A GRAND ‘Scotland Park’ scheme to build up to 180 new homes on land at Red Court estate will be revealed in a public consultation next week to get community feedback prior to submitting a planning application later this year.

Announcing the Scotland Park masterplan, developer Redwood said it believes there will be “a quantum leap in the quality of the scheme and in the community benefits that can be delivered” if the scheme is extended.

Proposals are for a mix of housing types with varying tenures to include nine ‘self-build’ plots, 54 affordable dwellings, eight of which will be community-led or Community Land Trust units, with the land gifted free of charge to “an appropriate local group”.

As part of the plan, 40 acres of the 75 acres in Redwood’s ownership will also be gifted to two local groups.

Redwood will gift 18 acres each to 1st Haslemere Scouts and Grayswood Nursery and Forest School.

It has also promised to help fund a new purpose-built hall for the scouts and pledged to part fund an outdoor classroom for the nursery.

Additionally, a significant amount of land will be dedicated as various types of public open space, parklands and food- growing areas.

Waverley’s allocation of 50 houses for the site is strongly opposed by Haslemere South Residents Association (HSRA).

HSRA has condemned Redwood’s proposals to increase the housing numbers as “totally contrary to the recognised need to treasure Haslemere’s areas of outstanding natural beauty and their equivalent areas of great landscape value”.

HRSA spokesman Howard Brown said: “It is no surprise that the developer is trying to sweeten its proposal to decimate protected AONB countryside and irreplaceable natural habitat by offering to give the public, the scouts and schools access to the unbuildable part of their land.

“What is there stopping Redwood from donating land to the scouts and the forest school right now, if it isn’t a mere ploy to induce support for a housing estate that would breach national and Waverley planning policies protecting AONB, let alone policies set out in the proposed Neighbourhood Plan sponsored by Haslemere Vision and Haslemere Town Council which, among other things, prohibit this type of development outside the town’s existing settlement boundary.”

Commending the scheme, Redwood spokesperson Brian Cox said: “The proposals at Scotland Park will benefit every sector of the local community and provide a lasting legacy for Haslemere, benefitting many future generations to come.

“The open market housing effectively subsidises these exceptional community facilities and the 54 affordable houses, including land for eight dwellings to be donated to a local community-led housing group.”

* The public consultation will take place from 10.30am to 4.30pm on Thursday, May 23 and Friday, May 24, and from 10.30am to 12.30pm on Saturday, May 25. For more information about the open days and scheme, visit the developer’s website www.scotlandpark.co.uk .