Sing-a-long but it may make you cry because the green, green grass will soon be disappearing !
CRANLEIGH CIVIC SOCIETY
We are extremely disappointed to confirm that the Planning Inspectorate has upheld the Appeal submitted by Berkeley Homes for 425 dwellings on green fields South of Cranleigh High Street.
The main reason cited is that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks and yet again as Waverley do not have the required 5-year housing supply our village and our green fields have absolutely no protection.
We again have been advised that Waverley’s Local Plan has suffered yet another delay, meaning that Cranleigh and the surrounding villages remain the dumping ground for housing for the Entire Borough for the foreseeable future.
Building on the Berkeley’s site must commence within 2 years. we can’t wait to see what Thames Water are going to do with their sewage in that time as their system is already at capacity.
WW says: Our advice to people over there in Cranleigh is either – dig your own cesspits out in the back garden, or join the Civic Society and pray.
AND
Isn’t it time the man in the CRANLEIGH street woke up to the reality of it becoming one great big building site for the foreseeable future.
AND
Perhaps it is time to drag the leader of Waverley Borough Council Robert Knowless before a Public Meeting before he bu*****s off into the wild blue yonder -and ask him to bring his newly appointed Chief Planning Officer with him! The other one has already gone off to the wide blue yonder because he just could not stand Waverley Borough Council’s political Cr*p any longer – his words not ours!
WW understands that some Cranleigh shopkeepers headed by the Cranleigh Chamber of Commerce are supporting huge development. Some say they want to appeal to the “London crowd,” – well they may soon be doing just that sooner than they think.
If you would like to read the full details of the Appeal Decision please click on the link below.
Residents have informed us that there is to be a Public Hearing by the Office of the Traffic Commissioner at Guildford Borough Council Offices on THURSDAY 7 APRIL, 2016 at 11 am. The application by Tunnell Grab Services, which runs an industrial and recycling operation, want to use the Stonescapes Site (Yew Tree Nursery, Guildford Road) as an operating centre to store its existing fleet and run a further 10 Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) from it.
This site is located within our Green Belt in open countryside, with access off the Guildford Road (B2128).
Says WW: This is the second site earmarked in the Guildford Road for commercial development.
Although it has been denied. Waverley Council’s Leader Robert Knowless – (Knows more than he is admitting more like!) says that “it is just a rumour” the council wants to join with a developer to extend the Manfield Park Industrial Estate a few hundred yards down the road from the Stonescapes site. read: Is Waverley Council turning property developer?
Cranleigh Councillor Stewart Stennett and others have been working with Crownhall Estates (Hamish Robbie) for months to bring forward another plan for using Cranleigh’s Green Belt for development. Anyone interested can contact the WW and receive the detailed plans, including the site plan!
Says the CCS: Local residents are understandably extremely concerned about the increased HGV traffic on this rural road and believe that the sight lines are inadequate for HGVs to enter and leave the site safely.
As well as the safety of other road users, the entrance to the site suffers from regular flooding and the road itself was not built to cope with 38-tonne lorries constantly using it, as well as the significant and ongoing negative environmental factors including noise, dust, vibration, light etc. .
Whilst the application includes some conditions regarding exit and entry of HGVs during hours of darkness – it still provides for use from 6 am to 6 pm Monday through to Friday and for use from 6 am to 2 pm on Saturdays, as well as emergency use as required at other times. This potentially opens the floodgates for there to be a regular and greatly increased HGV presence which will affect not just local residents, but many others living and working in Cranleigh and it’s surrounding villages.
Residents in Wildwood Lane are currently experiencing the extreme disruption and road damage by the HGVs currently using the rural lane to fill in the Cranleigh Brick and Tile site.
Residents have been fighting this application since last August and would greatly appreciate any comments or assistance anyone can offer.We only have very limited time left before the hearing deadline on 7 April. If you can help, please contact Pat Disley on pmdisley@hotmail.com
The government’s ‘Locally-led Garden Villages/ Towns’ prospectus makes an attractive offer to hard-pressed local authority planning teams struggling to deploy the capacity and capabilities necessary to progress new local housing communities at scale.
Successful proposals – for either villages and communities up to 10,000 homes, or for towns and cities over 10,000 homes – will receive resources to increase capacity to manage the process, and Government assistance with brokerage to remove complex blockages and constraints.
Support for small-ish new settlements which are well-designed, with an attractive environment, multi-functional green spaces, low carbon transport and urban mobility, and fit-for purpose social and community infrastructure is, therefore, manifest in significant swathes of proposed practice across England – particularly, the South.
Government makes a virtue of not prescribing explicit ‘garden community’ principles. It has even removed the TCPA principles which it highlighted in the coalition’s previous prospectusin 2014. The prospectus cautions against proposals that adopt ‘garden’ as a convenient label and against ‘urban extensions’ (as opposed to genuinely new communities).
