Waverley Councillor Peter Martin gets to grip with Surrey’s share of the extra £200m dolled out by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to deal with millions of the country’s potholes. Potholes that have cost our team here at the Waverley Web – £500 in just one month. One of whom is a nurse who couldn’t get to work for two days.
It wasn’t the vast campaigns by local & national newspapers or the millions of pothole rants on social media that persuaded our MP Chancellor Jeremy to act. As he mentioned during his Budget Speech at Westminster yesterday, an appeal from his SW Surrey Tory mate Waverley Cllr Peter Martin persuaded him to lob £200 million into the country’s potholes.
Anything Rod can do, Peter can do better.
Perhaps Godalming’s Cllr Martin also told the Chancellor that most of the sticky black stuff being lobbed into the holes in Surrey’s roads also goes AWOL after a few weeks? Unless more permanent measures are employed in dealing with the parlous state of the country’s roads – like re-surfacing, not tar and chipping, that £200m is going into yet more of the Tory Government’s Big Black Holes!
A Government Inspector has ruled that Waverley’s long-awaited Local Plan Part 2 has been approved.
On 13 March 2023, the Planning Inspectorate issued the Report on the Examination of the Waverley Borough Local Plan Part 2.
Government Inspector Mr GJ Fort BA PGDip MCD MRTPI has concluded that the Plan (with modifications) meets all the soundness and legal compliance tests.
The Report, accompanied by an Annex containing the Main Modifications, can be inspected from the following locations:
The Waverley Web cannot help wondering how many more HGVs will add their names to the long list of vehicles to hit Farnham’s Wrecclesham Railway Bridge before Tory-led Surrey County Council pulls its finger out.
Waverley’s Service Overview & Scrutiny Committee members heard that 2045
had been marked on SCC’s highway calendar for works on the bridge! The accident black spot is included in the infamous Farnham Infrastructure Plan’s Pending Tray. Will we still have trains in 2045 WWonders?
Most residents will push up the Farnham Park daisies before improvements arrive on Wrecclesham’s never, never plan.
Cllr Carole Cockburn said Waverley had no power over the county council to implement Farnham’s Infrastructure improvements.
In recent years, numerous HGVs and Buses have hit the bridge – there have been well over 100 incidents.,
According to eyewitnesses, an HGV travelling north through Wrecclesham hit the bridge’s protective boom and turned over in this incident last year.
The A325 Wrecclesham Road was closed between the Coxbridge roundabout and the School Hill junction. A Nissan Qashqai was crushed, but its female driver was safely removed and taken to hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries.
The dates on which the bridge has been hit were 24/9/14, 22/5/15, 27/5/15, 18/8/16, 23/5/17, 19/7/17, 4/9/17, 6/10/17, 10/11/17, 7/2/18, 11/7/18, 6/8/18, 6/12/18, 15/3/19, 4/4/19, 13/5/19, 07/10/21, 17/03/22, 11/07/22.
Surrey County Council said it was up to Network Rail to find a way to make the bridge as bright and visible as possible – such as installing brighter signage and black and yellow chevron signing. It has met with Network Rail and has offered to support with this.
“The issues and solutions around Wrecclesham bridge remain complex. However, Surrey County Council has commissioned new investigations into longer-term options.”
Network Rail says it’s up to Surrey County Council to sort it out. Its statement said: “While Wrecclesham road bridge has traditionally been one of our most-struck bridges, the number of incidents have reduced over the years. However, we have seen a spike since last year.
Painting a bridge and cutting trees back will stop it from being hit. WW thinks not!
What makes Waverley Planners believe the development of 200 homes will ever tee off on Milford Golf Course during the next decade?
Waverley Council may believe that during its update of Local Plan Part 1, the scheme doesn’t require reviewing, but Mr & Mrs Tim House, who lives close to the site, have other ideas.
The land is covered by a Covenant which prevents large-scale development, and they intend to see it honoured.
The controversial site was the subject of a battle royal between villagers and the planners when it was given planning consent in February 2019.
When the scheme was approved, Tim House, speaking on behalf of objectors, lambasted the scheme calling it.
“An affront to common sense which flew in the face of public opinion.”
He warned the land was covered by a restrictive Covenant that could prevent it ever being developed.”
He accused officers of coming up with a “cocktail of conditions” that the more realistic members of the committee should object to.
Witley Parish Council’s spokesman Cllr Gillian McCalden said the golf course was not the right place for development, and their Neighbourhood Plan had included far better locations for housing it recognised was badly needed. She predicted severe traffic congestion on Station Road. Although all the statutory consultees who had originally objected -Thames Water, SCC, Highways; Natural England; Environment Agency- had done a volte-face and changed their minds, saying they were “now satisfied.”
