Is the green-eyed monster alive and well in Bramley?

Every now and again, we get wind of a neighbour dispute that’s so ridiculous we choke on our cornflakes.

Has the silly season arrived early in Bramley? Hot on the heels of the Dunsfold Apple Tree Dispute (which hit the nationals) comes Racquets at Dawn in Bramley. The silly season has arrived in Dunsfold!

Speed reading through planning applications is a boring roll call, but sad souls that we are here at WW – we do it. Every now and again a festering plum of discontent drops into our laps. So here’s one to make you laugh – or maybe cry???

Clock House Lane, Bramley.

Apparently, some of its residents on this upmarket little lane have banded together to prevent one of their neighbours from reinstating an old tennis court that has fallen into disrepair, so are heaping objections onto the planning portal? Are you still laughing… just wait.

Because it would be funny if it weren’t so mean spirited as there are already two tennis courts and two swimming pools on Clock House Lane. Some owners of these luxury recreational facilities are actually objecting to the reinstatement of the Old Bramley Grange Hotel tennis court, which is adjacent to the home of the owner-occupiers. However, it appears walkers, horse riders and cyclists who use the lane are in support.

One says.

“This is not an application to build a new tennis court, but an application to reinstate an existing court and erect net netting around it. The court isn’t visible from Clock House Lane, so will not impact the lane’s users or residents. Furthermore, I can clearly see two existing tennis courts and a swimming pool on the ground of other properties on the lane, So I am at a loss to understand why residents object to the retention of an existing tennis court.”

Another said~:

“I walk up the lane past the area almost every day and cannot see why anyone would object. It doesn’t intrude on the public footpath and will not spoil my pleasure of walking in the countryside.”

Daft or what? So anyone and everyone living in Clockhouse Lane can own a tennis court or a swimming pool – but someone who wants to reinstate an existing one can’t?

Will Bramley’s council members get a chance to put forward their green credentials when the application they have called before the planning committee, or should we say IF? As Wimbledon, The US Open, Australian Open and every other Open have been held during the period in the application has been languishing Waverley Planners! Registered in June 2021 – and no date fixed for determination in  March 2022! If ever there was an application that officers should have decided under their delegated powers, it’s this. Particularly as the planners are only beginning to surface from the huge backlog post-lock-down?

Surely this call-in can’t have been at the hands of the member for Bramley – ‘All-at-Seaborne’, who usually likes to see homes built in the Green Belt? Some residents of Bramley – not to mention their ward councillors – need to get a grip before becoming a local laughing stock.

It sounds like the neighbours are wearing their green credentials, or should we say their green-eyed credentials?