In March, the Waverley Borough Council Planning Committee refused permission for a large funeral building, incorporating an area for body preparation, on a site next to St John’s Church.

The site currently has planning permission from 2010 for a low impact woodland burial site and has been designated a SANG (Site of Alternative Natural Green Space) since 2020 and this is included in the Farnham Neighbourhood Plan.

A previous application in 2014 for a building was withdrawn when it became clear it would be refused because of “the impact on the character and appearance of the Countryside and AGLV”.

The 2023 refused planning application states the funeral building was for local community use, but the travel plans stated that the users were not local but from London, meaning a round trip of more than 80 miles.

The SANG approval included access across the site, creating a much-needed link following the natural contours of the land between the top of Farnham Park and Hale Road.

The planning applicant has however, refused to provide this link access offering instead some vague commitment to something further south on land that is part of the natural flood plain.

The applicant has now appealed to the Planning Inspector and the appeal will be determined by inquiry held on the 17thto 19thof December and the 14thto 16thof January.

So, what has changed in the hundreds of pages of appeal documents. If you look closely at the drawings the “Church Car Park” that would have provided some local benefit has been deleted and the funeral building is still enormous with a capacity for 180 people.

Much larger than the withdrawn plan from 2014 and there is still no walking or cycling route or access through the site. The users are still coming from London and the applicant is now arguing that there is nothing closer to London available.

This revised proposed development is clearly the wrong development for this site, adjacent to the Grade II list Farnham Park and numerous listed buildings at the Hale crossroads. Traffic is already a huge issue locally and there are already other approved schemes, not yet built, that will make traffic worse. The proposed development is also counter to numerous policies in the Farnham Neighbourhood Plan.

I will be making a representation to the Planning Inspector, reference number APP/R3650/W/24/3350600, and I hope other residents will make their views known as well.