It is inevitable that sooner or later, new houses will be appearing all over Surrey. Innumerable proposals have been suggested, but is this suggestion set to become a reality? Woodham New Town has the possibility of consisting of more than 3,500 new homes, encompassing a large area of treasured woodland, as well as New Zealand Golf Course. Lead campaigner, Matt Ryder, speaks about the threat of this vast new town, and the likeability of this major project. The proposed plan is to remove 111 hectares of land from the Greenbelt, so it can be developed on between 2027 and 2040. The houses along Woodham Road could be forced to sell, under the Compulsory Purchase Act of 2004, which allows councils to buy any land that they need.

 

Matt Ryder claims “The council had already allocated 6 smaller parcels of land throughout the Borough, which I believe are much better for development. In fact, the councils own research shows that these smaller areas of land would be much better to build on.”

 

One major argument against the Woodham New Town is that Green Belt is designed to stop urbanised areas merging into each other. Eradicating the Green Belt would make this use irrelevant. Additionally, the removal of this endangered land would mean that protected species of birds and animals would lose their own precious woodland.

 

“It seems evident to me that one major issue of this proposal is the heavy congestion of Woking’s roads. Currently, the traffic is always atrocious, in particular the A320, which would be heavily affected by this issue. Our roads would certainly not be able to cope with the possibility of 5,000 extra cars!”

 

You might believe that one positive of a new town is that surely the infrastructure around Woking would have to be improved. Yet, Surrey County Council have already said that they cannot afford to pay for new infrastructure, such as roads, rail and schools. This means that, if this proposal gets the green light, there would be oversubscribed schools and health centres, as well as traffic gridlock.

 

“The next stage of this proposal is this summer, however there is certainly no guarantee that this contest will be over by then. This major issue has the possibility of lasting for a long time, which really is not fair to the people of Woking. I have faith that the planning officers will make the right decision, and build on the smaller sites across the borough, which they prefer.”

 

It is integral to highlight the major issues with developing on this vast piece of land. Yet, the Borough’s other suggestions also plan to build on valuable Green Belt sites. So, as Surrey heads towards a housing crisis, what is the best option?

 

By James Stonehouse, St George's College Weybridge