Housing shock for West End and Windlesham (Surrey Heath Liberal Democrats

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Housing shock for West End and Windlesham

February 25, 2009 12:00 AM

Government housing plans hit West End and Windlesham

Surrey Heath Council is currently assessing its housing needs until 2026 in order to meet this Government's targets for

Surrey Heath.

West End and Windlesham have large housing reserve sites:West End residents hoped theirs would be returned to Green Belt. They were horrified to find these sites included in 2 options for housing needs tucked away in a "consultation" document in a recent "Heathscene". They were even more shocked, just days before the consultation period ran out, to find that one site had the potential for 400 houses.

At a recent public meeting to discuss the production of a Village Design Statement West End residents expressed their anger at this development. A council representative explained that the Council's preferred option (2) did not include the reserve sites. However, if the site had to be included, the numbers would be less than 400 as space had to be provided for dog walking (mitigation land for the heathland birds protected by the SPA).

Local Lib Dems do not support further large-scale expansion of the Villages: the current infrastructure hardly meets the needs of the current population let alone that of another 1000 residents! Local activist David Catley said "it is likely that Government demands will prevail but residents must be consulted and we will fight to preserve the character of our area".