It is a sad day for the Waverley Web saying farewell to Betty Boot aka Liz The Biz, aka Lilibet aka Elizabeth Simms Waverley’s chief planning officer.
Credit where credit is due – taking over from former planning head honcho Matthew Evans, a former Berkeley Homes employee turned gamekeeper was a poisoned chalice. However, the man who made his name holding ‘secret meetings’ with developers and Cranleigh councillors – can be proud of his pupil’s achievements. She has ensured Cranleigh is now on the cusp of becoming a New Town, Godalming and Farnham are almost grid-locked – Dunsfold Aerodrome will soon become home to many – not planes – or petrol heads, other than those engaged in business, but families. In fact, our borough is now growing faster than knotweed.
She also managed to get the Local Plan adopted – well, almost – now it is doing another round in the courts to lower the housing numbers, thanks to Protect our Waverley and the Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England – promotors of all brownfield sites, except of course Dunsfold Aerodrome.
However, she has repeatedly reminded councillors on many thousands of occasions that she and her …
“officers are satisfied.” with anything and everything being built in and around Waverley.
That includes as many green fields as possible going under concrete, recommending, regardless of how damaging, many hundreds of new homes are crammed into the back, side, and front gardens, other of course, than in Farnham. Even in Farnham, if it happens to be in the gardens of Tory councillors!!
We shall always remember her for her comments and protection of Waverley’s ancient Woodland. You know those old trees that have been around for 600 years or more. The ones she said could always be replaced with new ones!