SA TANDRIDGE, SURREY, UK

CASE STUDY

Sustainability Appraisal

Tandridge, UK

Project Type
Sustainability Appraisal 
Client
Tandridge District Council 
Location
Oxted, Surrey, UK
Keywords
  • Strategic sites
  • Reasonable alternatives
  • Garden village
  • North Downs AONB

Garden Village identification, description and evaluation in leafy Surrey.  

Tandridge is located in Surrey in the south east of England. It is served by a strategic transport network, including London’s Orbital M25 which runs east to west and the M23 which runs north to south along its western boundary. The District is subject to a number of environmental constraints. There are two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in the District: Surrey Hills in the north and High Weald in the south-east. The District has a long-standing history of having the highest percentage of Green Belt of any authority in England. It also has numerous landscapes valued for their biodiversity, which include Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Local Nature Reserves and Biodiversity Opportunity Areas.

Tandridge District Council is in the process of updating its Local Plan which sets out a new development strategy for the district up to 2033. Lepus was instructed to undertake a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of potential Garden Village locations within the district to inform the emerging Local Plan.

Lepus assessed ten potential Garden Village locations against a bespoke SA Framework which reflected local issues. The SA sought to inform the options for the potential Garden Village location and the proposals, within broad locations, which had the potential to result in significant effects. Key issues included greenhouse gas emissions, water quality, landscape character and biodiversity. We worked closely with the District to integrate the recommendations of the SA and apply the Garden Village Objectives into the plan-making process. As a result, many of the negative aspects of development were successfully reduced in effect.  

Sustainability Appraisal is a systematic process aimed at appraising the social, environmental and economic effects of plan strategies and policies and ensuring that they accord with the objectives of sustainable development. To find out more about SA, please visit our services page or click here. 

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