3.1.1. Westcott is a village with a population of 2,251 dwelling in 918 households (2011 Census), located about 2km west of Dorking, on the A25. Its origins date back to the Domesday Book and beyond. The village today has a wealth of historic and traditional buildings, reflecting its long history and much of the centre of the village is a designated Conservation Area.
3.1.2. The village experienced a key period of expansion in the 19th Century, when agriculture became less profitable and land was made available as building plots. This phase in the history of the village can be seen in the high proportion of Victorian buildings which still remain.
3.1.3. The majority of development has taken place within the area of the village that is not attributed as Metropolitan Green Belt. This area is referred to as the “Village Core” and is described as the land inset from the Green Belt as defined in the Mole Valley Local Development Framework Proposals Map.
3.1.4. At the heart of the village is the triangular village green. Shops and community facilities including the Reading Room and St John's Chapel are clustered near the Green. Holy Trinity Parish Church is located on the Western edge of the village, and the Village Hut is also centrally located on Furlong Road.
3.1.5. The A25 runs East / West through the heart of the village, with development spread out to the North and South. To the South, the land rises up into the slopes of the Surrey Hills and there are some spectacular changes in gradient. In certain places there are abrupt changes in level, making retaining walls and sunken paths/lanes a recurring feature. To the North, the land is more level, but begins to rise again beyond the village, towards Ranmore. Throughout the village, there are spectacular views north towards the Ranmore escarpment.
3.1.6. The village has a strong East/West orientation, hemmed in between these two expanses of higher land. Many residential streets are truncated at the limits of the village. The A25 is a key traffic route, with no alternatives for through traffic. The Dorking / Guildford railway line lies to the North of the village, but there has never been a passenger station for Westcott.
3.1.7. Throughout the village, public footpaths and small roads provide a warren of access routes for pedestrians, often bypassing the road layout and creating useful connections throughout the village and out into the surrounding countryside. School Lane, Stones Lane and Parsonage Lane are examples in the Southern part of the village, while a lengthy footpath connects Springfield Road in the North with the parade of shops on the Guildford Road, via the fringes of the recreation ground.
3.2.1. Westcott is bounded to the north by the Tillingbourne and Pipp Brook Greensand Valley Landscape Character Area (LCA) which runs parallel to and south of the North Downs. The Southern part of the village rises up into the Leith Hill to Bury Hill Wooded Greensand Hills LCA. The central areas of the village are surrounded by the Metropolitan Green Belt, and the whole village is within the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB); its connection with the surrounding landscape is therefore very strong.
3.2.2. About 1km north of the village is the prominent ridge of Ranmore Common. The ridge forms a backdrop to many views North from Westcott, often to spectacular effect. The land between the village and Ranmore Common is an open patchwork of rolling fields, punctuated with hedges and small pockets of woodland. The railway line runs East/West through the corridor of lower ground, as does the course of the Pippbrook, which follows the valley basin. There are only a handful of very narrow, winding lanes leading North from the village, providing access to properties scattered on the lower slopes of Ranmore.
3.2.3. To the west and south, the village rises up into the edges of the extensive Leith Hill Greensand Ridge – a heavily wooded landscape scored by deeply cut tracks and roads. In reality, the woodland is not so dense here as it is further west, but tree belts along the main A25 route give a strong impression of woodland reaching right into the edges of the village. Even within the outer fringes of the village, there are footpaths, bridleways and lanes cut deep into the sandstone, with deeply sloping sides giving a very strong sense of enclosure. There are also pockets of open farmland, for example off Logmore Lane and Balchins Lane, making for an interesting and varied landscape surrounding the village.
3.2.4. The Greensand Way long distance path skirts the southern boundary of the village defining the southern boundary of the Green Belt, and is easily accessed from the network of the footpaths and lanes within the settlement.
3.2.5. In the Green Belt land which separates Westcott from Dorking, there is another substantial pocket of woodland at the Bury Hill Estate, although the gradients here are less dramatic. The woodland is punctuated by open fields on the very edge of Dorking and the village sports ground near the junction of the A25 and Milton Street.
3.2.6. Within the Village Core there is one small area of ancient woodland adjacent to Cradhurst Recreation Ground. The protection of this ancient woodland is covered by the Mole Valley Core Strategy policy CS15 on Biodiversity and Geological Conservation.
3.2.7. Some of the details above are taken from the Mole Valley District Council Larger Rural Village Character Appraisal SPD.
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