Last week, Local Plan Inspector, Philip Lewis, published a letter to Tandridge District Council regarding questions on the viability and funding for the proposed South Godstone Garden Community scheme. The Inspector is currently considering his decision on whether to approve the Local Plan, of which the “Garden Village” is the key feature… 

Last month, Tandridge District Council heard that its bid for money to upgrade Junction 6 of the M25 and the A264 Felbridge junction with the A22 to facilitate the South Godstone Garden Community, had been rejected. [click here for more info]

Following this rejection by the Government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) of the £57 million bid, the Inspector has now sent a letter to TDC’s Acting Chief Executive, Elaine Jackson asking for clarification on a number of issues regarding funding of infrastructure, viability and deliverability.

To read the Inspector’s letter, click here

The Inspector’s Programme Officer notes: 

You will see that in the letter, the Inspector poses some questions for the Council following the decision on the HIF bid.   These are matters that he needs to explore further before he can issue his full post hearings letter which is otherwise substantially complete. The process from this point will be for the Council to respond and we will need to agree the timescale for this in due course.  The Inspector will consider that response and decide what needs to be done at that point.  That may, or may not include seeking views of other participants.

Chris banks

The Inspector is not seeking views of any party other than the Council at this time and TDC is currently determining a timetable for its response, which needs to allow for conversations with the relevant parties, such as Surrey County Council and Highways England.

All information relating to this will be published on the website when it is available.

Examination Web Pages
https://www.tandridge.gov.uk/Planning-and-building/Planning-strategies-and-policies/Local-Plan-2033-emerging-planning-policies/Local-Plan-2033

Examination Guidance
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/examining-local-plans-procedural-practice

Sources: OLRG, Tandridge District Council and Chris Banks of Banks Solutions