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The Old Coal Yard, Land to the Southeast of Felday Houses, Horsham Road, Holmbury St Mary, Guildford

26/P/00172Full ApplicationRefused
Full

Refused on 6 November 2026

Council decision: RefuseDelegated (officer decision)4 reasons for refusal

Approximate location: the centre of the postcode, not the exact property.

Proposal

Change of use of former coal yard to residential (C3) together with erection of a detached dwelling following demolition of existing buildings. Additional ecological response submitted 08.10.26. Appendix C to P.E.A. submitted 27.10.26. Additional plan re cycle store and amended layout plan showing location of bike and bins store submitted 02.11.26.

Received
10 February 2026
Decision level
Delegated (officer decision)
Public comments
2 · last counted 25 October 2026
Ward
Tillingbourne
Agent
Simon Best Associates Ltd
  1. Received10 Feb
  2. Validated10 Feb
  3. Consult.21 Mar
  4. Target7 Apr
  5. Decided6 Nov

Decided in 269 days (council typically 63)

About this application

This is a full planning application for demolition at The Old Coal Yard, Land to the Southeast of Felday Houses, Horsham Road, Holmbury St Mary, Guildford. Guildford has handled 2,986 applications of this type. This one was decided in 269 days, 29 weeks longer than Guildford's typical decision time. There are no previous applications recorded at this address. In the past year there have been 175 applications across Tillingbourne. We hold 1,886 applications in total for the RH5 postcode area.

85% of full applications at Guildford Borough Council were approved. Across all application types, the council typically decides in about 9 weeks (median).

Based on decided applications received in the last 3 years.Planning something similar? See what gets approved on your street

Why it was refused

  1. The proposed development represents inappropriate development in the Green Belt and would result in material harm to the openness of the Green Belt and it would conflict with one of the five purposes of including land within the Green Belt. There are no very special circumstances that outweigh the harm to the Green Belt and the other identified harms. In the overall planning balance, the adverse impacts of granting permission identified would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits. As a result, the proposal would not constitute sustainable development in terms of the Framework. The proposals are contrary to Policy P2 of the Guildford Borough Local Plan Strategy and Sites (adopted April 2019) , Policy GB6 and GB7 of the NPPF and the Council's Green Belt SPD 2023.
  2. The proposal site is not in a sustainable location being outside the defined settlement boundary and given the lack of genuine range of sustainable transport would result in occupants and users being reliant on the use of private car. It would therefore constitute inappropriate development in the Green Belt, no very special circumstances exist which outweigh the harms to the Green Belt. The development is contrary to LPSS Policy P2 and to the Framework. Additionally the scheme would conflict with LPSS Policy ID3, which requires development to maximise the use of the sustainable transport modes of walking, cycling and the use of public transport and would be contrary to Policies GB7 and TR3 of the NPPF 2026.
  3. The development would fail to to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the National Landscape and AGLV and is contrary to the NPPF . The proposal is contrary to Policy P1 of the Guildford Borough Local Plan Strategy and Sites April 2019 and planning policies P1 to P2, P3 and P4 and is also contrary to P9 regarding light spill within Surrey Hills National Landscape Management Plan 2025-2030.
  4. The reports accompanying the proposals have failed to clarify the number of trees on site and therefore how the BNG baseline figure has been demonstrated therefore it has not been possible to establish the BNG baseline and therefore any Biodiverity Net Gain asserted in the reports cannot be validated. The proposal ecology report stated that further surveys are required in respect of protected species; these have not been submitted and additional information had been requested regarding trees which has yet to be submitted. This being the case the proposal has not met the requirements in the NPPF Policy N2 and LPSS Policy ID4, Policy P6 and P7.

From the council's decision notice.

Application details

Postcode
RH5 6NJ
Application type
Full Application
Scale / size
Small
Parish
Shere

Planning application dates

Date validated
10 February 2026
Consultation expiry
21 March 2026
Consultation start
27 February 2026
Consultation end
21 March 2026
Neighbour consultation start
23 February 2026
Neighbour consultation end
21 March 2026
Last date for comments
7 April 2026
Target decision date
7 April 2026

Applicant and agent

Applicant
Private applicant
Agent
Simon Best Associates Ltd
Architect profile
SIMON BEST ASSOCIATES LIMITED
Agent address
The Cart Barn, High House Farm, GomshalL Lane, Shere, Guildford, GU5 9BU

Planning decision

Case officer
Cindy Blythe
Statutory period
56 days

Publicity

Advertisement expiry
21 March 2026
Site notice end
21 March 2026

Additional information

Planning Portal ID
PP-14673308
Documents
20

Site constraints

Checking the site
2/3
Council recordsAppealsFlood risk

Designations at the address point. Ones next to the site may also apply.

  • Green belt: Guildford
  • National Landscape (AONB): Surrey Hills
  • Flood zone 1: Low probability (rivers and sea)

Not published by this council, so not checked: Article 4 directions and tree preservation orders. Ask the council if these matter.

Also checked, none recorded (20)

flood storage areas, conservation areas, listed buildings, scheduled monuments, World Heritage Sites, World Heritage Site buffer zones, registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields, Heritage at Risk entries, nutrient neutrality catchments, national parks, SSSIs, Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, Ramsar sites, ancient woodland, national nature reserves, local nature reserves, heritage coasts and brownfield registers.

A guide only, from official open data; it is not a planning search. Flood zones cover rivers and sea, not surface water.

Data © Crown copyright and others · sources and licences

Contains public sector information from planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG and local planning authorities), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. The Historic England GIS Data contained in this material was obtained on 2026-11-03. The most publicly available up to date Historic England GIS Data can be obtained from HistoricEngland.org.uk.

© Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2026. All rights reserved. Flood Map for Planning, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source: Guildford

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