Here’s a little message we received in response to yesterday’s post, which pretty much sums up the mood of residents in Alfold.

When will Waverley Planners come clean with the residents of Alfold?

 

 

Hi WW

I think it is pretty evident that we have NO CONFIDENCE. It is not so much the changing of Tenure but the fact that no one had the decency to let the village or its Councillors know despite repeated requests for updates. Also, something Legally Binding, such as s106 (a legal agreement made at the appeal between the council and the developer), can be changed without consultation.

It is all well and good having affordable housing—but for goodness sake, put it where there are local services, public transport, employment opportunities, and some Infrastructure, NOT in one of the smallest, least accessible Villages in the Borough. (Most WB Councillors do not even know where ALFOLD is!)

Undoubtedly, we will have to go through the Whole THAKEHAM-TAKEOVER of our village again, as we did back in 2015-16, when there was no Local Plan or Neighborhood Plan. It makes a mockery of the whole planning system when these mean nothing because WBC does not have a 5-Year Land Supply of Housing.

Cranleigh took proportionately FAR more housing than the Towns of Farnham, Godalming, and Haslemere, which have spent years protecting their GREENBELT, whilst the GREENFIELDS in the East of the Borough have been bulldozed. Now Cranleigh is gridlocked!

After the Thakeham Consultations for the additional 350 odd (I use that word loosely!) You could fill in a Feedback (LARGE A3) form in the little Church Hall or take it home and Freepost it! If, however, you wanted to complete one ONLINE, that option did not work, and all you could do was download the form and print it IF YOU HAVE A PRINTER….Get your magnifying glass to read and complete, then post it. Don’t these guys have the tech for an online submission? Or would that have made it too easy for us? I can assure you my “kids” struggled with this.
The questions were so binary and leading they had obviously scanned through the ANP and picked a few morsels out from that… totally unaware that these were items we already had or will have:

CIL funding for a large Outdoor Gym by the Village Hall – Agreed in April 2024

A Community Work Hub being offset by the Vistry Development on Horsham Road A281 to somewhere In the Village

Biodiversity Net Gain Offsetting from Vistry proposed to be within our village (we shall see)

Every Developer has to contribute to the Imaginary Demand Responsive Bus Services.

A building that “could” be a tiny Preschool, Medical centre, or any other imaginary thing would require Third-Party Support from SCC, CCQ, etc…. Is that likely to be forthcoming?

The problems we have here in the Village with Water/Sewer, etc., will have to be sorted by Thames Water as it is its responsibility, not Thakehams’—who will be pumping their ECONOMY-7 Sewer during Off-Peak times!

Thakeham’s plan is for the primary Access/egress to be from the site onto the (SMALL) Dunsfold Road and then onto the Crossways—almost opposite the new Access for the 30-odd homes currently being built out by Brockhurst Farm on Dunsfold Road.

You could not make this whole shambolic mess up! Even The Alfold Barn has put in Planning to convert it into 4 Flats despite recently regaining its Licence to trade again as a Restaurant. It is just a Free-For-ALL.

Denise Wordsworth