Most residents will be aware of a proposal by the English Rural Housing Association to build 17 homes – 12 designated as affordable – on land at Orchard Farm, off Wormley Lane (see previous news items).

The village will have a chance to see the ERHA plans when it holds an exhibition of them at the Village Hall between 3pm and 8pm on Thursday January 15.

The Parish Council will then hold an open meeting at the hall on Wednesday January 28, starting at 8 pm, which will provide an opportunity for the whole village to debate the proposals.

ERHA has not yet submitted a planning application to Waverley Borough Council, which will determine the issue, and will not do so until after the village has been consulted.

In the meantime the village and its parish council will need to consider another proposal, just submitted, for four affordable homes and two market price homes on land beside the Merry Harriers car park, on the opposite side of Hambledon Road to the pub. This land is currently used as a campsite.

Unlike the ERHA proposal, this is a formal submitted planning application to Waverley and therefore will have to be considered before the Orchard Farm site.  Details of this application can be found at

http://waverweb.waverley.gov.uk/live/wbc/pwl.nsf/(RefNoLU)/WA20142326?OpenDocument

Comments can be left on the Waverley website or in writing to the council. The proposals are also available for inspection in the pub. In the application it is requested that approval be given as “development of the site as proposed will assist in addressing the need for housing and affordable housing.”

The application has been submitted by Colin and Julie Stoneley, owners of the Merry Harriers. It is proposed that access to the new homes would be through the existing pub carpark.

Hambledon has a previously identified need for six affordable homes for the benefit of local people. However, in order to determine the up-to-date situation, the parish council is asking Surrey Community Action to arrange a new survey in the early New Year.  All households in the parish will be consulted.

The parish council has not taken a view on either proposal, although it supports the provision of affordable housing. The decision will be taken by Waverley councillors and the proposals for both sites will be considered in detail before then.

ERHA informed the parish council in September that it had acquired the 9.5-acre Orchard Farm. It had originally hoped to acquire a part of the site for a small development of affordable homes but the seller would not agree. Instead ERHA bought the whole site and is now proposing 12 affordable homes and five open market properties, including the refurbishment or replacement of the existing Orchard Farm house.

The proposal has caused concern among nearby residents. The development is considerably larger than anything previously envisaged by the parish council, which is now seeking to consult with the whole village before it passes comment on any planning application.

Both Orchard Farm and the Merry Harriers field are within the Green Belt and the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and would need to be considered as “rural exception sites” if Waverley was to grant planning permission.