Ashtead or “Ashstede - homestead amongst the Ash trees”, has been a settlement since at least the Iron Age, with a farm near Park Lane and a Roman tile works and villa on the Common from the 1st century AD. At the time of the Domesday Book there were fifty-three families within the manor of Ashtead.
Figure 3 Ashtead Roman Villa
The area was predominantly agricultural until the end of the 19th Century, but only one working farm remains, with the rest developed for housing following the sale and break-up of the Howard estate in 1879. Since that time, the population has grown from 1,900 to its present level of 14,600.
Figure 4: St Giles Church
The village has two main shopping areas, three public houses, four churches and nearly two hundred business premises, of which the largest is ExxonMobil. There are over forty listed buildings, structures and monuments, a Grade II Registered Park and three conservation areas. There is some local employment but many residents commute to work outside Ashtead, using the good transport links by rail and road.
There are nine local state and Independent schools, all well regarded and a wide range of community groups catering for interests of all ages. There are significant areas of open green space in Ashtead Common and Ashtead Park that are enjoyed by all residents.
Despite its size, residents enjoy the village atmosphere and strong community spirit.
Although Ashtead is the largest settlement within the District, the great majority of residents believe that it is still a village. The village feel is characterised by the fact that Ashtead is surrounded by open countryside, by the variety of community clubs, societies and facilities, the range of independent shops and the mixture of housing styles and sizes. These characteristics are cherished and most residents would like them to remain unchanged, along with the current Green Belt boundary.
The attractiveness of Ashtead as a place to live and bring up children has always resulted in a steady influx of new families from southwest London and elsewhere. House prices in London help to maintain premium pricing for houses in Ashtead and demand for large family accommodation.
The MVDC Core Strategy covers the period until 2026 and requires “…3,760 new homes to be provided in the most sustainable locations (in the District) by 2026.” It also states that “New development will be directed toward previously developed land within the areas of Leatherhead, Dorking (including North Holmwood), Ashtead, Bookham and Fetcham.” The Council has made good progress towards this target and latest figures (2015) show that 1,970 new homes have been built in the District since 2006 with new sites identified for a further 1,150 homes.
Ashtead continues to contribute towards the District targets, generally through small-scale infill developments of up to four or five houses. However, market forces mean that these developments are normally larger houses with four or more bedrooms. In addition, there is a constant trend of extension work, especially for the large number of bungalows, which grow in all directions.
Those families who have moved into the area seek to expand their accommodation rather than move, which results in a reduction in the number of bungalows and smaller houses. The proportion of two and three bedroom properties has reduced. The combined effect of recently built housing and changes to existing housing between 2011-2014 means that the net increase in housing stock of three or fewer bedrooms during those three years is just seventeen dwellings.
Evidence shows that as families grow up, the children tend to leave, but parents and older residents tend to stay. This results in larger homes occupied by fewer people. The lack of availability of smaller homes means that those who might wish to downsize have difficulty in finding appropriate smaller accommodation. Similarly, the children of Ashtead residents are unable to stay within the village due to high prices and a lack of small and/or affordable homes.
Ashtead is bounded on all sides by Green Belt land. To the North is Ashtead Common, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a National Nature Reserve (NNR), owned and maintained by the City of London Corporation. To the East is a narrow belt of open land between Ashtead and Epsom, fiercely protected by both communities. To the South is open land used for farming, equestrian uses and grazing. To the West is the M25, separating Ashtead from Leatherhead, with areas of open space on either side of the motorway.
Figure 5; Green Belt West of Ashtead
Since the introduction of the Green Belt in the 1950s, the vast majority of development in Ashtead has been within the built-up boundary, building on disused business and surplus garden land. From 2001 to March 2015, the number of dwellings in Ashtead increased by 385, a 7% increase, including a net addition of just two dwellings during the last year. Opportunities for development are becoming more scarce, with only one largely undeveloped site of any size remaining. The conservation areas to the south-west of the village limit redevelopment in that area. Green Belt land is currently protected by government planning guidelines and the existing MVDC Development Plan.
Ashtead Community Vision (ACV) was set up in 2012 as the working group for the neighbourhood forum. ACV established a Forum of over 40 residents who are broadly representative of the community. The Forum was designated by MVDC in July 2013 to prepare an NDP, which will become part of the Development Plan for Mole Valley.
Figure 6 ACV Website
During the latter part of 2013 into early 2014, the focus of the Forum was to complete a review of the Green Belt boundary around Ashtead and to conduct Site Assessments on a number of housing development sites which had been promoted to MVDC by developers and landowners. This was part of the early stages of MVDC’s Housing and Traveller Sites Plan (HTSP), which was subsequently terminated (see below).
Once these two exercises were complete, attention turned to the completion of this NDP, which looks at the future needs of the village.
Throughout this period, strenuous efforts have been made to inform and involve the local community. There is a website, www.ashteadcommunityvision.org.uk, that gives information on meetings, news and public events and which is linked to an associated Facebook page and a Twitter feed. We deliver regular newsletters to every home in Ashtead, write monthly articles for local publications, have contacted over 90 local organisations and have held public meetings to explain specific issues.
In 2013-2014, the Council undertook public consultations on a Green Belt Boundary Review (GBBR) and around 80 sites which had been promoted for their consideration, with a view to preparing a site allocations plan, the HTSP, to deliver the District’s residual Core Strategy housing requirement. As mentioned above, the Forum took part in that process and took responsibility for carrying out the GBBR and Site Assessments for the Ashtead Neighbourhood Area, which were submitted to MVDC for ongoing consideration.
For a number of reasons, including an improving housing land supply, MVDC decided in December 2014 to stop work on the HTSP in favour of creating a new Local Plan. This work is in progress and is not expected to be complete before 2018 at the earliest. This NDP has therefore been prepared in conformity to the current Development Plan, comprising the 2009 Core Strategy and 2000 Local Plan. These plans make no changes to the Green Belt.
The neighbourhood plan will be reassessed at the time of the adoption of the emerging Mole Valley Local Plan. At that time an assessment will be made of the extent to which the policies in that Plan may make the policies in the Ashtead Neighbourhood Plan out of date. That process will then inform a decision on the need or otherwise to update the Plan or those parts of it most directly affected by the adoption of the Local Plan.
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