A little UK village is set to double in size due to plans for 500 homes. The site just north of South Godstone in Surrey – which has a population of around 1,500 – is in the green belt, and is approximately 35.3 hectares in size, with applicants describing it as consisting mainly of land used for grazing and grassland. To the south is the Tonbridge railway line. Provisions for shops or community spaces, play areas and allotments have been made for the “Pale Park Village” scheme.
Developer Regency and Co. states in application documents: “The site slopes from west to east, with a shallow valley formation feeding ponds in the eastern part of the site. The site is generally well screened from views to the east and north.” Regarding flooding, they added: “The site is located within Flood Zone 1 (an area of land assessed as having a less than one in 1,000 annual probability of river or sea flooding).
“However, the Environment Agency’s (EA) Flood Map for Planning13 indicates that parts of the site have a surface water flooding probability of more than 3.3% per year.”
Documents also note potential physical impacts on archaeological remains, including a medieval park, crop marks relating to post-medieval building remains, and a World War II aircraft crash site, the remains of which are protected under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.
It comes after the Housing Secretary, Steve Reed, promised to “build, baby, build” upon taking on the role after Angela Rayner’s resignation.
The Government aims to oversee the delivery of 1.5million homes by the end of this Parliament.
Mr Reed said this week: “Buying a home should be a dream, not a nightmare.
“Our reforms will fix the broken system so hardworking people can focus on the next chapter of their lives.”
According to Rightmove, house prices in South Godstone had an overall average of £517,778 over the last year.
The majority of properties sold were semi-detached properties, selling for an average price of £604,286.
Terraced properties sold for an average of £416,750, with flats fetching £334,500.
Overall, the historical sold prices in South Godstone over the last year were 3% down on the previous year and 4% down on the 2022 peak of £540,016.
