The winds of change are wafting over ‘Your Waverley’.
Since the arrival of Councillor Paul Follows – who happens to be a Liberal Democrat – but we here at the Waverley Web don’t give a damn about his politicsd.! All we care about is that he is joining Farnham Residents his independent minded colleagues, in attempting to bring about some fairness in council dealings.
This evening the member for Godalming Central and Ockford will be attending the full counicil meeting, and an earlier briefing session regarding the development of Brightwells in Farnham.
And you know what – Godalming’s new boy says he will be aiming for a “small but meaningful victory ratified by full council in the form of my suggested changes to the standards panel (which should make it fairer, more reflective of the makeup of the council and more transparent). It has also had the knock-on effect of changing some of the committee seat allocations, and I have picked up an additional seat on the Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee (in addition to my Planning Committee seats) – which is a huge boost to my ability to serve the residents of my ward.”
He says, “Planning and housing issues are (and will be especially over the next year) be fundamental to the Central and Ockford ward – and this will give me much greater oversight and input into both of these areas.
I will be querying (again) what the consequences of the recent High Court ruling regarding the local plan and its consequences. The status of the Green Belt in my ward may depend on it (or not – they (the planners) have still not explained).
He says he will also be asking the Conservative leader to give me her definition of ‘Affordable’ – something absent from the draft corporate plan to see if it squares with my own view of this:
“Affordable for local people, affordable for key workers and affordable for first time buyers. Having recently been told by someone who works for a developer that £750k is ‘Affordable’ I think we need to have a debate on this topic!
I will also be asking the executive (along with other councillors) to justify how they propose to pay for the proposed leisure centre upgrades (and whilst I support the idea in principal) I would like to know what we are NOT doing as a result of this, and if these are what the borough considers a priority over other things. I would remind people (though I am sure they wouldn’t need to be reminded) that taxes went up and Waverley has started charging for some services that had been previous cheaper or free.
I would be very interested to hear your views on this, particularly over the course of the today (Tuesday).”
http://www.facebook.com/paulfollowsGodalming/posts/217514622302742
• Waverley Borough Council Council – Tuesday, 17th July, 2018 7.00 pm
Paul – You are a breath of fresh air – But I would like to remind you that your Town asked for Dunsfold to have the MAX number 6000- 8000 built – So if you have any hope of support from us here – You need to think about a bit of Kindliness between the towns and villages –
Maybe Godalming still hasn’t realised just how Much DP will impact on Godalming and surrounding towns and villages … time to take stock me thinks – Dunsfold Park has more than the impact on Alfold and Dunsfold it will affect all with train stations and decent shopping- So do come and visit us here – I would be happy to show you the facilities we have here – Won’t take long probably the time it takes for the coffee machine to finish –
No dissing our village it is just that I don’t think all the Councillors outside of our area and certainly the Planners quite “get” what we do have here! Open Invite – Happy to show you around – as I do feel you have an honest approach to this Planning debacle – so feel free to take me up on this.
All the best
Denise Wordsworth
Alfold
Denise,
First of all – I’m always happy to take people up on tour and to discuss things like this in person. I hope that I have an open mind on this sort of thing, and absolutely do not profess to be an expert on planning! The ones that think they are seem to be the most dangerous! Seeing a place and talking to people is the only way Councillors make informed decisions on anything.
I think (at the moment) the issue mentioned by yourself, and the one below by Patrick – and I’ll add one more – the specific development proposed in and next to my own ward are symptomatic of the same problem- that the relationship between development and infrastructure is surprisingly loose (in some cases virtually non-existant). That was actually the biggest surprise I had coming into this subject as a new councillor.
My current view on this – all three of the developments mentioned are going to contribute to a sort of ‘infrastructure crunch’ – and there are similar examples brewing across Waverley – where combinations of this sort of problem start to cause major problems.
It’s a borough wide problem that is going to require wholesale change at Waverley Borough Council to start to change. Some of the damage is clearly already done.
I too will repeat Denise in that it is a breath of fresh air to see and hear Paul Follows out and about in our Borough. If only you could be cloned a few times then perhaps WBC wouldn’t be in such a mess as it is. My view is that we are all in deep doo doo from the oncoming and imminent over development of Godalming and the villages. The infrastructure (which in a strategic plan should come first or synchronously) is not even on the drawing board. We are close to a tipping point in Godalming – the station approaches, the A3 northbound, Milford crossroads, Petworth Road – just as Guildford are now in the centre, Stag Hill, University slip road, Woodbridge Road. I disagree with Patrick, DP will be a monumental impact on Godalming and particularly Milford…. you can’t add 3000 cars and expect that not to impact on us – the villages just don’t know it yet. Shopping is the least of it… Dunsfold will be a commuter town …. and the commuters have to commute to somewhere.
So the bottom line? We may be in different tributaries, but they all lead to shit creek.
How refreshing to hear from acouncillor who doesn’t pretend he knows it all and is taking the trouble to get around the borough to learn of residents’ concerns. Now there’s a message for Mrs Cockburn and Mr Isherwood?
Denise
Its my view that Godalming will be much more impacted by the 600 -800 houses being built in Milford & Witley who will look to Godalming for secondary schools and posh supermarkets.
WW said “…taking the trouble to get around the borough to learn of residents’ concerns. Now there’s a message for Mrs Cockburn and Mr Isherwood?”
I think your list is too short by 20 or so Councillors
For once PP we have to agree with you. However, we pointed our stick at Cockburn and Isherwood as a result of the derogatory, rude, insulting and ignorant remarks they made about Cranleigh and Ewhurst few months back when they thought the webcast had been turned off! At least you lot over there now know what they think of you and your very real concerns.
I’m not from Cranleigh… but it doesn’t really matter which Councillors represent you, all bar one or two notable don’t exercise their own views – when a 3 line whip is invoked it is Julia Pott’s opinion that matters. That’s not democracy.
Agreeing with you twice in one day PP – this will never do! Is it because we mentione that word you dread – sausages?
I think the most … serious example of that whip I have seen so far was that local plan part 1 vote.
Half a dozen councillors, some of the ones that I had never heard speak before (or since) all spoke about how bad it was before going to vote for it.
Their words mean nothing..
At some point I want to share with Waverley web our proposed standing orders, if my party or group of allies get a meaningful opposition or even control – because this is something I want to curb in advance. I am pro-party politics in terms of organisation and media and message – but want any councillor who sits with me to feel free to speak up for their community.
And that Councllor Fellow is what we expect ALL our elected representatives to do for us. We agree with your sentiments. We have watched the opposition from the Farnham Residents being squashed, and it was obvious to everyone watching the webcast that hardly anybody agreed with the Daft Local Plan that had been so long in the making it was past its sell-by-date before it was sold to the Tory members and signed off by them.
However, we will stand up for Leader Julia Potts here! At least she managed to get a Local Plan on the stocks, which is more than could be said of Robert “Knowless” and the previous chief planning officer Matthew Evans who cleared off over the Hampshire border.
Perhaps you are unaware just how the key sites were worked up by the planners? At secret meetings in smoke-filled rooms at Waverley Towers. The likes of Crest Nicholson; Thakeham Homes; Berkeley Homes; Cala Homes; The Knowle Park Initiative; Cozens-Smiths; Hamish Robbie; asnd more… including the East’s borough councillors … one dead and buried, two with their own consented development; and one who promoted development on the largest brownfield site in the borough and was villified for it!!
If you can help bring democracy back into Waverley Towers the people of Waverley will thank you for it – but sadly, much of the damage has already been done.