"WE’VE got an adopted Local Plan. An adopted Neighbourhood Plan. Go away” – will soon be Farnham’s response to have-a-go developers.

That’s according to architect of the Farnham Neighbourhood Plan, Carole Cockburn.

The revised town plan, setting out a community-led blueprint for development up to 2032, stormed to a thumping referendum win in the early hours of Friday morning, winning over a huge 95.5 per cent of voters.

Nine years in the making, it is the second time the town plan has won overwhelming backing in a public vote.

In 2017, 88 per cent of voters backed the first iteration of the plan, only for the document to be sent back to the drawing board just months later when the government upped the region’s housing target.

It is hoped the updated 2020 iteration of the plan is here to stay, however, with Waverley Borough Council now duty-bound to adopt the plan as a key policy for determining planning applications in the town area.

The turnout was low – with just 25 per cent of eligible voters casting their ballot papers. But Neighbourhood Plan referenda are typically a hard sell for voters – and Farnham’s figure far outstrips that of Godalming, which registered a turnout of just 15 per cent.

The neighbourhood plan earmarks sites for a total of 2,780 new homes, including space for 450 homes on top of the 2,330 already catered for in the first plan.

But it’s not all about housing, as the plan also includes policies which aim to develop a shared vision for Farnham and to sustain local character.

Results in full:

Electorate – 31,063

Number of ‘yes’ votes – 7,472 (95.5 per cent)

Number of ‘no’ votes – 356 (4.5 per cent)

Total votes - 7,828

Ballot papers issued – 7,848

Ballot papers rejected - 20

Turnout – 25.3 per cent