Ockham Cottage, School Lane, Ockham, Woking, GU23 6PA

1. 1.The proposed development would constitute inappropriate development in the Green Belt, by virtue of the wall and gates being materially larger than the existing fence and gates they would replace. Inappropriate development is by definition harmful to the Green Belt. Due to their increased height and solid form, they would also result in moderate additional harm to the openness of the Green Belt. No very special circumstances have been demonstrated which would clearly outweigh the harm in principle to the Green Belt, including harm to openness and the other identified harms. The development therefore fails to accord with policy P2 of the Guildford Borough Local Plan: Strategy and Sites (adopted by Council on 25 April 2019) and Chapter 13 of the National Planning Policy Framework 2024.
2. 2.The proposed wall and gates, by virtue of their significant height, solid form and formal appearance, would appear overly imposing within School Lane and out of keeping with the prevailing character and surrounding context, where front boundary treatments are typically low in height, informal and rural in appearance. Therefore, the proposed development would not comply with policies D1 of the Local Plan: Strategy and Sites 2015, D4 of the Local Plan: Development Millmead House, Millmead, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 4BB Management Policies 2023, policy LNPH3 of the Lovelace Neighbourhood Plan, the Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD 2018, and the relevant provisions of the National Planning Policy Framework 2024.
3. 3.The proposed wall and gates, by virtue of their significant height, solid form and formal appearance would appear out of keeping with the rural character the western part of the Ockham Conservation Area, where front boundary treatments are typically low in height, informal and rural in appearance. The proposal would therefore result in a moderate degree of less than substantial harm to the designated heritage asset. No public benefits have been demonstrated to outweigh this harm. Therefore, the proposed development would not comply with policies D3 of the Local Plan: Strategy and Sites 2015, D18 and D20 of the Local Plan: Development Management Policies 2023, policy LNPH3 of the Lovelace Neighbourhood Plan, Section 72 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, and Chapter 16 of the National Planning Policy Framework 2024.

From the council's decision notice.

Postcode

GU23 6PA

Application type

Full Application

Scale / size

Small

Parish

Ockham

Date validated

17 December 2025

Consultation expiry

31 January 2026

Consultation start

9 January 2026

Consultation end

31 January 2026

Neighbour consultation start

5 January 2026

Neighbour consultation end

31 January 2026

Last date for comments

11 February 2026

Target decision date

11 February 2026

Agent

Paradigm Planning Ltd

Agent address

PM House, Riverway Estate, Old Portsmouth Road, Guildford, GU3 1LZ

Statutory period

56 days

Last advertised

9 January 2026

Advertisement expiry

31 January 2026

Site notice start

9 January 2026

Site notice end

31 January 2026

Planning Portal ID

PP-14568478

Documents

20