An appeal submitted by the developer behind the Drake Park plan who wants to build more than 1,000 homes on Walton green belt land has begun.

Bonnar Allan lodged the appeal with the planning inspectorate after committee members at Elmbridge Borough Council unanimously refused the proposal in November.

Drake Park would include a 1,024-home ‘garden village’, half of them affordable, on 147 acres of green belt land east of Molesey Road and south of Field Common Lane in Walton.

The proposals include a new primary school, medical centre, 70 acre park and lake, and a restaurant/pub.

The application was refused on four main grounds- it was described as an inappropriate use of the green belt, the developers could not demonstrate the transport impact would be sufficiently managed, its waste management plan was not satisfactory and not enough information was provided on the possible impact on biodiversity.

One concerned Walton resident, who did not wish to be named, said: “Quite simply put green belt should be only developed once every other possible location has been used.

“The roads around the development are already at a bottleneck due to Hersham bridge being single file traffic and the lights at the halfway are already operating at over 100 per cent of what they were designed for.

“Also the area is part of the Mole flood plain.

“Also, this bit of greenbelt if used would break the last remaining wildlife corridor and would complete the urban sprawl from London.”

Surrey Comet:

The proposed development 

Nigel Rankine, managing director at Bonnar Allan said the decision was “not a quick or easy” but said it was “essential as Elmbridge Borough Council is clearly failing to plan for new homes in the borough”.

He said: “We have always believed that the Drake Park proposals offered an excellent opportunity to provide new homes in Elmbridge of which 50 per cent or more than 500 will be affordable homes.

“The proposals also offer the opportunity to create a new 70 acre public park and help open up access to the wider Green Belt.

“We appreciate that decisions on releasing Green Belt for housing are always difficult, but with the continued emphasis from national government on building more homes we believe that well planned, sustainable new development, such as Drake Park, is a solution that benefits existing communities as well as delivering vital new homes.”

Walton South Conservatives Malcolm Howard said the council had sent a “strong signal to Bonnar Allen” when the application was rejected.

He said: “There were four main grounds for our opposition but the strongest of these was, and remains, the green belt.

“This land is highly significant as one of the last remaining green buffers separating Walton, Hersham and Esher and preventing continuous sprawl from London.

“I thought that last year and my opinion hasn’t changed.

“I know the council will put forward a strong argument.”

The appeal, which began on Tuesday, October 31, is expected to last 10 working days.

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