Here’s John Ward the Leader of “Your Waverley’ making his shock announcement and our post yesterday: TRINITY COLLEGE TAKES FLIGHT FROM DUNSFOLD!
Then we have this in the Farnham Herald which highlights the threat to Farnham and all the other towns and villages in Waverley. Both Farnham and the eastern villages in and around Cranleigh are particularly vulnerable.
Our graphic shows Dunsfold Aerodrome’s industrial links in its past. Who was it who wanted to see Dunsfold as one big industrial park? Former MP Anne Milton and perhaps …?
… This spells – ‘Chinese Government.’
It would seem that Mr Turnill, unlike his illustrious predecessors, doesn’t favour taking the long view, which is what those who invest in property are generally required to do. Being a city man, he prefers to play the financial markets instead.
Maybe, before it’s too late, but should we send Mr Turnill a little light bedtime reading by way of a copy of Jeffrey Archer’s latest novel (Turn a Blind Eye), which our Webbers have been reading – in which it’s somewhat presciently noted that:
‘The land that surrounds Felixstowe Docks is owned by Trinity College, Cambridge, and is one of its most valuable assets. The college bursar at the time, a Mr Tressilian Nicholas, purchased the 3,800-acre site on behalf of the college in 1933, along with a road that led to the then-derelict docks. His successor, a Mr Bradfield, spotted its potential, and it’s now the largest port in Britain and makes the college a small fortune.’
Lord Butler, a former cabinet minister, and master of Trinity asked Bradfield at a finance meeting if he realised that the college-owned a tin mine in Cornwall that hadn’t shown a return since 1546, to which the bursar famously replied,
“You’ll find, master, that in this college, we take the long view.”
It would seem that in declining to take the long view at Dunsfold Park, Mr Turnill is turning his back not only on centuries-old tradition at Trinity College but on the residents of Waverley and their councillors, who were relying on Trinity to deliver on its promise to create an exemplar new eco-village at the former aerodrome, and thus, in one fell swoop, alleviating Waverley Borough Council’s housing shortfall and rejuvenating the former airfield which is home to many local businesses and jobs, which have done well to survive the current Corona Virus pandemic.
Read yesterday’s post: Are the floodgates for further development in the eastern villages about to open?
The Waverley Web revealed “the change of ownership” last week here:
Is it Farnham’s fault that homes are being dumped on the east of Waverley?
Waverley’s housing delivery supply is heavily dependent on Dunsfold’s garden village.
Following the bombshell news, Waverley’s councillors and planners alike are feeling abused, bruised and used by the actions of Mr Turnhill. Not that they mentioned him, but we have been doing a bit of our own espionage work around the Dunsfold delay with a few of our Cambridge informants.
Oh what a tangled web they weave?
And what of The Flying Scot, Jim McAllister, who has spent the past 19 years trying to bring his grandiose plans for an exemplar eco-village to fruition?
In Trinity College, Cambridge, with its illustrious history, deep pockets and famous ‘long view’, McAllister no doubt thought he’d found the perfect partner to embrace and deliver on his vision but, unfortunately, it now appears he backed the wrong horse, not realising it would throw the jockeys mid-race!
That’s the problem with horses – you need a big shovel to clear up the TURDHILLS they leave in their wake!
We will post a clip of the Leader’s official statement tomorrow. Hopefully, with a few reactions?
Voting: 7 votes in Favour – 6 Against and Two Abstentions.
Planning Consultant Patrick Arthurs admitted that the previous design was… “a bit brutal.” Adding … “Although the local ward members still don’t like it, they admit it is better, with a softer appearance.”
Two of which will be considerably higher than an adjacent business building called Europa House owned by Whitesales.
In 2017 Waverley Planners gave consent for 265 homes to be built.
One site off Alfold Road in Knowle Park – for 74 dwellings with an emergency access road (WA2016/2207) was to have included affordable homes. These were pulled out and all the affordable homes put into the 118 home second phase scheme by A2 Dominion on the other side of the Alfold Road. A third phase will be completed by 2026 – exactly 10 years since the application was lodged.
Officer Arthurs said: “The development met current guidelines and developers could not be asked to do more.”
Alfold’s Cllr Kevin Deanus said the state of Alfold Road was atrocious and the chicane of a Give Way at Elmbridge Road was downright dangerous. “There are already fisticuffs down there on Elm bridge and it just gets worse and worse.”
Will another Neighbourhood Plan hit Waverley’s wheelie bin?
So long as the vast majority of Waverley Residents live in Farnham 32%, Godalming 18% and Haslemere 14% Compared to Cranleigh at 9% it was always inevitable that Dunsfold Park would end up being largest Egg in the Local Plan Basket and we all know the saying about putting all your Eggs in one basket!
Developers insist Waverley cannot meet their 5 Year Housing Plan and it appears from last night’s Eastern Planning meeting that we no longer have 5.3 years but 4.99 years… and so these developers, who think we have about a 3.5 Year plan, will carry on trying to load more and more Housing in the Eastern villages due to the lack of Greenbelt, AONB, SANGS, SPAs and all the other protections that are afforded across the rest of the Borough.
Countryside Beyond the Greenbelt means little to the Inspectors, and the fact that this particular site was only Partially PDL – was also not considered to be important.
There are no Sustainable methods of Transport here.. and you can stick Travel Plans in and talk about Car sharing and the Hourly Bus service (HELLO??) until the cows come home (if there are any left) 78 Homes will generate at least 140 new journeys AM & PM daily onto the A281. The Garden centre did NOT and was used mainly on weekends and afternoons, as no-one went there during the rush hours.
