Category: Waverley Borough Council

Tourism opens at Vachery Farm in Cranleigh

 

Tourist accommodation is now available at one of Cranleigh’s most beautiful spots.

Though according to the parish council – “A resident has been in occupation for a significant period of time,” so you may find t difficult to get a tourist slot!

Despite being built without planning consent, Waverley Planners have legalised Paddock Lode on the Vachery Estate at Vachery Farm in Horsham Road, Cranleigh. A 1,000- acre estate which has already hived off land to provide the Longhurst Park Estate off Horsham Road.The application site is located within the 1000-acre Vachery Farm estate, approximately 290m to the south of Vachery House the home of Mr & Mrs Nick Cook. 

Vachery, The Officers’ Report.

Despite concerns expressed by Cranleigh Parish Council, Waverley’s planning officers believed that diversifying agricultural buildings that encourage tourism into the area was to be welcomed.

Retrospective application has now been granted for the retention of an existing oak framed building and ancillary boiler/utility shed for tourist accommodation,

Retrospective application for the retention of an existing oak framed building and ancillary boiler/utility shed for tourist accommodation,

Waverley Borough Council Joint Planning Committee granted permission to the planning application for 149 dwellings on tCranleighs  Crest Nicholson Horsham Road site featured below in July 2015. 

Sign of the Times for former Surry Advertiser HQ.

Stoke Mill To Be a Pub if Borough Council approves Plans

Stoke Mill, formerly the offices of the Surrey Advertiser.

Plans have been submitted for a new pub in Guildford.

The building on Woking Road could be transformed into a destination pub. McMullen and Sons, a Hertfordshire brewery and pub company, has revealed its vision to regenerate the iconic Stoke Mill in Guildford, built in 1879, into a new flagship development.

News publishing company Reach Plc owns the former Surrey Advertiser offices. Now, McMullen and Sons have bought the former newspaper offices. Staff have not worked in the Surrey Ad office since the pandemic hit in 2020.

The Surrey Advertiser offices were, from 1937 until 1999, in an iconic Art Nouveau building in Martyr Road. Before that, they were on Market Street and Panells Court.

The Surrey Advertiser’s previous office and print works were in Martyr Road.

Plans lodged include a single-storey extension at the front and back of the building. Documents show the single-storey extension will take up around 30 per cent of the original front garden, with the remaining 70 per cent revamped into a “vibrant and destination beer garden”.

Jenny Strathern, property director for McMullen and Sons, said the acquisition “marks a significant milestone” for the company of unique and historic properties. She added: “Stoke Mill, previously used as offices by Reach Plc, is situated on a picturesque riverside plot, has a rich history and offers a prime location for our latest venture.”

Stoke Mill has been used for various purposes since its construction in 1879.

Historically, Stoke Mill has had various functions, from a paper mill, a paint & varnish factory, a corn mill, and offices. However, the Victorian building can now be brought back into public use as a restaurant and pub, complete with parking and staff accommodation, following an investment of over £4.5 million in the premises.

Guildford Borough Council will have the power to approve or reject the proposal to change the vacant office block into a new pub just off the A3. Opening times could range between 11.30 am-11 pm, but McMullen’s will still have to get licensing permission from the council.

Part of the scheme includes staff accommodation. Located on the fourth floor, McMullen envisions a three-bedroom manager flat, as well as another flat with three ensuite bedrooms and a shared kitchen.

The Hertfordshire brewery and pub company claims the new “good-quality family pub” would employ around 25 full-time staff and 40 part-time staff. McMullen hopes to “aid the next generation of hospitality workers in their journeys” and offer various training and promotional schemes.

An outbuilding on the north-west corner of the site will be demolished to make way for more car parking spaces. Currently, the office block has 60 spaces, but if permission is granted, 69 parking bays will be provided, including three dedicated accessible parking spaces.

Crunch time for Surrey’s local authorities.

 

 On Thursday, the leaders of all Surrey’s 12 local authorities will meet with Ministers from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, along with their teams, to discuss Local Government Reorganisation.

A crucial meeting that will see the sands of time running out for our local authorities as we know them, with a once-in-a-generation move by the government that will affect us all. 

Waverley makes a once in a Generation decision.

Pedro Wrobel – Waverley & Guildford’s  Joint Chief Executive Officer.

 

The Joint Chief Executive of Guildford & Waverley Councils, Pedro Wrobels, will also be at the meeting.

