With the ink barely dry on Chairman David Gill’s resignation the bets are piling on for another Ellis leaping into his still warm chair this Thursday! After all it’s only six months since Brian Ellis gave up the chairmanship to his puppet Gill. And, only once in the past 15 years has Ellis allowed the leadership to be taken by a colleague – and that was only so that he could become Waverley’s Mayor. He was quick to snatch it back as soon as he hung up his chain.
Keen punters in Cranleigh could be putting their money on a cert if they nip down to the bookies, because WW’s tipster arm is offering them some very good advice – nod, nod, wink, wink!! Just put your money on it being an Ellis, any Ellis!
We won’t bore you with the shenanigans that are going on. Suffice to say the rumour on the High Street is that parish councillors are either being bullied or not turning up because they’re worried about being bullied over some very dodgy dealings relating to a piece of land given to the village by a benefactor. Yup we’re talking about the Beryl Harvey field again!
Chair of Planning at Cranleigh Parish Mary Foryszewski – one of the saner members of the Parish Council – is calling for an Extraordinary Parish Council meeting to thrash out the row over the field (worth £1 on the council’s list of assets.) It is currently a Conservation Area and Allotments. But the ‘Let’s concrete over Cranleigh’s green fields’ brigade (AKA Ellis, Ellis & Gill) and others, want the field developed.
Curious as to why triumvirate are so keen to see that field developed, several Cranleigh residents have been pouring over local maps trying to fathom what the attraction is about the Beryl Harvey field. They NOW wonder if this is less about the Beryl Harvey field and more about opening up the land behind it, creating a highway for super development on adjoining fields belonging to other Cranleigh luminaries … But we digress. For the moment let’s concentrate on the matter in hand and do a little more digging down on the allotments! Please keep contacting us with information on contact@waverley web.org
WW has a few questions of its own?
- How did the land ever get transferred to Waverley Borough Council in the first place?
- How, when it was supposedly returned to Cranleigh Parish Council, was a trust clause omitted from the document?
- Why wasn’t the Charity Commission informed of the change of ownership?
- Why wasn’t the matter debated in public?
- Dogs have been walked by their owners on the land for years, why is the Parish Council now claiming they have not been?
- Why is Councillor Brian Elis claiming the land is owned by the Parish Council and it can do whatever it likes with it? The Parish Council is merely a custodian on behalf of the people of Cranleigh.
- Who actually suggested the land could be used for housing – Waverley? Brian Ellis or A N Other?
- Have the former chairmen (Ellis and Gill) been misleading their colleagues? If so, why?
- Apparently, there is also another little matter. Whispers of a ‘mystery letter’ is being spoken of in Cranleigh circles. Who wrote the letter, who received it, what are the contents of that letter and why is it being kept secret?