The principal points are:-

• No planning application has yet been been submitted;
• DP has stated that a planning application will be submitted later this year. If it is the Parish Council will consider it in public, with an opportunity for public comment, before comments on it are submitted to Waverley Borough Council (WBC) who will have to decide whether to grant or refuse permission;
• DP submitted in June a draft 'Scoping Report' to WBC in compliance with the requirement that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) must be carried out before consent for developments of this type can be given. WBC will provide comments in response to this report, and if a planning application is submitted DP's final environmental statement will accompany the planning application;
• The Scoping Report states that DP intends to submit an outline planning application to WBC for the development of a new settlement on the 240 hectare (ha) site at Dunsfold Park comprising:-
  • Residential areas to the south to accommodate 2,600 houses (61 ha);
  • Existing (17ha) and proposed new (4ha) business areas to the north;
  • Indoor sport and fitness facilities to the south (0.4ha);
  • School, community & Health centre and church (1ha);
  • Retail, café/pub and leisure area (0.4ha);
  • Aviation monuments and an aviation museum (0.56ha) to the north;
  • An aviation field (?size) to the north east to facilitate aeronautical displays and events;
  • "green infrastructure" open spaces (147.1ha);
  • The Scoping Report also states that Dunsfold Park owns 400ha, including Holdhurst Farm, of land to the north-east of the site boundary.
• WBC are holding in public in the Council Chamber on 13th September 2006 at 6.30 pm a Development Control Consultative Forum at which DP will present and explain their proposals, and there will be a discussion to identify issues and concerns before a formal planning application is submitted to WBC. Dunsfold Parish Council have accepted an invitation, extended to many other organisations, to speak at this Forum. There is likely to be a second public Forum, not yet fixed, which will discuss any adjustment made by DP to its proposals, if it wishes to pursue them, in the light of the discussion at the first Forum. (Two such Development Control Forums were held in October and November 2005 to consider DP's then proposal for permission to carry out a wide range of activities on the site without individual limits of frequency or duration during a 10 year temporary period. DP subsequently decided not to pursue that application.)
• An EIA for the proposed new settlement will require a Traffic Assessment (TA) to be carried out. A public meeting was held on 27th July in Bramley (attended by Dunsfold residents and Councillors amongst many others) at which the management of Dunsfold Park were invited by Bramley Parish Council to explain how they might address the traffic issues which could arise as a result of actual and proposed developments at Dunsfold Park. The meeting was told that traffic surveys of movements along the A281 showed that Bramley, with 19,000 vehicles a day, was already operating at over-capacity at peak hours; that DP had no expectation of any public money being found from Government for infrastructure improvements; that any such funds would have to be found by Dunsfold Park, which in turn would be dependent upon the scale and type of development allowed on the site. An alternative relief road to the A3 was beyond the financial capabilities of Dunsfold Park. The meeting expressed disbelief over the practical possibility of DP's plans to restrict car ownership or use from the proposed new settlement, and cast doubt on whether there could be sufficient scope for funding essential to support traffic improvements, in the absence of which the new settlement development would not take place.
• No timetable has yet been agreed for the preparation by WBC of an Area Action Plan (AAP) for Dunsfold Aerodrome under the Local Development Framework (LDF) which WBC are required to produce under the 2002 Act to replace the current Local Plan. Such LDF has to follow the South East Plan (SEP) being produced by the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA).
• WBC do not anticipate that work on the AAP could start before the Panel report on the SEP in Autumn 2007. Should a planning application for a new settlement at Dunsfold be submitted before that date it would be considered on its merits against the relevant national, regional, strategic and local policies at that time. In the event of an appeal following a refusal, then the Inspector would have to consider the proposal in the same way. Such a new settlement would not comply with such policies, nor does it appear that it would comply with the replacement policies in the current drafts of the SEP and the LDF. The Parish Council currently has for comment the WBC draft LDF policies which state that: such a new development is not required anywhere in the Borough to meet the housing allocation needs up to 2016; would conflict with current Structure Plan and emerging regional planning policies; and if, as with this proposal, were to be built on rural land (as opposed to urban land where under draft LDF policies future Borough development is to be concentrated) would have a major impact on the rural character and environment.

Alan Ground, Chairman Dunsfold Parish Council
18 August 2006