Here’s the link to what Waverley/Guildford and most other councils want. But not Surrey County Council.,

LGR Final Proposal

One of our followers was thrilled to witness another layer being installed by this massive crane, which she believed was for a new multi-storey car park at the Royal Surrey Hospital in Guildford.

 

 

They are getting on with what appears to be a multi-storey car park on the land adjacent to the incineration tower  . Hopefully, it will ease the parking, as I believe (although not certain) that this will be the staff car park.
They were “craning in” another layer on top as I passed by today!! 
They have also put a pedestrian crossing from that side into the back entrance. 

Sorry, Christine – you can live in hopes that parking may become easier. Please take a look below for a glimpse of what the building will look like.

So, will parking there become even more of a premium?

Construction has begun on a new centre, which is expected to accommodate up to 7,000 additional patients annually.

In an update, the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust announced that the first of the 176 constructible modules that will make up the new Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre (CASIC) has arrived on site.

It expects additional modules to arrive over the next few weeks, where construction workers alongside a 450-tonne crane will move and install them to create the new three-storey surgical facility.

Already the fourth largest cancer centre in the country, RSCH is set to grow even larger to help support the “increasing demand” for cancer surgeries in Surrey and the South East.

The new Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre (CASIC) is to be constructed using pre-built modular units, which will be partly built in Hull before being transported to the Guildford hospital site.

It states that, through May and June, eight pre-built modules of the pre-fabricated structure will arrive at the site each day.

Once construction is finished next year, the Royal Surrey’s CASIC will boast six “cutting-edge” operating theatres, a recovery area, a short-stay ward and a post-anaesthetic care unit across a three-storey building.

The new centre will replace the Royal Surrey’s current surgical short stay unit, which has previously been described as “ageing” by the Trust.

In announcing the update on the centre, a spokesperson for the NHS Trust said:

“The first of the 176 modules that will make up the new Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre (CASIC) at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust. has landed.”

Some interesting comments on Farnham’s Brightwells.

The Waverley Web received some interesting comments following our recent post, so we wanted to share a few with you.

Plans to deal with Farnham’s Brightwells blight.

For your information, Ms Orton was the Chief Executive of WBC during that time, under the Conservative Administration. 

The following email from Brian Edmonds may be of interest:

He says the number of objections from the residents of Farnham to the Brightwells Yard development was over 5000, “too numerous to list.” The David and Goliath Fight for Farnham begins!

13 August 2009
From: Brian Edmonds
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:59:02 +0100
To:
Conversation: East Street Planning Approval
Subject: East Street Planning Approval

Dear Ms Orton,

The East Street development appears to have been approved without the suitable and sufficient Environmental Impact Statement required by primary legislation Directive 97/11/EC “Assessment of the effects of projects on the environment” and SI 1999 No 293 “The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 1999.”

Critical issues omitted from the EIA include “An outline of the main alternatives studied by the applicant or appellant and an indication of the main reasons for his choice, taking into account the environmental effects.” Without alternative consideration, the impact of adjacent developments and statutory obligations, such as those related to Public Health and access to Educational resources, was not considered. It is also understood that the Surrey Highways Authority did not complete a risk assessment for the development, creating an indeterminate health threat from pollution levels that are already containing predicted excursions above tolerable levels. Ref SI 2007 No. 64 The Air Quality Standards Regulations: maintenance of air quality standards

The aim of public consultation is “so that electors can make their objections and have them properly considered.” The decision not to publish objections and the extraordinary difficulty in gaining public access to the EIA at the Farnham locality office appear to be procedural improprieties that frustrate the purpose of Directive 2003/35/EC, Article 2(2)(d), regarding public participation, and Article 4, regarding access to justice.

Development Contract SCHEDULE 2 further questions the legitimacy of the planning decision, as the contract does not recognise that the EIA management systems are company-specific. Perhaps in consideration of these issues, the Authority might consider if the East Street planning application, as approved, is within statutory powers.

Yours sincerely,

Brian Edmonds,

meaninglessmud@gmail.com

As I have stated many times (including in the Press and being ridiculed by the FTC for the idea), I remain convinced that the only way residents will ever have a solution to this is to move the library. Museum and FTC into the space, along with community organisations, with a joint administrative hub.
This needs to be taken care of now before the Unitary Authority offers a cover for the guilty parties to escape public ire.
MeaninglessMud