THANK YOU - conclusions from our submittal
- Residents Against Clouds Hill Farm Development
- Jan 8
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 9
A huge thank you from all of the committee fighting overdevelopment in Oxshott:
Your generosity has powered our fight to defend the welfare and future of our community — and to challenge the illogical and poorly thought through plan to build 250 houses/flats at Clouds Hill Farm on Green Belt land.
Read below for a breakdown of where the donations have been spent, what we need to do next, further fundraising, and a statement with conclusions of our submittal.
Together, we’ve raised £21,975 from 129 donors -
Every pound has gone straight into building a formidable case:
· £3,000 ET Planning, Letter of representation to Elmbridge Council
· £7,260 Planning consultant. Green v Grey Assessment,
· £252 Banner Printing
· £276.46 Leaflet Printing
· £204 Additional leaflet printing
· £702 Share of Transport Survey with Fedora
· £540 Transport Planning advise
· £4,800 Kings Council legal opinion
· £300 Drone Survey
· £2,370.86 ET Planning, Objection letter and other works
· £1,884 Heritage Report
· £113.06 ET Planning Green v Grey top up fee
WHERE WE ARE NOW
· Our official objection letter has been submitted.
· 818 individual objections lodged with the council.
· Council response expected in February.
WHY WE STILL NEED YOU
We’ve built a strong case — but the developer will fight back. That means:
· More expert reports.
· More legal firepower.
· More resources to ensure Oxshott is not seen as an easy target.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
If just 150 people donate £100 each, we’ll hit our next target and secure the legal leverage we need.
· Every donation strengthens our defence.
· Every voice makes Oxshott harder to ignore.
· Every step brings us closer to protecting our village.
PLEASE DONATE TODAY - via GoFundMe via this link: https://gofund.me/fc02808ff
Failure to stop this proposal sends the message that Oxshott is wide open for future development and this will change our village for ever.
OUR STATEMENT: Conclusions of our submittal
"The proposed Site is located within the Metropolitan Green Belt and cannot be considered to be ‘’grey belt’’ – a decision formed by 2 of our advisers and backed by KC opinion – and so the proposed development of up to 250 dwellings constitutes ‘’inappropriate’’ development. Specifically, the site prevents the uncontrolled urban sprawl of large built-up areas, that would result in significant and permanent harm to the countryside via the urbanisation of an open rural landscape, and is in close proximity to Woodlands Park Hotel and Woodlands Farm - both Grade 2 heritage assets - triggering heritage harm that, in itself, prevents a Grey Belt designation.
Furthermore, the proposed Site is not in a sustainable location, and thus fails the inappropriate development test for Grey Belt land, as confirmed by the Transport Appraisal undertaken in conjunction with FEDORA and by Elmbridge’s own 2019 Green Belt Accessibility Assessment, which is still being used by Elmbridge to inform the new Local Plan, which identified the proposed Site as being one of only 6 six areas out of the 105 potential development areas within the Greenbelt to fall into the poorest-performing category both for public transport access and for overall accessibility to key services such as schools, healthcare, employment, and local centres. There is a complete absence of safe pedestrian and cycling routes along the A244, very limited bus services, and Oxshott Station is 2km away. This all creates unacceptable reliance on private car travel given there is only a pub and an independent preparatory school within 800m walking distance as measured from the edge of the Site (800m is considered to be a reasonable walking distance under planning guidelines).
Our independent surveys also show that the Applicant has also significantly under-estimated current and future traffic volumes with speeding along the A244 endemic. Almost all drivers exceed the 20mph limit in central Oxshott and around 10,000 vehicles per day exceed the 30mph limit near the proposed Site access point to the A244. The Applicant’s 2030 traffic forecasts are between 4,000 and 9,000 vehicles per day lower than current observed current and it is clear that the proposed scheme will have severe impacts on congestion, safety, air quality, and noise for residents who live on or near to the A244 and / or use it.
There are significant ecological concerns with the proposed Site and major gaps in the Applicant’s ecological assessment and our Advisers believe the Application fails to demonstrate that the proposed development can avoid significant ecological harm or comply with the requirements of national and local policy.
In conclusion the Application represents inappropriate, unsustainable, and unjustified development in the Metropolitan Green Belt; causes demonstrable harm to landscape character, biodiversity, ecology, heritage assets, and the rural setting of Oxshott; and would significantly worsen traffic, air quality, and highway safety conditions along the already-congested A244 corridor. It is clear that this application has been put together in a speculative manner so as to take advantage of EBC’s lack of a Local Plan. Simply put ,it is the wrong development in the wrong location."
Our commissioned reports, surveys and Kings Counsel opinion are listed below for your review, as well as Fedora's response:
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