Consultations

Westcott Neighbourhood Plan

We have received a proposal from a local organisation calling themselves the “Westcott Village Forum” to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan for Westcott. However, before the Neighbourhood Plan can progress, both the Forum and a Neighbourhood Area need to be designated. The Forum, if designated, would oversee and consult the local community on the preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan. The Neighbourhood Area is the area which the Neighbourhood Plan would be applied to.

We are consulting on designating the Forum and Neighbourhood Area for a period of six weeks between 1 April and 16 May 2025. We would like to hear the views on designating the Forum and the Neighbourhood Area. Please view the consultation documents submitted by the Forum and submit your response to Mole Valley District Council via e-mail to: planning.policy@molevalley.gov.uk.

The Neighbourhood Plan has to be based on our strategic planning polices however its detailed policies and proposals can reflect the specific issues facing the community.

Once adopted, the Westcott Neighbourhood Plan will become a Development Plan Document and will be taken into account in the determination of planning applications for proposals in the Neighbourhood Area.

Draft Supplementary Planning Documents

We recently consulted on three draft Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs):

• Draft Affordable Housing SPD, which provides details on the Council’s requirements for affordable housing delivery, vacant building credit, build to rent schemes, rural exception sites, specialist housing and viability assessments.
• Draft Planning Obligations SPD, which provides information on Section 106 agreements generally and planning obligations for carbon offsetting, biodiversity, open space, play space, public realm and heritage assets, community safety, sports facilities, ait quality, healthcare and natural flood management. It also provides locally specific information for planning obligations set by Surrey County Council.
• Draft Design Guidance for House Extensions SPD, which deals with issues such as whether planning permission is required, neighbourliness and character guidance for all the major types of house extensions.

We consulted on the draft SPDs for seven weeks between Monday 13 January to Friday 28 February 2025 at 5pm. The consultation has now ended. We are reviewing the responses received and will publish an update in due course.

Validation Checklist

A consultation on a new Validation Checklist took place between 30 September and 11 November 2024. The consultation has now ended. The Council will adopt new local validation requirements from May 2025, to be published on the Submitting a Planning Application webpage.

Consultation arrangements

Any responses received to the consultations will be held electronically for the purposes of meeting the Council’s duties arising from reporting consultations. Consultation responses will be made public but your personal data, other than your name or the name of the person you are acting for, will not be made public. Consultation responses will be kept for two years post adoption of the documents. Please see our Privacy and Cookies Policy and Privacy Notice for Planning Policy Statutory Documents for more information.