Surrey council area

Selling Land in Elmbridge

Elmbridge tried to meet its housing need without touching the Green Belt, and the inspector found that approach unsound. The borough is now starting a new plan under a new council, with a Core Strategy from 2011 still in force.

Free review of your land in Elmbridge

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Elmbridge at a Glance

Elmbridge sits on the south west edge of London, bounded by the Thames to the north and the Wey to the west, with the Mole running north through Cobham and Esher to meet the Thames at Molesey. Its towns and villages, from Walton-on-Thames, Weybridge and Esher to Cobham, the Moleseys, Hersham, Claygate and Oxshott, sit between large areas of common land. The A3 and the M25 meet at the southern tip of the borough, beside Chatley Heath.

57% Green Belt. That is the council's own figure, from its character study of the borough, which notes how much the commons contribute to the open landscape.
Delivery of 59%. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 found the council delivered 1,158 homes against a requirement of 1,950.
No up-to-date plan. The Core Strategy was adopted in July 2011. Its replacement was withdrawn from examination in February 2025.
One of the least affordable boroughs in the country. Those are the inspector's words, in the letter that found the last plan unsound.
Part of East Surrey from April 2027. The new unitary council will take over plan-making and decisions for the borough.

The cost of getting a scheme through here is high: Green Belt, heathland mitigation, flood evidence and affordable housing all come off what a site can support. The sections below explain each one as it applies in Elmbridge.

Elmbridge in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
59%
Below 75%: treated as having evidenced unmet housing need under national policy S5.
Homes built against homes needed
1,158
of 1,950 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
July 2011
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
Previous draft plan withdrawn February 2025; new plan in preparation
Checked source

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

Why the Last Plan Failed

The Draft Elmbridge Local Plan 2037 relied on brownfield land and small urban sites and released no Green Belt. In an interim findings letter dated 11 September 2024, the inspector set out why that would not work:

Using the standard method, need was 650 homes a year, or 11,700 between 2022 and 2040, rather than the lower figure the council had put forward.
Identified supply was 5,398 homes, leaving a shortfall of around 6,300 over the plan period.
The council could show 3.8 years of housing land against its own figure, and only 2.4 years against the standard method.
The workplace-based affordability ratio had risen from 13.31 to 20.02.
Exceptional circumstances did exist to release some Green Belt land, and a significant number of the Green Belt sites the council had discounted were in clearly sustainable locations.

Full Council withdrew the plan on 26 February 2025. For landowners, the most useful part of that history is the inspector's view that Green Belt land close to the existing towns can be a sustainable place for new homes.

The numbers have moved a long way since. The council's land supply statement of December 2025, with a base date of 31 March 2025, puts local housing need under the revised standard method at 1,584 homes a year, well over double the figure the inspector used. Against that, the council says it can show only about one year of housing land supply.

The New Local Plan Timetable

The council's Local Development Scheme for 2025 to 2028 sets out a fresh start. A call for sites for its land availability assessment ran from October to 31 December 2024, and Elmbridge, Runnymede and Spelthorne have been awarded government funding to procure a joint Green Belt review.

Stage in the Local Development Scheme	Planned dates
Pre-commencement work	March 2025 to February 2026
Scoping and early participation	February or March to June 2026
Plan visioning and strategy	July to December 2026
Evidence gathering and drafting	January to November 2027
Engagement, changes and submission	December 2027 to May 2028
Examination	June to November 2028
Adoption	December 2028

From April 2027 the later stages will be run by East Surrey Council, so the dates may move. The direction is not likely to change. A new plan cannot repeat the approach the inspector rejected, which means the Green Belt review will decide which land around the towns is released. Evidence put in during the strategy and drafting stages carries the most weight, and for a Green Belt field that means showing how it scores in the joint review with Runnymede and Spelthorne. The stages a site passes through are laid out in our call for sites and local plans guide.

Applications While the Plan Is Prepared

With adoption not planned until December 2028, many Elmbridge sites will be decided on applications under the current national framework. Delivery below 75% means the borough is treated as having unmet housing need, but the S5 route that follows from that does not apply to Green Belt land. The routes that do work are:

Inside the built-up area. Under policy S4, homes inside the towns should be approved unless the harm substantially outweighs the benefits. Large plots, backland and old commercial premises in Weybridge, Oxshott, Cobham and the other settlements are all in this category.
Grey belt on the edge of a town. A paddock boxed in by houses, or a strip squeezed between a main road and back gardens, may do little to hold back London. In a borough where the inspector found the last plan would meet less than half its housing need, and where supply now stands at around a year, a scheme on land like that carries real weight, as long as it offers the extra affordable homes, local infrastructure and public open space that grey belt permissions now come with.
Old commercial uses in the Green Belt. A former nursery, contractor's yard or livery stable with lawful buildings and hardstanding can often be replaced with homes under Green Belt policy without a grey belt argument at all. Glasshouses and buildings used for farming do not count.