A major issue with this otherwise worthy endeavour, though, is its almost total focus on significant but relatively modest housing numbers. The prospectus makes no explicit link to employment and certainly does not go as far as suggesting job numbers. Similarly, the NHS England initiative focuses on building ‘nice places’, without recognising that gainful employment is one of the major determinants of healthy living.
Let’s face it Waverley Borough Council is wedded to the idea of building all over the borough’s green fields!
Yesterday yet another one bit the dust when a Government Inspector allowed Berkeley Homes appeal for 425 houses in Cranleigh and one of the village’s Waverley councillors stood up before an Inspector to support it. Well done Councillor Patricia Ellis! Wasn’t it your husband the venerable Councillor Brian Ellis who warbled on about developers ruining Cranleigh just a few weeks ago – such utter hypocrisy. Read here: The Cranleigh Warbler…warbling…
No – it is not an April Fool -Honest! It will just appear that it must be – a sick joke!
We all know Waverley Council will take the food out of our mouths – but surely not – take the food away from our old folk – not really – they wouldn’t …would they?
Well they have just thrown Age UK Waverley out of business according to one of its customers who e-mailed us to-day to tell us they had heard that the organisation which ran from Godalming and now Cranleigh for 30 years, closes its doors yesterday – just in time for April Fools’ Day.
A little bit of research revealed the council has been busy withdrawing its funding to the old folks’ organisation for some years, bringing it to its knees. The same group that has helped – according to its staff, all of whom were made redundant yesterday, many hundreds of thousands of people all over the borough.. Some with form filling for benefits and allowances, its handyman services, and its gardening scheme. All gone Kaput!
Yes – you heard it here first. The organisation that has served the borough’s old folk – according to the records since the 1990’s when it began as Age Concern Waverley, bites the dust. Yet another achievement for “Your Waverley.”
However, from reading media reports, Age UKW got a bit above itself a few years ago, and became a bit bolshy with those who “must be obeyed”– and threatened legal action against the powers that be at “Your Waverley”to fight for compensation for damage caused to one of its services. so its funding was subsequently withdrawn. That will teach people to challenge “Your Waverley.” According to a borough council employee – WW now boasts several brave souls, it was all down to Waverley’s very own “Omen” the highly paid Damian Roberts, who earned himself a very fine reputation at his previous employment in Croydon and was “paid off” after help it to get rid of the voluntary sector.
Apparently, he and others, put the boot in on Waverleys’ old folks’ organisation and complained to Age Uk England that it was not fit for purpose and it lost its Partnership Brand. “Well it takes one to know one”
10 out of 10 Mr Omen for kicking that well respected Waverley organisation into touch. Let’s hope you never get to be old! On behalf of all Waverley’s growing number of old folk here’s your “T” shirt. You’ve earned it Mr “too smooth to move” Roberts. Don’t let the smile fool you.
Now he and his cohorts have turned their sights on guess who – The Meals on Wheels Service – no less. Not another assault on the borough’s elderly surely? Oh – by the way he is also “renegotiating” the Farncombe Day Centre lease! Bet that will cost them!
Here you have it: Straight from the Omens’ Mouth: If you get too bored with the report repeating itself endlessly. In a nutshell SC Council gives £30,000, WBC gives £30,000 to the WRVS- fewer people are taking up the service because the food is bad and warmed up in kitchens not fit for purpose at a day centre in Farnham, which may not be safe, and won’t even be there soon, so lets use this as an opportunity to save some money! OK?
We hear that here in Farnham he conveniently forgot to provide space for the WRVS to continue operating the meals-on-wheels service from the new centre to be built at The Memorial Hall when the Gostrey Centre is razed to the ground! What a silly boy! Wonder why?
But here’s the report – if you can bare it! it’s very repetitive, but then that’s what they pay officers’ for!
Here’s how much The Omen gets paid to take the food out of the mouths of the elderly!
Do away with him and all the old folks could go down the pub!
At the meeting on 19 January 2016, the Committee considered an initial, broad review of the Waverley-wide Meals on Wheels service. It agreed to establish a Sub- Committee to carry out an in-depth review to identify future priorities for the service and how these might be achieved. This scoping report sets out how the Sub- Committee intends to undertake this review and Members of the Committee are requested to make any comments.How this report relates to the Council’s Corporate Priorities:
The Council funds a number of voluntary organisations (fewer and fewer every day it seems )that provide high priority services for the benefit of Waverley residents in partnership with the Council. The Meals on Wheels service is provided through the Royal Voluntary Service and is available to older residents, vulnerable people and people with disabilities through a referral system. The service is funded through an annual Service Level Agreement in partnership with Surrey County Council who match-fund Waverley’s financial contribution.
