Campaigners fighting proposals for a new town in Surrey say the Government's abandonment of top-down housing targets has given them an unarguable case against the 1,730-home development.

Wisley Action Group (WAG) is leading the campaign against the controversial Taylor Wimpey application in Wisley, which has attracted more than 1,200 objections. The development would concrete over more than 150 acres of prime agricultural land and have a devastating impact on the Thames Basin Heath, endangering rare birds and other protected species.

A previous planning application by a Cayman Islands-based developer was rejected by the Secretary of State in 2018 on 14 grounds after the planning inspector ruled that the failure to provide adequate infrastructure was a major failing.

In 2019, the former Wisley Airfield site, which adjoins the historic village of Ockham, was stripped of Greenbelt status in the Guildford Local Plan at an emergency council meeting just a week before the Conservatives lost power in the local elections.

Controversially, the Local Plan assessed Guildford's housing need at 10,678 homes between 2015 and 2034 but allocated enough sites for 14,602 homes. The Office for Statistics and Regulations [OSR] found that population estimates for Guildford "seem to be inconsistent with and potentially higher than local evidence would suggest".

Earlier this month, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove told MPs the Government was abandoning top-down targets, saying there was no objective way to calculate how many new homes are needed in an area.

Now, campaigners, who include local resident and TV personality Ingrid Tarrant, believe Mr Gove's intervention could prove pivotal when the Taylor Wimpey planning application is considered by the planning committee next March. They argue that 13 of the 14 grounds on which the original rejection was rejected remain valid, including:

•    The impact on local schools, medical facilities, water, sewerage and other infrastructure
•   The impact of thousands of extra cars on rural lanes, causing gridlock and damaging air quality by contributing an additional 15,000 tonnes of CO emissions per year
•   The impact on an internationally sensitive location of heathland, threatening protected species such as the woodlark, nightjar and Dartford Warbler, and other local wildlife
•   The impact on Ockham, which dates back to the Domesday Book and features 29 Grade II listed buildings and a Grade I listed church

The WAG campaign is being watched closely by the Community Planning Alliance, a national umbrella campaign, working with more than 500 groups fighting developments across the UK. The Taylor Wimpey application has been opposed by dozens of businesses and organisations including: The Royal Horticultural Society, Heathrow Airport, Gatwick Airport, Surrey County Council, Surrey Wildlife Trust and several parish councils.

Tony Edwards, WAG spokesperson, said: "Taylor Wimpey's development would see green fields concreted over, up to 5000 more cars on already gridlock roads and a new town in the middle of nowhere with no proper facilities. Valid planning issues disqualify the land for large scale development.

"We believe we have a winning hand in the defence of this former green belt land, especially in light of the Government's abandonment of top-down housing targets. Our battle is of national importance because if we are defeated it would create a precedent for developers to build on green spaces across the country".

Ingrid Tarrant, WAG supporter, said: "Such a vast housing development would destroy historic Ockham and the surrounding area. It is pure environmental vandalism and a rape of the land. This part of rural Surrey has always been a farming community and home to generations of farmers, dating back as far as the Domesday book.

Once the land is developed it can never be returned to agriculture and we need native farmland more than ever, with so much turbulence going on in the world. The development was rejected by the Secretary of State in 2018 and that should have been the end of it. However, the fight continues, and I am confident we will defeat this scheme once again."

Rosie Pearson, Chair of the Community Planning Alliance, said: "There are very good reasons why a planning application at Wisley Airfield has been refused previously. Sites like this can never be sustainable, because the very great majority of residents will have to get to and from home by car. In this instance, much of that traffic will be forced onto narrow country lanes.  

The development puts the sensitive habitat of the Thames Basin Heath Special Protection Area at risk. Guildford Borough Council has declared a climate emergency and development of isolated sites like the former Wisley Airfield should always be rejected in favour of compact, transit-oriented and walkable developments that meet local need, near local jobs."