Godalming residents are waking up and smelling the concrete that could be about to cover part of the town’s once protective green belt.
If recent planning officer recommendations are anything to go by its a given. The mantra in ‘Your Waverley’s ‘ planning department is – ‘if it doesn’t move grant permission!’
Last night at Western Planning officers were quite happy to convert a shed into a house near Farnham Castle’s Conservation Area!!
Residents are beginning to question why farmland should be removed from the Green Belt to provide more housing in Eashing Lane. Some residents are posting videos on the Godalming Community Board generating over a 100 comments in the GREAT GODALMING GREEN BELT DEBATE
- What do they get in return for 262 houses?
- A mystery Community Building and a footpath into an existing field they are calling a ‘new Country Park’ – (as it’s too steep to build houses on!)
- More traffic?
- Services under stress?
Meanwhile, the developers have released a “Community Update Newsletter” ahead of the Planning Application consultation closing this week.
Here is the link to download the newsletter.
Respond NOW! here to Waverley by Friday 31st August for WA/2018/1239
One resident and video poster Nina M has also started a petition, which we would like to bring to your attention, seeking to “Ask Waverley BC to rethink housebuilding & reject Ashill development on greenfield land”
Good Luck – We’ve seen how the East of the Borough, has been treated without the area benefitting from Green Belt protection! As councillors sat with their hands in the air consenting development after development even on floodplains, they called it ‘Poor Old Cranleigh.”
No doubt they will stick their hands in the air and call our town – “Poor Old Godawfulming!’
Not a single Conservative Councillor has responded as to WHY they took this land out of Green Belt, as opposed to any other space, given the very narrow roads into Godalming or the bottleneck that is the A3 to Guildford.
Perhaps they will break the habit of a lifetime and write to us here at contact@waverleyweb.org
Ah as ever it’s never a dull moment in the ward of Godaming Ockford and Central!
If I may I just wanted to post a link to the letter I have been delivering to residents of the ward on this matter:
https://www.facebook.com/135691707151701/posts/252285415492329/
Some Excellent Objections posted by Well informed people in Godalming – Well done them. I just wish they had been a little more forthcoming when they saw what was happening in Cranleigh. I know we can all be guilty of only looking at our own “patch” it is normal. Alas a precedent has been set in Cranleigh and all will suffer – I think it was posted several years ago – that we were becoming a disjointed Borough which suited the Planners and made applications coming to the JPC easier to slip through – It just so happened that more came here in the East at that time.
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Traffic issues are the same all over as well as air pollution. At least Godalming has a Train station – albeit Hugely Overloaded. We DON’T!
The only saving grace the rest of the Borough have is the Local Plan. I wish Godalming well and hope that they succeed in this. Good Luck.
We are sure that the people of Godalming will be heartened by your concern. Perhaps someone should invite them over to Cranleigh, which now resembles one great big building site, with HGV and lorry traffic reaching dangerous proportions as they are held up at numerous road works!
We have heard from our followers that the For Sale signs are appearing on a daily basis – with no takers!
Well looking at the Planning this will continue in Godalming, Haslemere/Hindhead and Farnham – It is just such a shame that it takes a change in Tac’ from the Developers – Who know they have Overloaded Cranleigh and any more will reduce profits that they are moving on with their plans in the rest of the Borough
It isn’t rocket science – It was bound to happen – we have a reprieve in the East. because to be quite honest 1700 Homes in Cranleigh Plus DP 2600 was the max they thought they would get away with now – They plan to concrete the rest of the borough
Unless enough people realise this – the worse it will get. I don’t know what you call it – But I call it Apathy
I Think it is fantastic that Cllr Follows posts info to his local residents – it is just a shame that WBC don’t seem to know how to update their You Tube pages – I haven’t seen an update for 2 weeks – Is this just because all the IT staff are on Hols or they do not want us to know what is going on??
I don’t want silly Newsletters full of PR in the Post I would just like to know what is and Isn’t going on – Really? so much for transparency
Oh dear! Silly old you, of course, they don’t want you to know what is going on, why would they. If you knew what was going on you would have something to say about it. ‘Your Waverley’ magazine is just spin – what they want you to know. Start asking difficult questions such as – how is the Farnham air quality investigation going? Or, why are developers getting away with blue murder all over the borough? Why are planning officers railroading through important material planning changes under the guise of delegated powers? Why are they recommending planning consents for totally unsuitable development, when they supposedly have the protection of a Local Plan? we could go on, and on… but we won’t because its late