It’s a disaaaster!
Thank the heavens for Farnham residents like Mark Westcott, who is on point regarding Brightwells.
Here, he registers the disappointment many of us have expressed about the Crest Nicholson redevelopment on East Street, which has been long in the making.
It is a development that ‘Your Waverley’ says “we must make the best of.”
The saddest prospect is—will anyone who flocks to the coffee bars and drinking dens before and after leaving the cinema actually notice all the design and building defects? Has civic pride in Michael Blowers’ and Mark Westcott’s Farnham world gone down the same drain as Crest Nicholson/Your Waverley planners’ past and present dreadful abrogation of responsibility?
The WW wonders: What has the Farnham Society to say for itself?
Is the delight in detail, craftsmanship and pride in their work completely and utterly absent- all now part of a bygone era?
Shock and disappointment at missing Brightwell detailing
On the mark – says Mark.
With turf down, sprinklers soaking sods loosely laid on poorly prepared soil, and dozens of workers currently buzzing around the site aiming to complete the scheme, we can now get a chance to see what has actually been built and what a shock and utter disappointment.
Not that we expected much after the loss of heritage buildings and so much treasured open space in the heart of Farnham, but how is it that not one of the buildings throughout the scheme appears to match in any detail what we understood to be shown by the “Approved Drawings”?
Having raised the extent of the issue that has blighted Brightwells more than 18 months ago with both County and Borough Councillors, Surrey County and Waverley Borough Councils (including the project officer, the planning department, the conservation officer, and the planning and enforcement section), together with the Farnham Residents Group elected member for Farnham Moor Park and portfolio holder for Brightwells (and Chair of the Standards & General Purposes Committee and Brightwells Champion), nothing seems to have been done about making sure the buildings do at least comply with what we understood to have been approved by councillors and planning.
Numerous requests have been made over the last 18 months for copies of any Conditional Approvals (CA) or Non-Material Amendments (NMA) that might apply (the council doesn’t consult the public on CAs or NMAs), but none has been forthcoming.
It has been suggested that the reason that there is such a lot of activity at the moment with quite so many workers flooding the site is that Crest Nicolson (CN) must reach Practical Completion by the middle of August; otherwise, there’s been talk that in the absence of expressly approved claims for any fully justifiable and justified delay, CN might be subject to a “penalty” sum approaching somewhere in the region of £8M for failure to complete.
While it’s understandable that any related legal agreements will be extremely complex, if there is any basis in the suggestion that such a “penalty” clause exists and might be just about to be dropped, ignored or applied, it might help to explain the hive of activity and all the unfinished buildings that don’t match the “Approved Drawings”.
It would be scandalous if it transpired that our elected councillors and their planning department advisers have rolled over and rubber-stamped countless CAs and NMAs (if they exist and can be produced) that might enable CN to walk away from the site without constructing the elevations throughout the scheme that we understood we were to get and, in the process, avoid being subjected to any “penalty” clause.
In the meantime, I’m putting up a prize of case of champagne prize to the person who identifies the most differences between the “Approved” planning application drawings and what has been built, as shown here in recent photographs of Units D4A and D4C.
by Mark Westcott
Why oh Why have the Planning Authority (Waverley) not been monitoring Crest’s build out finish against the approved drawings? Surely this is the job of Waverley’s project manager, who would then pass his/her findings to the Waverley’s enforcement team. Someone needs to hold their feet to the fire!
No doubt this will turn into a new Olympic sport – pas the buck relay team.
I can just hear the squeals as everyone hides behind the “complex legal agreements”
So Waverley, don’t just pass the buck to your legal eagles to pour over the contracts for the next six months, just show some gumption, and get off down to Brightwells. Ask Mark to be your guide, as he obviously knows what needs fixing.
I think that every Waverley councillor who in the last 25 yrs has raised a hand in favour of Crest’s proposals, that is the vast majority, should be assembled in Gostry meadow where a stage could be erected, they could then one by one be led onto the stage to beg forgiveness from the residents of Farnham for the disaster they have inflicted on this town.
Brightwells Blight is probably the main reason why the Conservatives have been a spent force in Farnham for the past five years. But they were adamant until the bitter end that all was well with the development. Just look at what a previous Portfolio Holder for Brightwells, Julia Potts (one time Leader of the Conservatives) has to say on her Linkedin profile:
“Leader of the Council 2016- 2019 – Pioneered major planning and regeneration developments within the borough including the Brightwells Farnham Regeneration scheme – A £100m regeneration mixed residential & commercial scheme in the town to bring jobs, shops, leisure, new homes and approximately £800-900k per annum income for the council”
If she was so confident, then why did she desert her Farnham seat for a safe one out of town in the 2019 elections?
NB The LibDems also had a hand in this when they took control at Waverley in 2003. But that is usually swept under the carpet.
And, why did she then bugger off to live in the West County – leaving all the mess behind her. She is not alone – WW wonders where is former WBC Cllr Denis Le Gal? Who refularly boasted that she had ensured that oth she and all her family members had ensured they kept their Canadian passports! She was a Surrey County Council trustee of the pension fund that invested £57m! Probably out there in the forests of Alberta singing “I’m a lumberjack and I’m ok?”