Guildford and Waverley will not defend their refusals of the 234-home Eashing Lane scheme when the Secretary of State's inquiry opens on 6 October.

Neither council will defend its main objections to 234 homes on Eashing Lane when the public inquiry opens next month. Guildford Borough Council has formally abandoned its Green Belt reason for refusal, and Waverley Borough Council has dropped its traffic objection to the access road. Both concessions are set out in the councils’ combined statement of case, dated 26 August.

The site is farmland east of Eashing Lane on the western edge of Godalming, about five miles south of Guildford town centre. It sits inside Guildford borough, in Shackleford parish and Pilgrims ward, which is why Guildford’s Planning Committee, not Waverley’s, decided the housing application (Guildford planning register, 25/P/01474).

Ashill Land Ltd applied in October 2025 for:

  • 234 homes, half of them affordable: 70 for affordable rent, 24 shared ownership and 23 discounted market sale, 117 in total
  • a new vehicular access from Ock Way in Godalming, decided separately by Waverley
  • an internal road network, parking, public open space with play space, and landscaping

Councillors said no; the Secretary of State stepped in

Guildford’s planning officers recommended approval, subject to a legal agreement. On 27 May the Planning Committee voted to refuse anyway, on three grounds: the site is Green Belt and, in members’ view, not grey belt; the scheme lacked secured mitigation for the protected Wealden Heaths; and no section 106 agreement was in place.

That refusal was never issued. The council set out its putative reasons in a letter of referral to the Secretary of State on 28 May, and on 17 June the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government called the application in under section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act. The decision now rests with ministers, not with either council. The call-in letter asks the inquiry to examine housing supply, Green Belt protection, the natural environment and the development plan.

Timeline for the Eashing Lane 234 homes application: submitted 28 October 2025, refused by councillors against officer advice on 27 May 2026, called in by the Secretary of State on 17 June, identified as grey belt by the council's own assessment in late July, both councils drop their defences on 26 August, and the inquiry opens on 6 October 2026 for eight sitting days

The council’s own study knocked out its main reason

What changed between May and August was the council’s own evidence. The Green Belt Assessment published in late July places the Eashing Lane site in assessment area GOD-001 and concludes the land makes no more than a “weak” contribution to Green Belt purposes, provisionally identifying it as grey belt. That is the same conclusion the officers’ report had reached.

The statement of case draws the obvious consequence. “GBC will not seek to defend Reason for Refusal 1 at the forthcoming Inquiry,” it says. Waverley, whose councillors had refused the Ock Way access on 8 July over traffic through the Ockford Park estate, has also reviewed its position and will not defend its only reason either.

The two objections Guildford still holds are expected to disappear before anyone sits down:

  • Wealden Heaths mitigation: the council says that if the off-site mitigation land (4.26 hectares of SANG) is properly secured, it is content there would be no adverse effect on the protected heaths, and it “fully expects” this reason to be resolved before the inquiry starts
  • The missing section 106 agreement: heads of terms covering healthcare, police, early years, the affordable homes, a car club, the 20mph zone on Eashing Lane and more are already agreed, and the council says it is “fully anticipated that this putative reason for refusal will fall away”

If both do, the councils will arrive at an inquiry into a refusal that nobody is defending. A residents’ group has registered to take part in its own right, and its statement of case was due on 27 August, so the case against the scheme is likely to be made by residents rather than by either authority.

What it means for you

  • The inquiry opens at 10am on Tuesday 6 October 2026 in the Waverley Borough Council chamber in Godalming, scheduled for eight sitting days, and will be live streamed on Waverley’s YouTube channel (Guildford Borough Council inquiry notice)
  • The final decision will be made by the Secretary of State after the inspector reports, so there is no date yet for an outcome
  • The full application file, including all inquiry documents as they are submitted, is on the Guildford planning register under reference 25/P/01474
  • Evidence deadlines are close: proofs of evidence are due by 15 September and rebuttals by 28 September

The site carries more designations than most: as well as the Green Belt it is in an Area of Great Landscape Value and an Area of High Archaeological Potential, with protected trees along its western boundary, and the Grade I listed Eashing Bridge nearby. How much weight those carry against the government’s push for housing on grey belt land is now a question for the inspector.

This is the second called-in or appealed Green Belt scheme in the borough heading to an inquiry this autumn, after the 200-home Shortlands Farm inquiry in Ash. Together they will be the first real tests of what the council’s grey belt assessment means on the ground, before the new Local Plan settles the question borough-wide. Other current applications are tracked on our planning applications page.