local people - Jeremy Hunt MP's electorate.

Developers are being allowed to proceed against the wishes of local people; they are being allowed to continue even when there is no upgrading of local utilities – for example the sewage system in Farnham needs upgrading.  Adding more housing will not improve the system.  Frensham Vale already has a problem where sewage backs up to our house and others.  Developers are building on greenfield sites where facilities are not available - there are no school places in the area – the school in the Bourne is full; Rowledge School is oversubscribed along with Frensham and the Tilford schools. The roads are rural, narrow, twisting and THEY FLOOD. Gardeners Hill Road CLOSES after a snow fall - preventing the Emergency Services from gaining access.

We would urge the Government to think carefully about changes that could be made to the Planning Laws to protect what makes our semi-rural area in Lower Bourne, Farnham and other rural areas throughout the country precious and worth saving from the ever encroaching bricks and mortar.

What happened to this Policy requested by Her Majesty - The UK Government Sustainable Development Strategy

We did not choose to live in London, we did not choose to live in the suburbs of Ewell or Surbiton we chose to live in the semi-rural area known as Lower Bourne and we would like to continue to do so. It is undemocratic for Central Government to impose house building numbers on local authorities and thereby its citizens.

We believe this matter must be looked into urgently as it will be an important consideration when voters are looking at this Governments record and thinking about how to place their votes.