Surrey Hills could be extended even further than originally planned
Share your views on proposals to expand national landscape
The Surrey Hills National Landscape boundary could be extended by an extra 3,000 acres, on top of the original plan to expand it by 25%.
A consultation was held last year in response to Natural England's proposal to designate another 100 sq km (62 sq miles) into the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) - since rebranded as a National Landscape.
A post-consultation report has now been published, and suggests adding even more land, with several new parcels and sites identified.
Hatchlands & East Clandon, and Wey Valley, Farnham, received the highest number of negative responses to the proposed boundary adjustment but the majority of areas received strong support, especially Hogs Back and Happy Valley.
The Godstone Hills boundary was most controversial, with many alternative suggestions put forward.
Importantly, there are a significant number of adjustments to be made which can be referenced on page 26 & 27 of the Consultation analysis report. Adjustments included some areas being deleted but also some proposed additions. The largest addition is seen in Beddlestead Valley – to be included in the Woldingham Valley extension.
Themes gathered from the consultation process included positive and negative impacts:
Support
- Benefits from integrated management
- Benefits arising from additional resources
- Benefits from conservation and enhancement
- Benefits of improved access and visitor management
- Statutory protection in planning
- Proximity to centres of population and access
- Area of Greater Landscape Value (AGLV) status is uncertain and therefore should be designated as Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
- Bringing in additional land to fulfil Government commitment to nature recovery and addressing climate change
- Bringing in additional land to improve access and wellbeing.
Opposition
- Current management of the land
- Areas are already protected in planning terms
- Increased regulations and restrictions
- Removal of permitted development rights
- Impact on housing supply
- Impact on the economy
- Impact on business
- Impact on agriculture
- Increased house prices.
In addition to some minor adjustments, there was an area of land to the west of the Surrey Hills within East Hampshire that was highlighted as potentially qualifying for designation and so further fieldwork is being undertaken that will be published in August.
As the results of the 2023 consultation presented opportunities to include more land, a second consultation will be required which will launch in September 2024 and last for 12 weeks. We will share an update as soon as more details are available.
This second consultation will only encompass the new additions, including the land in east Hampshire. You can see the additions marked in Yellow on the Fig.12a_Index Map.pdf, with full detailed maps available on the consultation home page.
Share your views
The second consultation has not opened yet, but we would like to hear your views. Do you support or oppose the proposal to add a further 3,000 acres to the original plan?
Contact CLA South East rural adviser Lucy Charman by emailing lucy.charman@cla.org.uk or call 01264 358195.
More information and maps
All publicly available documents and maps related to the project can be found here (scroll to the bottom of the page).
