A CAMPAIGN has begun to stop houses being built on a recreation area behind a pub.

Children use the grounds of The Farmhouse in Horley to play cricket and football.

Patricia Stacey, a resident whose children grew up using the area, said it was a safe place for them to play while watched by parents.

A planning application has been submitted by Village Developments to build eight houses on the plot in Ladbroke Road, Langshott.

Mrs Tracey has created the Farmhouse Garden Society to lobby Reigate and Banstead Borough Council to refuse the application.

She said: "The pub customers are absolutely devastated. It seems strange to put all these houses behind the pub as part of the Horley Master Plan and then cut down on the amenities.

"They are taking away a community asset and there is quite an uproar about it."

Jerry Hudson is landlord of the pub, a converted 17th- century farmhouse, and has hosted charity cricket matches on the land adjoining it for five years.

He said he leased half the pub's grounds from the original pub owner, who sold up in 1987 but kept part of the land.

Mr Hudson said: "It is his right to do what he wants with his land but it is a shame.

"It is sad for the families who have enjoyed it for so long. It is a field where the children can play football and run around. Once the garden is cut in half they will have to be at the tables with their parents like at any other pub.

"This is a community pub which serves the Langshott estate and it is going to halve the community."

Peter von Staerck, chairman of Horley Chamber of Commerce, said: "The garden is the heart of the community.

"More people would use the pub than the amount of people that would live in those eight dwellings."

Mrs Tracey wants people to give letters of complaint to The Farmhouse, to be forwarded to the council.

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