Building plans for aerodrome site

The Dunsfold Park site is already home to 108 businesses

Plans to build 2,600 houses on an airfield site on the border of Surrey and West Sussex have been submitted to Waverley Borough Council.

Protesters have pledged to fight the Dunsfold Park proposals "all the way".

The Stop Dunsfold Park New Town campaign group has said the area's infrastructure cannot cope with "such a huge increase in population".

But developers said the self-sustaining village would have homes, businesses and services within walking distance.

A spokeswoman for Dunsfold Park Ltd said: "People will be actively discouraged from buying a house if they're going to travel off-site.

"Seven hundred staff are employed at Dunsfold Park already - they will have first choice on the houses. People will walk to work."

She said there were 108 business on the site, including the TV programme Top Gear.

The airfield operation will be replaced by the village, developers said

But campaign group chairman Barry Myers said: "This is devastating news for anyone living in the towns and villages in the Guildford - Haslemere - Horsham triangle.

"Our infrastructure can't cope with such a huge increase in population.

"Just think of the impact on the roads, particularly on the A281 and in Cranleigh - more cars, more traffic jams, more pollution."

He added: "This planning proposal has to be fought all the way."

Waverley council confirmed plans were submitted last Friday but said it would take weeks for officers to go through the documents and register them formally.

Consultation documents from Dunsfold Park Ltd said the development will include 2,000 on-site jobs, health and education facilities, 350 acres of parkland, and an aviation heritage centre.