Dunsfold Aerodrome

Last Updated on Thursday, 19 May 2011 22:03

19 May 2011 - Residents in Cranleigh organise to oppose aviation expansion and invite others to join them

Residents in Cranleigh have organised a group to oppose this expansion.  This is being co-ordinated by Frank Gray.  They have already produced their first newsletter.  They would welcome links with residents of other villages in the affected area. 

13 May 2011 - Serious Developments at Dunsfold Aerodrome - major push to expand aviation

The owners of Dunsfold Aerodrome have recently submitted a large and detailed application for a Lawful Development Certificate (LDC) to Waverley Borough Council seeking confirmation that there are no restrictions on the aviation use of the site i.e. on the total number of planes that can use the aerodrome, the hours planes fly in and out, the days of the week they can use the aerodrome and the levels of noise they can make.  This application is based on the historic use of the site.  It may sound far-fetched to many people reading this, but there is a valid planning basis for this claim which needs to be taken seriously.  We have prepared a briefing on the application, click on GWFriends of the Earth Dunsfold Briefing.  This will be updated as more information becomes available.

For the last five years Guildford and Waverley Friends of the Earth have been working to try and prevent significant expansion of aviation at Dunsfold Aerodrome which we recognised as a serious and credible threat as far back as 2006.     We have always believed that the only way to stop aviation expansion at Dunsfold is to find an alternative viable use for the site which is both acceptable to the owner and environmentally sustainable.  The proposed eco settlement was an outstanding environmental exemplar in its own right and was exactly the sort of viable alternative use that should have been permitted by Waverley.  That is still our view.

The immediate problem however is to try to help Waverley Council defeat the owners' application for the Lawful Development Certificate.

This is not going to be easy.  Waverley has recently had experience of being on the losing end of one of these applications at Milford in 2010 when it was unable to stop Tesco from opening a Tesco Express in spite of strong local objections. 

The application for the LDC is a mixture of fact and law.  Normal planning policy considerations which include environmental impact are irrelevant.  Unfortunately, the Council has not explained this to more than a handful of residents and a couple of Parish Councils in the immediate area of the aerodrome although a much wider area will be affected if the application is successful particularly under the flight paths.   Other than waiting for legal advice from a barrister and talking to so-called 'aviation experts' Waverley appears to be doing very little.   Another concern is that from comments made by some local councillors about the application, particularly Councillor Taylor-Smith (the Planning and Development Portfolio holder), it seems this application is not being taken seriously by some senior Waverley Councillors, and this is very worrying.  Comments in the press made by the local MP for Cranleigh and Ewhurst, Anne Milton, also show she has no grasp of the issue and letters from her to concerned local residents just say it is a matter for Waverley Borough Council.  At least Jeremy Hunt MP, whose constituency covers Dunsfold village, Chiddingfold and Haslemere, has said he is 'incredibly concerned' and seems to be taking a more active interest and maintains he is in contact with the Council.     

Waverley Council has already comprehensively failed its residents in relation to Dunsfold Aerodrome. In particular it failed to analyse the planning situation properly at Dunsfold and has been caught completely off-guard by this application and has only itself to blame for this having ignored the various signs and warnings it received in the last few months. 

Many residents in villages and towns across the whole of the southern half of the borough who will be badly affected by any expansion are blissfully unaware of the looming threat.  Other residents who have heard about it are very worried indeed about what they have heard (in our view rightly so) and are trying to voice their objections even though Waverley has been extraordinarily slow to explaining that objections on environmental grounds don't count because of the type of application.