New residents will be highly reliant on cars to get to shops, schools, medical centres etc and they will travel to Cranleigh (if they can get in) Guildford and Horsham, putting more strain on the A281.
Despite being at odds with the expert planning officers’ recommendation to refuse a house being built on the green belt (AGLV & AONB) in Hascombe – All-At-Sea – led the charge to overturn their advice. Claiming a bit of the old flour mill wheel and a bit of wall on the site was enough to drive a coach and horses through planning rules!
(Planning Application No WA/2021/0016).
All-At Sea` called the planning application into the committee for determination because he, and others – believed the development should be allowed. Officers had wanted to refuse it on policy grounds – under their delegated powers. They claimed it was against planning policy, was outside the settlement of Hascombe and would impact GB and AGLV/ AONB.
Here’s where it is.
Here’s what remains
Some people are never satisfied – are they? Where once shrubs and garden plants grew – providing a much needed local service for all the other new homes – either up, going up or proposed in the little village on the Surrey/Sussex border – it now heralds bricks and concrete?
Developers are falling over themselves to get a slice of the Awful Alfold action – despite Waverley Planners efforts to fend them off.
ALFOLD/DUNSFOLD MORPHS INTO ALDUN & DUSTED?
In a nutshell: Thames Water has identified an inability of the existing FOUL WATER network infrastructure to accommodate the needs of this development proposal.
And neither can the Royal Surrey Hospital! It comments in its letter to Waverley Planners.
“The Trust’s utilisation of acute bed capacity is at 95% which significantly exceeds the optimal 85% occupancy rate. This demonstrates that current occupancy levels are highly unsatisfactory, and the problem will be compounded by an increase in need created by the development which does not coincide with an increase in the number of bed spaces available at the Hospital. This is the inevitable result where clinical facilities are forced to operate at overcapacity. Any new residential development will add a further strain on the current acute healthcare system.”
It wants £160,000 if the development goes ahead towards providing healthcare.
Villager Mike Crabtree said:
The proposed increase in numbers for this development will lead to a housing density totally at odds with the existing settlement making it less likely to do anything other than stand out rather than blend in. Such a large number of houses with a generic design language is also at odds with the more diverse nature of the village housing stock. It is exceedingly hard to justify why such development needs to expand beyond the agreed quota. The benefit will be felt entirely by the developer rather than the village.
Alfold has already been besieged by developers seeking to exploit a perceived weakness in the local plan.
As recently refused applications have shown, there is very limited public transport in the village and ironically as this site was the main employment site in the village prior to developing, occupants will need private cars to drive to work, this is at odds with planning policy. The additional housing adds a number of extra cars roughly double the increase in houses.
Dear God, how many more bloody houses are they going to try and squeeze into a village that has no amenities?
Once again we have a developer trying to increase the number of Housing for this small Village with limited facilities or infrastructure. A village that has met its housing obligation of a min 125 Homes and in fact far exceeded it!It is simply not good enough to expect a Tier 3 Village to take on this volume of housing. There has been NO PUBLIC consultation on this – minimal for the previous application limited to a few local (Or not so local as we live closer and had none) neighbours, and the APC. They are basing this yet again on the fact that WBC MAY OR MAY NOT have its 5 year husing supply. – But that does not mean that housing should be DUMPED here in one of the smaller Villages.
Planning has to be appropriate to the location with it’s needs and resources and this simply isn’t. The fact that the Inspector granted the original application for 56 Homes and took no consideration of the other appeal applications – just shows the system is flawed. Reliance on the Dunsfold Park Application is NOT RELEVANT – It has not gone to Reserved Matters and should therefore not be considered and until it does.. this is flagrant Piggy-Backing off a development under review in Planning terms.I have no doubt that if this is refused they will re-apply for the 88 homes they also put into the mix. This is simply wrong and puts all smaller applications in jeopardy – which are the sort of applications the village can deal with. I will resubmit my original opposition under separate cover. But For now, I simply OBJECT
The application reference is WA/2021/0462.
The deadline for comments is 16 April 2021. But you can keep sending them in.
Is this the new dangerous sport coming soon for Surrey’s pot-hole filled roads?
Here at the Waverley Web, we have been an admirer of Paul Follows since he first arrived on the scene at Waverley Towers. And the answer is NO – if you believe it is because he is a Liberal Democrat. the truth is far simpler.
He communicates directly with the public. Not through a laboriously long-winded and slow communications machine – where the language is couched in ‘council speak’ and where misuse of words blunts the edge of the message.
Paul Follows is not on a “direction of travel’ or ‘engaged in a piece of work.’ He is making a plan and doing the job – and telling everyone in the process – including the Waverley Web. The same Waverley Web that is loathed by the Conservative Group who believed in doing things behind our backs – making decisions in Group Meetings – which we understand is still in Committee Room 1 – a domain normally reserved for the ruling group, not the largest group? The same group that failed consistently to deliver a robust Local Plan, and which for years ignored the largest brownfield site in the borough! Which has now dumped us in a developers hole!
That the dream team the Lib Dems have come up with will make a massive difference at County Towers – we are in no doubt. Particularly when Cllr Mark Merryweather joins the county fray. We Bet Fred, or anyone else, that once in the hot seat ‘MM’ will be trawling through Surrey’s accounts and going through them with a fine-tooth comb. He might not only discover WHY Surrey wants to take over the 11 boroughs & district councils but actually tell us what fine mess it is really in?
Here’s his message from a brave man who made it before the hairdressers opened
