You could be forgiven for thinking it was NOTHING to do with the Tories, particularly if you are a regular reader of The Farnham Herald, which has morphed into the… 

Yep, Cllr Carole Cockburn, the same councillor who presided over a generation of Tory Waverleys, who for five years repeatedly failed to develop a credible Local Plan. Who pulled Local Plan Part 2 weeks before the 2019 election?  Dumped a duff planning IT system into the unsuspecting laps of the Rainbow Alliance and ruled out development on the largest brownfield site in the borough at Dunsfold! Then fought off their own Tory MPs, Jeremy Hunt and Anne Milton, in the High court with shedloads of taxpayers’ money.

That’s your starter for ten.

With the late CllrPeter  Isherwood in the chair, Cllr Carole and her Tory colleagues started the big dump-off on Cranleigh and the eastern villages – including developing its flood plains. One of which is now called Amber Waterside.

A Cranleigh New Town that has emerged from a rural village on the fringes of the Dunsfold Garden Village. A village that took so long for the Tories to recognise as ‘A 378-acre BROWNFIELD DEVELOPMENT SITE’ that the developer had to sell up or go bottoms up!

So what have Crowing Carole and the Tories been doing during the past four years? Yep – you guessed. They are crowing from the sidelines while refusing to work with their Rainbow Alliance colleagues.

Tory Group Leader – Cllr Julie Potts, took flight from Farnham, realising she would lose her seat and plumped for a safer one in Milford, Frensham & Dockenfield. Then dumped the Tory head honcho job for a better one with Cratus Communications – an outfit she regularly used as Party Leader. Hardly anyone has seen or heard of her since!

Even Tory Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has fled Farnham and hopes to succeed in Godalming, Ash and embrace the Tory faithful in Cranleigh & the eastern villages. He gave the game away by turning on Cranleigh’s  Christmas lights. So transparent!

Now Carole is scaremongering in the Carole Chronicles every week about losing HER Neighbourhood Plan and everyone else’s NPs.on the Lib Dem’s altar of incompetence. She must be music to the ears of all top-drawer planning lawyers in the Landmark Chambers when she makes statements like this week. “Waverley has admitted we  have a Local Plan Part 1 that is not fit for purpose.” Standing up for the borough she claims to represent? What piffle! She is throwing Farnham into the developer’s laps.

Has she listened to any of those very successful Appeals where a long string of Government inspectors have completely ignored Neighbourhood Plans and local objections, including HERS? 

No doubt the self-confessed voice for Farnham will dish her own council when she appears before government `Inspectors at the four planning appeals taking place shortly,

Yet another planning appeal was allowed in Farnham.

Here’s what the Tory Publicity machine spewed out, IF, and it’s a big IF the planning department was put in special measures for minor planning applications.

“Planning applications would be dealt with by the Planning Inspector rather than locally (BY), (which was missed out) – elected councillors who are your voice on the development in our towns and villages.”

Since when has the Inspectorate listened to Waverley’s elected councillors, who are our voice on the development of our towns and villages? Ask Cllr  Kevin Deanus or Cllr Liz Townsend.

Who the hell does Carole think has been submerging villages like Alfold in concrete? Elected councillors?