7. Deepcut development - FAQs

What are the proposals for The Princess Royal Barracks at Deepcut?
Following the announcement of the MOD's intention to leave the Princess Royal Barracks in Deepcut the site has been identified as suitable for new residential led development. The site is identified to provide 1200 new homes as well as, a primary school, community buildings, shops and public open space.

How have local residents been involved?
Surrey Heath Borough Council values the local community's views on the future of Deepcut. From an early stage, the Council has involved residents through residents meetings, a Deepcut Community Survey, a community planning event and social media, to find out what the community think and how they would like to see the character and shape of Deepcut change in the future.

What is the Deepcut Supplementary Planning Document?
The Deepcut SPD is a joint document developed between Surrey Heath and Guildford Borough Councils in close consultation with residents; its primary purpose is to provide guidance on what type of development is best for Deepcut and set out design principles for the new settlement.

What is being done to assess impact of development on the local road network?
On submitting the planning application, the applicant is required to include comprehensive assessments on a range of technical matters, including transport issues, which will also recommend mitigation or solutions to any impacts that may arise.

At its meeting on 27 September 2011, Surrey Heath Borough Council's executive decided to commission an independent Traffic Assessment in relation to the future development of the Princess Royal Barracks site. It was agreed that the study should consider the impact of this development on, not only the local roads, but also the wider road system. It is however not possible to undertake this assessment until a planning application has been submitted as the fee for the planning application will be used in part to pay for this work.

What is the Scoping Report?
Due to the scale of the proposed development the application will require an Environmental Statement. The Regulations enable a developer, before making a planning application, to ask the Local Planning Authority for its formal opinion (known as a 'Scoping Opinion') on the information to be included in the Environmental Statement. This enables the applicant to be clear as to what the authority considers are the aspects of the environment which would be affected.

The Scoping ReportFile Type: Adobe PDF document, File Size:5,068.34 Kb (741 seconds @ 56K) Opens in a new window (submitted by Amec on behalf of DIO, and dated October 2011) represents the applicant's initial assessment of the issues they consider should be covered in the Environmental Statement. It does not seek to address the merits of the application and should be viewed as a list of issues to be addressed at the application stage.

Having considered the Scoping Report, Surrey Heath Borough Council has now issued its Scoping Opinion which can be viewed here.File Type: Adobe PDF document, File Size:1,802.07 Kb (264 seconds @ 56K) Opens in a new window

What further public consultation is to be undertaken?
The Council strongly encourages applicants to undertake pre-application consultation with local residents and the applicant has confirmed they will be running consultation events in respect of their proposals.

The applicant ran the second of two community consultation events on the 10th and 11th February 2012 at the Garrison Community Centre (SPAR building), Cyprus Road, Deepcut. This consultation is being run by the applicant and any enquiries in respect of this event should be directed to www.prbdevelopment@gva.co.uk Opens in a new window.

The Council will undertake its own consultation when the application is submitted and this will include writing to local residents as well as the display of site notices and advertisement in the local press. Key dates and milestones will be added to these pages at the relevant times.

When will the application be submitted?
The Council has no control over when the application will be submitted but it is anticipated that the application will be submitted in March/April 2012.

I have heard that there are plans for 19 Traveller & Gypsy pitches in the proposed development - is this true?
The figure of 19 is for the whole of Surrey Heath and there is no intention of all of these pitches being found at PRB Deepcut. This figure forms part of the Council's Core Strategy and Development Management Policies 2011-2028, policy CP7.

To support the South East Plan, the Council undertook a joint Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA) with Guildford and Waverley Borough Councils in 2008. The GTAA identified a need within the Borough for additional 19 pitches for Gypsies & Travellers in the borough.

Guildford and Waverley Borough Councils will also be looking to meet needs identified in the GTAA, within their own areas. The GTAA's needs assessments were done right across the south east region.

So what is the number likely to be?
There is no fixed allocation of pitches to Deepcut, the approved Supplementary Planning Guidance says "some gypsy and traveller pitches will be provided on the PRB site". We envisage it would be small-scale. As mentioned above there is no suggestion that Deepcut should accommodate the entire number identified GTAA requirement. The Council will have to look at other potential sites within the Borough as part of forthcoming Site Allocations Development Plan Document.

There are no historic links in Deepcut with Gypsy and Traveller communities why is this provision being included.
As a site accommodating about a third of the Borough's overall housing requirement and where the housing needs of all different social groups must be considered, it would be wrong for us not to consider some gypsy and traveller provision at Deepcut.

Why have we only just been made aware of this provision?
Gypsy and Traveller provision at Deepcut was included in the draft Deepcut Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), and commented on during the consultation stage, prior to final adoption of the SPD. There was a location identified in the previous DIO consultation, but in this current consultation the location appears to have changed, and this seems to have led to further comment.

Won't the site mean even more pressure on the infrastructure of the new development?
A small-scale site for Gypsies and Travellers will have only marginal impacts on traffic generation, given the overall scale of development.

What about the environmental impact e.g. the Special Protection Area (SPA)
As above a small-scale site for Gypsies and Travellers will have only marginal impacts on SPA, given the overall scale of development. This is why extensive areas of SANGS (Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space) has to be provided at the site, and measures put in place to restrict residents access to nearby SPA land.

How will unauthorised expansion of the site be avoided?
Unauthorised expansion of the site could be addressed in the detailed design stage, so that this is made physically difficult. If the Council makes adequate provision for Gypsy and Traveller needs in the first place then the pressure to expand sites in an unauthorised way should be reduced.

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