SHARPLY divided views have emerged over plans for 27 large homes on the site of Oxted Quarry.
The detached houses would range from three to six bedrooms, and the quarry would be extensively landscaped.
In return for planning permission, quarry owners Southern Gravel Limited (SGL) pledged to stop all chalk extraction and inert waste infilling at the site – something which has been hugely controversial for many years.
Many residents living in and around the Chalkpit Lane site have said their lives were made a misery by dozens of HGVs thundering along their roads from the site, which has permission for further extraction and infilling until 2042.
But local opinion is split over the alternative. Michael Edgerton, of Central Way, said the town's infrastructure could not support large-scale development.
He said: "When I moved to Oxted 30 years ago, I could get a doctor's appointment on the same day. The waiting time is now two weeks." Mr Edgerton added that Chalkpit Lane is already narrow and dangerous, and the new development could contribute to more accidents.
But Christopher Shirtcliffe, who lives in Church Lane, Oxted, contended that the homes would be better than a return to heavy lorries "thundering through Oxted for the next almost 30 years".
He said that if the housing plan is rejected by Tandridge District Council, Oxted would be left with a working quarry or a rubbish tip to ruin an area of outstanding beauty for generations.
The SGL will pay £700,000 toward affordable homes off-site, he told a public exhibition last January on the plans.
But Dale Mayhew, the Brighton-based planning agent behind the scheme, added: "If planning permission fails the owner may want to have a rethink to see how best to make a living out of the site – and reopening the quarry may be the most likely option."