Financial Implications:
There are no direct resource implications associated with this report. Through the in- depth review, the Sub-Committee may feel that a new or altered delivery modelfor a community meals service is required to meet the needs of residents. This may result in changed resource implications to the Council. WW bet it won’t be more money for better meals! If WW is wrong – we will eat our keyboard!
A Waverley Meals on Wheels service is delivered by the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) under an annual Service Level Agreement. Waverley Borough Council and Surrey County Council Adult Social Care directorate both contribute £30,000 towards the SLA service delivery, totalling £60,000.
The service operates from Brightwells Gostrey centre in Farnham, which is owned and maintained by the Council…
“Maintained – they must be joking. Everyone here in Farnham knows its kitchens are disgrace and have not been maintained for years – who do they think they are kidding!
RVS operate out of the building entirely free of charge: they occupy office space and have use of the kitchen. RVS does not pay towards utility costs and the Council is responsible for maintaining and replacing all equipment in the kitchen. In 2014/15, the Council has incurred significant kitchen repair costs. Because someone reported them to the Environmental Health department. Whilst it is difficult to allocate these exact costs to the RVS service, over the past three years this additional support has averaged approximately a further £11,000 per year. Nonsense – and you know it!
(All rubbish – now lets blame the WRVS! which hasn’t had an increase in funding since 2007)
This makes the Council’s overall financial support to RVS approximately £41,000 per year.
The £30,000 SLA funding for the service has remained the same since 2007. Provision has been made within the 2016/17 budget to continue funding RVS at the same level although the amount released may depend on the outcome of the review during the year.
The rest is here…..if you can bare it!
Legal Implications:
There is a current Service Level Agreement in place between the RVS and the Council. The terms of the Agreement state that either party may terminate the Agreement upon giving six month’s notice in writing to the other or a lesser period if the parties agree in writing. There is scope within the current Agreement for it to be extended whilst the review takes place. There should be no legal barriers to this being possible.
Introduction
The decision of this Committee to select the Meals on Wheel service as an area for in-depth review reflects the importance that Members place on how residents are supported to access a community meals service. It is timely to review what type of supported meals service residents need to support their independence and remain in their own home, particularly with the increasing older population in the borough and the other choices available to them to access meals since Meals on Wheels was established.
Through an annual Service Level Agreement, Waverley Borough Council contracts the RVS Surrey Hub to deliver a Waverley-wide Meals on Wheels service 5 days a week; 260 days per year.
RVS has been delivering Meals on Wheels throughout Waverley for over 50 years, connecting with many older people and volunteers. The service is based at the Brightwells Gostrey Centre, Farnham and all meals are heated up and delivered from here through paid staff and volunteer service model. The RVS buys ready-made frozen meals from Tillery Valley Foods, which arrive in segmented foil trays with a cardboard lid. The meals are all reheated at Brightwells Gostrey Centre and delivered hot and ready to eat from distribution points across the borough by volunteers. When delivering meals volunteers carry out a ‘safe and well’ check for every client.
4. The review has been identified for three main reasons:
Monitoring information provided by RVS shows that there has been asteady decrease in the take up of the Meals on Wheels service from40,248 delivered in 2011/12 to 29,775 meals delivered in 2014/15;
Consultation from the Ageing Well Strategy highlighted the need to review the service as some residents expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of meals. Some residents said that they preferred to buy ready made meals
c. The current Meals on Wheel service has operated in the same way for
some years: Future priorities and how these might be achieved may need to be considered to ensure a meals service meets the future needs of the community that offers a high quality service, meets people’s wellbeing needs and offers a value for money service.
5. Also, whilst the service meets all food safety requirements, Councillors have expressed concern about the length of time meals are kept warm and the impact on the quality of the meal.
Scope of the review Is the community meals service currently being delivered in Waverley one which we should continue to support?
It is proposed that the review of the meals on wheels service focusses on addressing the following key points so that recommendations on a future of this service can be made to the Executive:
What is the most important element of the service?
What are the alternative models for supporting a community meals service?
What are the views of the staff,volunteers and customers about the service?
What financial model would need to be developed to deliver a self-sustaining service?
6. As with the volunteers that deliver the meals. part of the review, it is proposed that the Sub-Committee also spends a day to review the process.
At their meeting on 19 February 2016, the Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee agreed that the review be conducted by a Sub-Committee, working with officers in order to complete the detailed work, before presenting its findings and recommendations back to the Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
9. Surrey County Council Adult Social Care directorate co-fund the service and will therefore need to be part of the review.It is recommended that the Committee:
1. Considers the scope of the review into the meals on wheels service and agrees the key questions to be addressed by the committee.
