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The unavailing fight to stop the building of Wisley New Town evokes memories for those old enough of an even larger threat to the Horsleys that arose just after World War II; but one with a happier conclusion.
In her book ‘A Century Of Change’, local historian Pam Bowley writes:
“In 1947, the government decided to build several new towns around London to ease the shortage of houses after the blitz. The two sites under consideration south of London were Crawley and the two Horsleys as we know them. The population of the two villages in 1948 was about 4000 and it had been proposed to build enough houses to expand the population to 16,500!

…….. the whole of East Horsley would be built over including the park at Horsley Towers.

A 56-acre area in The Forest (beside The Drift) would be reserved for light industry and a large area south of Nightingale Road off Forest Road would be reserved for a large cemetery”.
In the end, the bullet was dodged and Crawley was the preferred site, now with a population of over 120,000.