However, she said: “we are not satisfied.”
The Ward Cllr Bob Upton read the runes at the time and has since been proved right!
“I don’tblame the planning officers. You are just doing your job, and in the passage of time, you will have moved on to pastures new, as have most of your colleagues, leaving behind many very frustrated villagers.”
Q Here’s a question Mrs Isobel House posed at a recent eastern planning committee meeting.
“What is the evidence that the Portfolio Holder for Planning and the Interim Planning Policy Holder have to support their views, expressed in the Review of Local Plan Part 1 Report dated December 2022, that:
• Policy SS6 (which relates to Land Opposite Milford Golf Course – designated as a strategic site) does not need to be reviewed;
• The landowner is applying to the Lands Tribunal to remove the restrictive covenant which affects that site; and
• Although the site will not deliver homes in the next five years, it will deliver the designated homes later in the plan period?
What is the legal analysis that Legal Services did which satisfied them that the report containing these statements and opinions could be agreed upon and signed off on 21 December 2022 before it was submitted to the Oversight & Scrutiny – Services Committee on 24 January 2023 and the Executive on 7 February 2023?”
In a nutshell, it is up to the LP2 Inspector to decide whether the site will likely be delayed or lost altogether. As it is already four years since permission was granted, the Waverley Web cannot help wondering when the Land Tribunal will hear and rule on the case.
A
Here’s the convoluted response from Andrew Longley (Planning Policy Manager):
– “Land Opposite Milford Golf Course was allocated as a site for housing development by Local Plan Part 1 (Policy SS6). The developability of this site has been discussed more recently during the examination of Local Plan Part 2 (LPP2). This has been in the context of whether additional housing allocations are required in Milford and Witley.
The Council’s evidence includes a Statement of Common Ground (SoCG) with the site promoter Stretton Milford Limited and legal advice concerning the covenant. All evidence is available on the examination website. Third parties, including Mr House, have made representations on these matters and are presently with the Inspector for his consideration. The examination is ongoing, and until Inspector’s report is received, the Council’s position remains that the allocated site is developable within the plan period to 2032.
– The review of LPP1 policies reported to the Council on 21st February gives an initial indication of whether policies require updating. Policy SS6 recognises that a covenant exists and that this would need to be overcome before the consented development could be implemented. It sets out the Council’s understanding that the landowner is applying to the Lands Tribunal to remove the covenant. On this basis, the initial indication is that Policy SS6 does not require updating. However, the covering report (para 5.5) identified delays in delivering key allocations (including land opposite Milford Golf), indicating that the plan requires updating.
– The Council has agreed that an update of LPP1 should be undertaken, and a scope and timetable will now be prepared. The plan’s update will be the opportunity to gather additional evidence to assess housing requirements and sources of supply across the borough. This will include consideration of progress/ lack of progress in delivering allocated sites, and third parties can make representations during the plan-making process. The ‘initial indication’ of whether a policy needs updating does not prejudge the Council’s position when it updates the plan.”
One of our team braved the awful weather last week to take photos of the roadworks causing mayhem in Godalming.
The travelling public is thwarted from getting to their destination in and around the town in a timely fashion due to roadworks being carried out by the Surrey County Council.
Meadrow Godalming and Kings Road on the left towards Guildford are closed.
Meadrow. Godalming
The first picture is taken from the end of King’s road – overlooking Farncombe Service Station – WW bet the garage operators love that.
Catteshall Lane, opposite Kings Road (alongside Farncombe Service Station), is also closed. Traffic lights are on the main road.
The work is causing traffic to back -up as motorists needing to exit Catteshall Road into Meadrow have no choice but to go down towards Sainsbury’s little roundabout and then meet the traffic lights on Flambard Way— causing Bedlam there!
Numerous businesses and homeowners are badly affected, including the construction traffic for new homes on Catteshall Road. Godalming Ambulance Station is also on Catteshall Road!! A bustling area, particularly during rush hour.
The closures began on February 20 and are due to re-open at the end of work on March 24th, not a moment too soon for road users, say townsfolk.
The snowfall hampered work last week, so that the end date might be extended.
The Toucan crossing under construction is creating considerable work to enable cyclists to ride alongside pedestrians.
WW wonders? What was wrong with the pelican crossing in situ??
Waverley has no control over roadworks. The highway authority is a Surrey County Council responsibility.
