Regular readers of Waverley Web will be aware that not so long ago a little gaggle of Parish Councillors at Cranleigh threw a tantrum and resigned en masse from the Planning Committee.
Many Cranleigh residents breathed a collective sigh of relief and looked forward to a period of sensible, without prejudice decision-making by the new Guard, headed up by Chair of Planning Councillor Mary Foryszewski, Newbie Councillors Dominique McAll and Liz Townsend, ably assisted by Rosemary Burbage.
Of the tiresome twosome – Councillors Patricia Ellis and Jeanette – I’m sorry but I don’t understand – Stennett, the best that could be said of them was that they were far more likely to be out-voted by their saner sisters.
But, having thrown their toys out of the playpen in a fit of pique, Councillors Brian Ellis and David Gill would appear to be regretting their childish behaviour and are now scrabbling frantically to retrieve what they so recklessly threw away.
Our eagle-eyed informant over there has spotted, hidden amongst the paperwork for this evening’s Parish Council Meeting, a paper that refers to an outline proposal made by Councillor David Gill, at February’s Parish Council Meeting, that in future the Planning Committee should recommend strategic planning matters to the full Parish Council.
Why? What’s the point of having a Planning Committee if they have to refer anything more important than the installation of a dormer window to the full Parish Council?
The answer, of course, is that this is a blatant attempt, by Councillor Gill and his cohorts, to wrest back control of decisions in relation to significant planning applications (for example, Knowle Park Initiative’s proposal to build on Cranleigh Nurseries and any future decision to build on the Beryl Harvey Fields – if ever Messrs Gill & Ellis can wrest it away from the allotment holders). The latter, of course, is a project very dear to Councillor Brian Ellis’s heart, so much so he argued at an Extraordinary Meeting of the Parish Council recently not to bind future Parish Councils in perpetuity to prevent them from building on the field … What a dastardly cur!
So there you have it Cranleigh. Just when you thought it was safe to relax, put your feet up and enjoy a cup of tea on a Monday evening in front of Coronation Street, in the knowledge that the Wiley Old Geezers who used to control the Planning Committee had been felled they’re desperately reaching out of the play pen in a concerted effort to retrieve their toys from the new kids on the block.
Waverley Web’s advice to the grown ups on the Council: don’t indulge these spoilt, spiteful children. They need to learn a life lesson: control of the nursery – and we’re not just alluding to Cranleigh Nurseries here – is back where it should be, with the grown ups! And Cranleigh and its environs are much safer for it!