A six-day inquiry into 110 homes on Green Belt at Langley Vale opens at Epsom Town Hall on 15 September. The council has already conceded the grey belt point.
A public inquiry into plans for up to 110 homes on Green Belt farmland at Langley Vale opens at 10am on Tuesday 15 September, in the Council Chamber at Epsom Town Hall. It is scheduled to run for six days.
The inquiry will decide an appeal by Fairfax Aspire Ltd against Epsom and Ewell Borough Council’s refusal of application 25/00846/OUT at Farm View, Langley Vale Road. The Planning Inspectorate reference is 6006971. The council has published the full Farm View appeal document library on its own website, and it is the source for everything below.
The decision rests with an inspector, J Bowyer, not with councillors.
What is being decided
The application is in outline. Only two things are actually up for decision: the principle of building on the land, and the access from Langley Vale Road. Layout, scale, appearance and landscaping would all come later.
According to the planning statement of common ground agreed between the developer and the council, the scheme is:
- up to 110 homes, predominantly two storeys
- 50% affordable housing, which the council’s officers put at 39 rented and 16 shared ownership
- on about 5.2 hectares of agricultural land immediately west of the village
- served by access off Langley Vale Road, with the site’s south east corner abutting the ancient woodland known as The Warren
- inside the Langley Bottom Farm Site of Nature Conservation Importance
A separate scheme for 20 homes is already under construction on land to the west.
Officers said yes, councillors said no
Council planning officers recommended approval. Their report to the planning committee of 26 February 2026 sets the recommendation out as “approval, subject to conditions and the completion of a satisfactory legal agreement”. The same report records 374 letters of objection and an online petition carrying 2,097 signatures.
The committee refused it anyway. The decision notice was issued on 2 March 2026 and gives four reasons:
- Unsustainable development. Poor access to public transport, walking and cycling, leading to excessive reliance on cars.
- Inappropriate development in the Green Belt. Unacceptable harm to openness and setting without very special circumstances.
- Harm to landscape character. Unacceptable visual impact on the landscape setting of the Area of Landscape Value and the wider countryside.
- Impact on the horse racing industry. Increased conflict with horse movements on Langley Vale Road, and risk to horses, trainers and riders.
Most of the Green Belt argument is already settled
This is where the appeal differs from the row that produced it. In the statement of common ground, the council and the developer have agreed a long list of things in writing before a word of evidence is heard.
They agree that:
- the appeal site is grey belt land, because it does not strongly contribute to Green Belt purposes (a), (b) or (d)
- there is a demonstrable unmet need for the housing
- the scheme meets the government’s “golden rules”, which the developer satisfies through the 50% affordable housing
They also agree the council’s housing land supply position, and it is stark. The borough’s annual housing need under the standard method is 834 homes, with a 20% buffer added because of its Housing Delivery Test result. That gives a five-year requirement of 5,004 homes. The council’s deliverable supply is 1,602. The shortfall is 3,402, and the agreed figure is 1.60 years of supply against the five years required.
The council’s own adopted Core Strategy, from 2007, planned for 181 homes a year. The standard method now asks for 1,001. Both parties agree the plan’s settlement boundaries are out of date because they would have to be breached for the requirement to be met.
That leaves one question on the Green Belt point. Under the exception for grey belt land, development also has to be in a sustainable location. That single test is the whole of the council’s Green Belt case.
The framework changed a month before the inquiry
The government published a rewritten National Planning Policy Framework on 17 August 2026. Numbered paragraphs were replaced by lettered policies, and it applies to decisions from the day it was published.
The refusal, the statement of common ground and the developer’s statement of case were all written against the 2024 version and argue in its old paragraph numbers. The council reissued the inquiry’s core document list on 19 August and added the 2026 framework to it as document CD5.4.
The council’s own evidence has already moved across. Its planning proof of evidence now argues the appeal fails policy GB7 part 1(g) of the new framework, and is therefore inappropriate development under policy GB6 part 2. GB7(1)(g)(iii) is the sustainable location test. The same proof argues heritage harm under policy HE6 and the loss of agricultural land under policy N2.
The sustainability case, in numbers
The council’s highways proof of evidence is where its main argument is actually made. It puts the site 2.7km from Epsom town centre and 2.9km from Tattenham Corner station.
On public transport it records:
- the nearest bus stop is on Grosvenor Road, about 450m away
- it is served by the E5 and the 408
- the 408 is a single daily service, weekdays only
- the E5 runs eight services a day, except Sundays
- the services run between 06:32 and 19:15
The proof also states that only five of the 25 local destinations listed in the developer’s own transport assessment lie within 2km, and that just three places fall inside a ten minute walk: The Vale Primary School at 1,300m, the fuelling garage and the Grosvenor Road bus stop. It gives the distances to a post office as 2.8km, a library 3km, a pub 2.1km, Rosebery School 3.7km and a leisure centre 4km.
The developer’s statement of case rejects that reading. It argues the site is grey belt, that the tilted balance applies because there is no five year supply, and that the claimed harms would not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits. It also notes that two inspectors have previously ruled on locational sustainability in this area, and asks for weight to be given to those findings.
Who will be arguing
The case management note from the conference held on 22 June sets out the line-up:
- Fairfax Aspire Ltd, represented by Richard Turney KC, expecting up to six witnesses
- Epsom and Ewell Borough Council, represented by Timothy Leader, expecting up to four
- Langley Vale Action Group, represented by Carl Thomas, expecting four or five
The action group was granted Rule 6 status on 5 June 2026, which makes it a main party rather than an objector. Its witnesses are expected to include the West Surrey Badger Group and the Jockey Club.
Evidence will be heard topic by topic and tested by cross-examination, starting with the sustainability of the location, then landscape, then the effect on horse racing, then ecology, then Green Belt, then heritage and finally planning. The council goes first each time, then the action group, then the developer.
What it means for you
You can turn up and speak. The inspector’s note says that after opening statements on the first day he will hear from any interested party who wishes to speak, and that there is scope to hear from people on later days if they cannot make the Tuesday. The inquiry sits at the Town Hall, The Parade, Epsom, KT18 5BY.
The sitting days. The inquiry opens at 10am on Tuesday 15 September and resumes at 9.30am on later days, aiming to finish by 5pm from Tuesday to Thursday and around 1pm on Friday. The note schedules six days: Tuesday to Friday in the week beginning 14 September, then the Tuesday and Wednesday of the week beginning 21 September.
Two reserve days are being held in diaries. The note describes them as “Thursday 22 September and the morning of Friday 23 September”. Thursday and Friday of that week are in fact 24 and 25 September, so the note’s weekdays and dates do not match. Anyone planning to attend the reserve days should check with the council or the Planning Inspectorate case officer first.
The inspector will walk the site. He intends to make an unaccompanied visit from public land before the inquiry opens, and a further visit during it.
The result will not be immediate. Closing submissions may be made in writing, and the parties have two weeks after the inquiry closes to submit the completed legal agreement. The decision follows after that.
We will report the outcome. In the meantime, the weekly list of new applications across the borough is covered on our Epsom planning news page.
Sources: Epsom and Ewell Borough Council’s Farm View appeal core document library, comprising the officer report, the decision notice, the planning statement of common ground, the council’s proofs of evidence, the developer’s statement of case and the case management conference note; and the National Planning Policy Framework, published 17 August 2026. Figures quoted are those agreed or stated in the documents themselves.
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