Chapter 4: Protecting Places

When considering the policies in this Chapter, it is important to remember that the Development Plan should be read as a whole. This means that all relevant policies in Local Plan Part 1, relevant neighbourhood plans and other chapters of this document will be taken into account in determining planning applications, along with other material considerations. In addition, the minerals and waste local plans produced by Surrey County Council also form part of the Development Plan and must also be considered.

Local Landscape Areas

4.1 Waverley has a high quality environment which is one of the Borough’s greatest assets. The NPPF states that in preparing plans to meet development requirements, the planning system should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by protecting and enhancing valued landscapes (paragraph 170), and that plans should distinguish between the hierarchy of international, national and locally designated sites (paragraph 171).

4.2 Local Plan Part 1 includes an objective to safeguard and enhance the historic heritage and diverse landscapes and townscapes in Waverley, and to ensure that new development takes proper account of the character and distinctiveness of the area in which it is located.

4.3 In the Local Plan of 2002, there are several local landscape designations. The Local Landscape Designation Review (LLDR) was carried out in 2014; it was a high level strategic review of the non-statutory landscape designations within Waverley. It reviewed whether they still serve a purpose against the reasons why they were designated. Due to its high level nature no detailed boundary changes were considered.

4.4 Policy RE3 of Local Plan Part 1 establishes the retention of the majority of these designations, and sets out the strategic approach to their protection, following the recommendations of the LLDR (these are Godalming Hillsides, Farnham/Aldershot Strategic Gap and Areas of Strategic Visual Importance). Therefore, for those designations reviewed by the LLDR, the role of Local Plan Part 2 is only to review the boundaries of local landscape designations. The exception to this is that Local Plan Part 2 contains a policy on the Farnham/Aldershot Strategic Gap as well as reviewing the boundary. For Haslemere Hillsides and Frith Hill Area of Special Environmental Quality (ASEQ) the role of Local Plan Part 2 is to review the policy more comprehensively.

Hillside Areas 4.5 In Waverley, there are currently three local landscape areas designated because of the wooded hillsides that define the unique townscape and landscape characters of Godalming and Haslemere. These wooded hillsides provide additional environmental benefits, including supporting biodiversity through the provision of green infrastructure networks through the towns, and by helping to reduce flood risk through the management of surface water run-off.

Godalming Hillsides 4.6 In Godalming, the 2002 Local Plan sets out two designations which are intended to protect the wooded hillsides that encircle the town’s central core and give its special distinctive character.

4.7 The first of these, Godalming Hillsides, is retained through Policy RE3 section v. of Local Plan Part 1, which states that ‘Development will not be acceptable on the Godalming Hillsides… unless the Council is satisfied that the development would not diminish the wooded appearance of the hillside and result in loss of tree cover to the detriment of the area and the character and setting of the town’. However, the precise boundaries are to be reviewed through Local Plan Part 2 to correct anomalies7.

4.8 The second, Frith Hill ASEQ, covers a smaller area than Godalming Hillsides (the majority of which is also within the Godalming Hillsides boundary) and was not considered in the LLDR. It was therefore not discussed in Local Plan Part 1. For Frith Hill ASEQ, both the need for the designation and its boundary has been considered as part of Local Plan Part 2.

4.9 Given the similarities in purpose and spatial extent of Frith Hill ASEQ and the Godalming Hillsides, the two areas have been combined within the Godalming Hillsides designation to avoid repetition within the Plan.

4.10 The Godalming and Farncombe Neighbourhood Plan was ‘made’ (adopted) in August 2019 and includes Policy GOD12: Godalming and Farncombe Skyline which adds an additional requirement for the Godalming Hillsides to those set out in Local Plan Part 1 Policy RE3.

4.11 Policy RE3 of Local Plan Part 1 applies to the area identified as the Godalming Hillsides on the Policies Map below.

7 For further details please see the Godalming Hillsides and Frith Hill ASEQ Topic Paper.

Haslemere Hillsides 4.12 The Haslemere Hillsides policy was first identified in the Waverley Borough Local Plan 2002 to protect the wooded hillside to the south of Haslemere High Street which acts as an important backdrop to the Conservation Area.

4.13 Haslemere Town Centre was designated a Conservation Area in 1974. A Conservation Area Appraisal (CAA) was adopted as a material consideration by the Council in 2014. In the CAA, the area designated as Haslemere Hillsides is mentioned as an important green landscape which surrounds the Conservation Area.

4.14 This designation was not reviewed as part of the LLDR and therefore is not discussed in Local Plan Part 1. Both the need for the designation and its boundary have been considered as part of Local Plan Part 2.

4.15 Although the area provides a green backdrop, it has quite a low percentage of tree cover. This, therefore, means that the loss of any trees could cause significant harm to the setting of the Conservation Area. This designation therefore promotes the need to retain the wooded appearance of the designated area.

DM17: Haslemere Hillsides Development in the areas defined on the policies map should: a) retain the wooded appearance of the hillside and the character and setting of the town by not exposing existing development to view or reducing the green backdrop effect of the hillside; and b) not result in material loss of tree cover to the detriment of the character of the Haslemere Town Centre Conservation Area.

Other documents or Haslemere Town Centre Conservation Area Appraisal guidance Monitoring Indicator: Refusal of applications, and dismissal at appeal, for proposals which would have an adverse impact on the Haslemere Hillsides. Target: Protection of the wooded character of the Haslemere Hillside.

Map 29: Haslemere Hillsides