Surrey council area

Selling Land in Mole Valley

Mole Valley adopted a new Local Plan in October 2024, yet its delivery score sits just under the 75% line and the plan itself commits to an early review. For landowners, that makes it a district where both the plan and the next review are worth watching.

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Mole Valley at a Glance

The council's Local Plan describes Mole Valley as covering 25,832 hectares, 16% of Surrey and the third largest of the county's 11 districts. Its settlement hierarchy names Dorking, with North Holmwood, and Leatherhead as the principal towns, Ashtead, Bookham and Fetcham as suburban villages, and six larger villages drawn out of the Green Belt, among them Hookwood, which the plan names as the economic growth point of the Gatwick area. The River Mole and its tributaries, including the Pipp Brook, run through the district, and the Surrey Hills that take in Box Hill and Leith Hill cover much of the high ground.

76% Green Belt. The council's own plan gives that figure. Some countryside in the district lies beyond the Green Belt, where limited infilling in villages is allowed.
37% National Landscape. The plan puts more than a third of the district in the Surrey Hills.
A recent plan. The Mole Valley Local Plan 2020 to 2039 was adopted on 15 October 2024.
Just below 75%. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 recorded 731 homes against a requirement of 1,013, a result of 72%.
East Surrey from April 2027. Mole Valley will join Elmbridge, Epsom and Ewell, Reigate and Banstead and Tandridge in the new council.

In practice, the most promising land tends to sit between the big designations: on the edges of the towns, around the villages that have been drawn out of the Green Belt, and in the Gatwick corner. The sections below take each in turn.

Mole Valley in Figures

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

Housing Delivery Test 2025
72%
Below 75%: treated as having evidenced unmet housing need under national policy S5.
Homes built against homes needed
731
of 1,013 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
October 2024
The plan currently used to decide applications.
New plan progress
Updated
Plan adopted October 2024 commits to an early review
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.

The 2024 Plan and Its Early Review

The plan took seven years from its first consultation in 2017 to adoption, with the examination paused from December 2022 to January 2024. It provides for at least 6,381 homes between 2020 and 2039, about 336 a year, and released some Green Belt land to get there, though the plan records 99.35% of the district's Green Belt, 19,522 hectares, as retained. Policy S1 spreads the new homes like this:

Area	Share of planned homes
Leatherhead area	30%
Dorking area	23%
Hookwood area	15%
Ashtead area	11%
Bookham area	7%
Rest of the district	14%, including modest growth in the inset villages of Beare Green, Brockham, Capel, Charlwood and Westcott

Why a New Plan Already Has a Review Built In

Policy S1 is candid about the gap. It says 336 homes a year is below the current housing need, and the supporting text gives the government's 2020 calculation for the district as 456 a year, explaining that the lower figure was chosen because housing land is severely constrained by the Green Belt, the National Landscape and the Area of Great Landscape Value. For that reason the plan commits the council to an early review, to be completed before the third anniversary of adoption, to find out whether more housing capacity is deliverable or developable.

That deadline falls in October 2027, six months after East Surrey takes over, so the review is likely to be carried forward by the new council. For sites left out in 2024, the review is the next realistic chance through the plan. How a submitted site is scored, and when to put evidence in, is covered in our call for sites and local plans guide.

Owners of land allocated in 2024, whether in the Hookwood area near the airport or on the fringes of Leatherhead and Dorking, still face a full application before anything can be built. Flood modelling near the Mole and its brooks, highway capacity, and design that answers the Surrey Hills views are the usual pieces of that work here, and we fund each of them.

What Sitting Just Under 75% Means

The Housing Delivery Test looks back over three years, so a plan adopted in late 2024 has not yet had time to lift the result. At 72%, the district is treated as having evidenced unmet housing need, and that opens routes that would otherwise be closed:

Countryside beyond the Green Belt. Here policy S5 can apply. Land that is physically well related to an existing village, with the infrastructure to cope, can be supported for homes because the need is unmet.
Inside the towns and inset villages. Within the built-up areas of the towns and suburban villages, and inside Beare Green, Brockham (with Strood Green), Capel, Charlwood, Hookwood and Westcott, which the plan draws out of the Green Belt, policy S4 supports development unless the harm substantially outweighs the benefits.
Grey belt. In the Green Belt itself, S5 does not apply, but land that does little for the Green Belt's purposes can be grey belt. The plan's own reason for releasing land around Hookwood, that the sites were modest contributors to the objectives of the Green Belt, is close to the grey belt test.
Previously developed land. Yards, former commercial sites and redundant buildings with a lawful use have their own routes in Green Belt policy.

