Get the facts

TDC Garden Village facts

[TAKEN FROM TANDRIDGE DISTRICT COUNCIL HANDOUT 08.17]

What is a garden village?

A garden village is a holistically planned new settlement which offers high quality affordable housing and locally accessible work in healthy and sociable communities. It will enable us to build well designed homes which our young people and average earners can afford to live in.

What is the Garden Villages Consultation?

The Council’s agreed preferred strategy for the Local Plan includes the identification and delivery of a garden village. In this consultation we have set out a draft vision and the principles and objectives a garden village should meet. In addition, this consultation has looked at the four potential locations for a garden village.

  • Blindley Heath
  • Edenbridge, Land west of Edenbridge
  • Redhill Aerodrome
  • South Godstone

Two of the four locations straddle the boundaries of neighbouring authorities. How will this work?

Redhill Aerodrome and Land west of Edenbridge each straddle the boundaries of neighbouring authorities. These locations have also been submitted to the Local Plan processes of the relevant neighbouring authorities for their respective consideration and we will be working with our neighbours to consider these.

What infrastructure will be put in place to support the new homes?

The consultation document has set out a number of infrastructure requirements the four potential locations would have to provide based on information available at this time. As a minimum this has to include improvements to the road network, public transport and school and health facilities, which will support not just the garden village itself but existing residents. Without guarantees we will not allow development to go ahead.

A garden village is a once in a generation opportunity to deliver:

  • Affordable homes
  • New primary and secondary schools
  • Health care facilities
  • Road and highways improvements
  • Local facilities
  • New open space and recreation
  • Green infrastructure

Why has the Council looked at the Green Belt?

The district is 94% Green Belt and we will only need to release around 1% to develop a garden village. We have the highest proportion of Green Belt of any district or borough in the country and by releasing this small amount, we still will. This will help us to preserve the open and green character of our district which is one of our priorities and will prevent a scattergun approach to development.

How will the Council decide on the best location for a garden village?

Importantly, your comments are part of the evidence gathering and at each stage of the consultation are carefully analysed and used in the creation of our Local Plan.

The Council is also producing robust evidence about the Green Belt, the landscape, the ecology, flooding, infrastructure and sustainability. By considering all this information together in the final plan the Council will be setting a realistic, achievable and robust housing delivery target.

Who will benefit from the new homes?

The largest part of the population increase, around 70%, is because people are living longer. This reduces the availability of housing in the market. This is one of the reasons why housing in this area is so expensive and therefore unaffordable for many people. In order to buy an average house with a mortgage in the district, you currently need to earn more than £105,000 per annum.

What if we do nothing?

Unless we submit a Local Plan which stands up to the scrutiny of the government inspectors, where houses are built and how many will be driven by developers and decided at appeal. Creating a robust Local Plan together will give us the greatest control over development.

How can I keep up to date and have my say?

Visiting our consultation portal at http://consult.tandridge.gov.uk/portal.

E-mailing us at localplan@tandridge.gov.uk.

Writing to us at Tandridge District Council, 8 Station Road East, Oxted, Surrey RH8 0BT.

What happens next?

Results from this consultation will be analysed and used to prepare the draft Local Plan which we will consult on again, prior to it being submitted for examination.

Garden Villages Consultation “Get the Facts” leaflet from Tandridge District Council is available now.

contact us

For further information or assistance
please contact the Parish Clerk.

Telephone: 07722 465344
Email: parishclerk@nutfieldpc.com