Where towns are so close together, the gaps between them matter. Fields that keep two neighbouring settlements visibly apart are harder to argue as grey belt than land enclosed on the edge of a single settlement. Anyone weighing up a field between Esher and Claygate, or Walton and Hersham, will find the tests in the grey belt guide.

Thames Basin Heaths and Chatley Heath

Chatley Heath, in the south of the borough where the M25 and the A3 meet, forms part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area, protected for ground-nesting birds. The council's mitigation strategy explains how it affects housing:

Within 400 metres of the heath. There is a presumption against any net gain in homes, because the effects cannot be mitigated.
From 400 metres to 5 kilometres. This covers the urban area of Cobham, the Green Belt settlement of Downside, and parts of Weybridge including St George's Hill, Brooklands and Whiteley Village. New homes need Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) and a payment towards managing access to the heath, which the strategy set at between £650 for a one-bedroom home and £1,850 for a home with five or more bedrooms.

The council's two strategic SANGs are at Esher Commons and Brooklands Community Park, and the strategy recorded that at 31 March 2022 they had room for only about 267 more homes. That makes land that could become new public green space valuable in its own right. On a larger holding near Cobham, part of the land laid out as SANG can be what allows homes on the rest.

Rivers, Roads and Conservation Areas

The council's 2024 strategic flood risk assessment puts 78% of the borough in Flood Zone 1, 11% in Flood Zone 2 and 2% in Flood Zone 3a. The risk is concentrated in two places. Along the Thames, Walton, the Moleseys and Thames Ditton are most exposed. Inland, the Mole and the smaller River Rythe, which rises near Oxshott and flows north through Claygate to Thames Ditton, affect Cobham, Stoke d'Abernon, Downside, Esher, Claygate and Hersham. Where a field rises even slightly out of the floodplain, a layout can often keep every house on safe ground, and the flood risk guide walks through how that case is made.

The council's character study notes that the railways and the A3 and M25 shaped where the towns grew, and it counts 24 conservation areas across the borough. The same study picks out Weybridge, Walton, Esher, Thames Ditton and Cobham as the historic cores the borough grew from, and where land borders a conservation area, its character guides the height and materials of new homes. National policy favours well-designed homes within walking distance of a station with a good service, and noise and air quality beside the A3 and the M25 are the usual limits on land at the southern edge.

The Elmbridge Land We Look For

Paddocks and fields of an acre or more on the edge of Cobham, Walton, Hersham, Weybridge, Claygate or the Moleseys.
Former nurseries, yards and equestrian sites with lawful buildings or hardstanding.
Land within walking distance of a railway station.
Larger holdings that could provide green space for Thames Basin Heaths mitigation as part of a scheme.
Sites with road frontage or a clear route to one, and mostly in Flood Zone 1.

The planning work in Elmbridge often needs transport, ecology, flood and Green Belt evidence at once. We pay for all of it, including any appeal, and our how it works page explains what happens at each stage.

Questions About Land in Elmbridge

The inspector said Green Belt should be released. Does that mean my field will be?

Not automatically. The new plan has to decide which land goes, using a fresh Green Belt review. Fields that are well contained and close to the towns and stations are the likeliest candidates, and good evidence at the right stage makes a real difference.

I submitted my land in the 2024 call for sites. Do I need to do anything now?

Your site should already be in the council's land availability work. The next steps are about evidence: showing the site is available, can be accessed safely and can be built without unacceptable harm. That is the work we take on and pay for.

Is it better to wait for the plan or apply now?

It depends on the land. Previously developed land and strong grey belt sites can often be put forward now. Open fields between towns usually depend on the plan. We tell you which route we recommend after our review.

My land is near Cobham. How does the heathland rule affect it?

The urban area of Cobham is in the 400 metre to 5 kilometre zone, so new homes need SANG and a visitor management payment. It adds cost but does not stop a scheme. On a larger site we can often design the green space into the land itself.

Will East Surrey be more or less favourable to development?

Nobody can say yet. What is certain is that the national housing figures and the inspector's findings still apply, so the new council faces the same need to find land.

Tell Us About Your Land in Elmbridge

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Sources

We update this page when new Housing Delivery Test results or local plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.