Plans to build houses on aerodrome site split residents

East Surrey residents are divided over proposals to earmark the Redhill Aerodrome for thousands of new homes in a council's draft local plan.

Tandridge District Council (TDC) ran a consultation on its plan over the summer, which listed the site as a possible "strategic development" location, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

TDC's consultation found that 53% of respondents expressed support, while 47% opposed the scheme.

"The overall final analysis still supports the Aerodrome," officers told councillors.

They added that there were "common themes" among concerns about the Aerodrome that came out of the consultation, most notably around potential impact on local infrastructure and the green belt.

Other worries were expressed about the site's scale and possible pressures it might place on schools and health services.

In August, councillor Stephen McKenna said: "This site is a new settlement really. We'd be talking about something brand new in the countryside.

"If this is going to be built, it would need a huge amount of infrastructure put in at the developers' cost."

The aerodrome is currently used by Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex and the National Police Air Service, which runs flight training and runs emergency services.

Councillor Catherine Sayer said these services had been taken into consideration in the proposal, and that it provides for "long term retention" of their operations.

She added that no final decisions had been made, and that if the proposal progressed, "it would need to be comprehensively planned and supported by infrastructure delivered at the appropriate stages".

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