The MP for Guildford has dipped into the ongoing row in Alfold about overdevelopment. You know, the one Waverley councillors refer to as “Poor old Alfold.”
Waverley Planners have consistently attempted to defend the Surrey/Sussex border village from a series of developers who have appealed their decisions to REFUSE huge housing schemes. The same administration is presently taking the flack from its opponents for spending too much money defending appeals!
Along comes the MP for Guildford expressing her concern. Just before the May elections, no less. The former bag carrier for Levelling Down Secretary Michael Gove is registering her fears about the effects developments permitted by a series of HER Government Inspectors have dealt on Alfold’s vital infrastructure.
She says…
Power issues in Alfold are a major concern for residents who live in the village. Regular power cuts, regular low-voltage incidents where kettles take half an hour to boil – and things are due to get worse with more development planned for the area.
I had some positive discussions with UK Power Networks about this last year, who are looking to upgrade the infrastructure nearby but are waiting for landowner permission.
As a result, I have written to the Forestry Commission urging them to consider the plans and give their approval so that people in Alfold can get the service that most of us take for granted.
Just as a matter of interest. Alfold has been suffering power cuts for more years than residents who have lived there for decades care to remember. The Former Conservative Cllr for Alfold & Dunsfold, Betty Ames, turned down an offer of gas for Alfold when offered by British Aerospace when it occupied the airfield at Dunsfold.
For a long time there has been the suspicion that Farnham, Haslemere and Godalming Waverley Borough councillors have stopped planning applications and allowed reduced allocations of new homes in their areas in the Local Plan and justified this by approving much more housing as % of existing homes in Alfold Cranleigh and Dunsfold. If more homes were built elsewhere then less would be approved in the far south east of the Borough.