The position can change quickly. If completions from the new allocations lift the next result above 75%, the automatic finding of unmet need falls away, although a shortfall in the five-year land supply can still be used as evidence. See our guide to the 2026 national framework for how S4 and S5 work.

The Surrey Hills, Box Hill and the Heaths

Inside the Surrey Hills National Landscape, a major housing scheme has to show, among other tests, why it could not be built outside the designation. The council gives similar attention to the adjoining Areas of Great Landscape Value, and it notes that permission is needed in the National Landscape for some works that would not need an application elsewhere.

One Third or 37%?

The council's planning constraints page says the National Landscape and the Area of Great Landscape Value together make up about one third of the district, principally the chalk slopes of the North Downs and the Greensand Hills. The adopted plan puts the National Landscape alone at 37%. The web page reads as a rounded general description, while the plan gives the measured figure and is the document that decides applications. Either way, for an owner the practical point is that roughly a third or more of the district carries a landscape designation.

The boundary may also grow. The Surrey Hills National Landscape says the area could become 30% bigger, and on 7 September 2026 Natural England submitted a variation order to government whose proposed additions include areas named the Headley Hills, the Betchworth Hills and Mole Valley, and the Ockley Low Weald. Until ministers confirm it, land in those areas has no new status, but we read the landscape evidence behind each proposed addition before advising on a site there.

The Mole Gap to Reigate Escarpment Special Area of Conservation covers 888 hectares of the North Downs, including Norbury Park, Headley Heath, White Down and Box Hill. The council says development near it needs careful management so that extra recreational pressure does not put its features at risk.

Thames Basin Heaths Near Bookham

A small part of the north west of Bookham and the countryside around it falls between 400 metres and 5 kilometres from the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area. The council is not part of the joint delivery framework for the heaths and has not been required to allocate its own alternative green space, so it advises developers to discuss mitigation with Natural England before applying. On a larger holding, that can mean setting aside part of the land as natural green space.

Hookwood, Gatwick and the Mole

The plan treats Hookwood as the economic growth point of the Gatwick area, and it released sites that were modest contributors to the Green Belt within and around the village to complement it. That is why the Hookwood area takes around 15% of the district's planned homes, a far larger share than its size would suggest.

Land near any major airport raises its own questions, with aircraft noise and aerodrome safeguarding part of the assessment, and the right layout often keeps homes away from the noisiest edge. Further south and west, around Capel, Beare Green and Ockley, the issues are more about rural roads, drainage and how a scheme sits within the village.

What the 2013 to 2014 Floods Showed

Surrey County Council's investigation into the winter floods of 2013 to 2014, worst around 23 to 25 December, found flooding across Dorking, Leatherhead, Fetcham, Brockham, Charlwood, Bookham, Ockley, Westcott and other villages, from the River Mole and tributaries including the Pipp Brook. It describes the upper Mole catchment as very impermeable, so the river responds rapidly to rain. We keep homes to Flood Zone 1 wherever possible, and our flood risk guide explains how the tests work.

Heritage is the other thread. The plan counts 26 conservation areas and 1,017 listed buildings in the district, so a site on the edge of an older village centre usually needs a heritage assessment alongside the landscape work.

Mole Valley Land We Look For

Land on the edge of Leatherhead, Ashtead, Bookham, Fetcham or Dorking, outside the National Landscape.
Fields next to the inset villages of Beare Green, Brockham, Capel, Charlwood, Hookwood and Westcott.
Land in the countryside beyond the Green Belt that relates well to an existing village.
Previously developed land, including yards and redundant commercial buildings.
Holdings large enough to be considered in the early review of the plan.

A paddock beside Beare Green and a field below the Downs at Fetcham need quite different evidence, but in both cases we pay for every survey, report and application, and any appeal. The stages from our first review to completion are set out on how it works.

Questions About Land in Mole Valley

The council has a new plan. Why would it approve anything outside it?

Because national policy still applies alongside the plan. With delivery below 75%, well-located land outside the Green Belt can be supported under S5, and grey belt and previously developed land have their own routes. The plan is the main route, not the only one.

My land was rejected for the 2024 plan. Is it worth another look?

Often. The plan itself says its housing figure is below need, and the early review exists to test whether more capacity can be found. Evidence that was missing last time can be prepared now.

Is my land in the Green Belt or beyond it?

The council's interactive policies map shows the boundary. We check it, along with the Surrey Hills boundary and flood zones, as part of our free review.

I own land near Gatwick. Does aircraft noise rule it out?

Not usually. Noise affects where homes go on a site and how they are built. The plan itself directs a large share of new homes to the Hookwood area.

What happens when East Surrey takes over?

The 2024 Local Plan stays in force, and applications continue to be decided. The new council will take on the early review and, in time, a plan of its own.

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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.