A government planning inspector is all set to rule on whether the house where Tilford puppy breeder John Lowe shot and killed two women can be demolished.
Raw Element (Waverley) submitted plans to knock down Keepers Cottage off Waverley Lane and replace it with three modern luxury homes in April 2016.
But Waverley Borough Council refused the plans three months later and the developer appealed.
Development consultant Graham Bell, who is acting as an agent for the application, said a planning inspector recently visited the site and he is expecting a decision on the scheme in ‘two or three weeks’.
Lowe, 84, was found guilty of double murder and sentence to life in prison in October 2014 after the violent deaths of Christine Lee, 66, and her daughter Lucy Lee, 40, at his dog breeding farm on February 23, 2014.
The pair were shot dead as they tried to escape from the farm house.
Waverley received 50 letters objecting to the application and 12 in support.
A planning officer report states the three new homes would be of ‘modern modular design’, with two being partly dug into the sloping land levels.
Each home would have a detached garage and feature grass roofs.
Tilford Parish Council object to the proposal, complaining the modern architecture was ‘hideous’ and looked like ‘stacked containers’.
Parish councillors said the proposed homes were not in keeping with the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and conservation area. They also said the majority of positive comments came from other architects, not local residents.
Residents objecting to the application said it was inappropriate development in a sensitive ecological area.
They added the proposed homes were overbearing and out of scale compared to buildings in the surrounding area and warned the glass construction would result in light pollution and the homes would be visible from Crooksbury Road, Waverley Lane and Camp Hill.
But those supporting the scheme said they liked the contemporary designs and argued it would provide a ‘new beginning’ for the site.
They added the site is well screened from the road and the removal of the derelict and semi-derelict buildings would be positive.
The applicant said the site would be enhanced by a landscaping scheme that would also take ecological requirements into account.
It added traffic movements would be significantly less than the previous use of the site and the proposed homes would be set sympathetically against the woodland context.
The applicant said materials have been chosen to compliment the surrounding countryside setting, paddock land to the front of the site would be retained, and grass roofs would be included.
