Planning developments across Haslemere have residents in uproar.

A recent planning  application for 20 dwellings with seven associated parking spaces  on Wey Hill has most people saying the same thing, that the lack of parking will be a nightmare for the already traffic-heavy street. 

One objector said: “To build a 20 unit building with only seven car parking spaces is a disaster in the making. Wey Hill has significant traffic issues already and this will only add to that.”

But while the Wey Hill development would require extensions, it would be in an existing  building. 

Another development, with ample parking, is presenting a different issue. Phase Two of the Scotland Park development is under appeal after Waverley threw out the plan because of the harm it would cause to  the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. 

The development, already marred in controversy, has rocked residents with another scandal after opponents weren’t notified about a public session on day one of the ten-day inquiry. An online meeting held to make up for the error. But the outrage hasn’t stopped there. 

Planning inspector Tom Bristow assured hundreds of residents that his role was to remain impartial at a hastily arranged Zoom public session to make up for Waverley’s ‘technical error’ which had left objectors in the dark. 

But objectors’ eyebrows were raised after he liked a LinkedIn post by Charles Collins, lead adviser and witness for the developer.

The post included a photo taken in the public inquiry chamber, and in the text Collins raises the issues of the AONB and exceptional circumstances surrounding phase one of the Scotland Park development, the issue on which Mr Bristow is the sole adjudicator.

The inspector was not the only figure to cause ripples of alarm. Waverley and Guildford’s chief planning officer Claire Upton-Brown also liked the same post, as well as a post by developer Redwood’s lead barrister, Mr Maurici.

Phase one of Scotland Park is already under way, with Elivia Homes set to deliver 50 new homes off Scotland Lane in Haslemere following the acquisition of the site from Redwood.

But residents are shocked at the disruption the current development is causing to the area, including increased flooding and harm to the wildlife.

Howard Brown, chair of Haslemere South Residents Association, said two families lost their cars in flooding made worse by the development in Scotland Lane. 

He added: “Due to the felling of 600 trees for phase one, the wildlife has migrated into the proposed phase two Midhurst Road site as their homes were destroyed. 

“If phase two were to be permitted, with twice the number of houses as phase one, the impact from the devastation will have demonstrable harm on the landscape across southern Haslemere, permanent damage to the AONB, and further displace protected wildlife such as the dormouse, slowworms and even badgers.”