As we have mentioned several times in the past our readers come from all over the world, and a few weeks ago  we heard from a gentleman living in Calgary,  Alberta.

Like so many people living abroad, they are avid watchers of television programmes concerning the property market like ‘Escape to the Country’ and ‘Love It Or List it.’ In fact, they often learn more about our beautiful country in 30 mins, than in a visit to our shores. 

Dear Editors:

• The Lemon Tree, which was a very popular small gift shop, has sadly CLOSED. But another retailer selling Eco goods has sprouted up in its place – and despite the Lock-down is one of the few shops open for business.
• What will happen to the other shops, is anyone’s guess. We hear that some have already put up the CLOSED signs, for good.
• Waverley Borough Council’s Local Plan for the borough of Waverley, which includes Cranleigh was passed, and development has forged ahead with another 1,500 homes consented – approximately 250 of which have now been constructed.
• As you will no doubt have heard, we have been enduring some unprecedented times here on our side of the pond, and as we write well over 33,000 of our citizens have sadly died from the Coronavirus, which is casting its vicious net world-wide.
• Yes, the brownfield sites you mentioned were agreed by local and Central Government including a garden village of some 2,600 homes on Dunsfold Airfield. (Which by the way is the home of Top Gear) and, yes, we believe all these homes when finally built will almost certainly change the quiet nature of the once rural character of the village of Cranleigh. Whether that change is for the better – we rest our case!

Oh! for the luxury of a basement!

At last, Public Health England has published some really local data for Coronavirus incidents, including those in ‘Your Waverley.’ But this makes very little sense to us here at the Waverley Web.

Is it really a fact that there are only 275 ‘confirmed cases’ among Waverley’s population who have tested positive for Covid-19?

No mention of how many deaths? Even the Royal Surrey Hospital’s Chief Executive could not, or would not, give a figure for the death toll when she was interviewed recently.

At last night’s Waverley virtual Executive meeting, councillors said they had NO information on the extent of the virus in the borough. WW asks – WHY NOT? We are not mushrooms to be kept in the dark, we are grown-ups and need to know the facts. How can we, or our borough council begin to know what it is up against if it doesn’t have the data on which to base its response?

Waverley’s population was (121,572 in the 2011 census, now, of course it has many more. So going by Surrey County Council’s statistics, provided by Public Health England, just .23% of our borough’s residents have been infected by COVID-19.

No mention how many people have died? Why not? How can anyone take the lock-down measures seriously when so little factual information is available.

The WW has first-hand personal information of more than half-a-dozen people who have died, mainly in Waverley’s nursing homes. And our thoughts and sympathy go to those families who have lost their loved ones. We also know of numerous others who have suffered from the virus but have never been offered a test by their GP’s.

Guildford Borough has had 343 confirmed cases of Covid-19 to (May 7).

The table below gives the number of confirmed cases in each of Surrey’s lower-tier authorities, including the Borough of WAVERLEY. Previously figures were only given for upper-tier authorities, mainly of county size.

Also included, is the number of Coronavirus infections per 100,000 of the population which allows a comparison of infection rates in different authority areas.

Guildford’s rate of 232 infections per 100,000 people is about average compared with other neighbouring and nearby Surrey boroughs and districts. Waverley’s along with  Woking to the north has the lowest.

Only confirmed cases, following laboratory testing, are shown. It is not known if, or when, cases discovered at the new testing centre at the Onslow Park & Ride will be included. It is generally agreed by experts that there will be many other Covid-19 cases where symptoms have been unnoticed, mild, or did not require hospital treatment.

The new data release coincides with criticism from scientific experts of redactions made to a report criticising government lockdown proposals.

In a Guardian article Stephen Reicher, a professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews is quoted as saying: “Personally, I am more bemused than furious. The greatest asset we have in this crisis is the trust and adherence of the public. You want to trust? You need to be open with people. This isn’t open. It is reminiscent of Stalinist Russia. Not a good look.”

Useful Information.

• The coronavirus outbreak FAQs – A useful Q&A covering all main topics, and mostly focusing on what is changing this week.
• Specific guidance on social distancing.
• Specific guidance on staying safe outside the home.

• A general guide for parents and carers.
• Specific information about the plan for some pupils to return to school from 1 June.
• Advice for schools on what they need to do.
• Specific advice on protective measures.

• Guidance for passengers.
• Guidance for operators.

Thanks to the Godalming branch of The Compass Group the Waverley Web joined a Webinar presented by
 Keep Our NHS Public and Health Campaigns Together.

We heard from expert analysts, frontline NHS workers and the producer of Under The Knife (feature documentary on the covert dismantling of the NHS) to hear about how, aggravated by Government callousness and incompetency in the early stages of the Coronavirus outbreak, the NHS has already been defunded, understaffed and privatised to such an extent that its preparedness for the current emergency has been severely undermined and has needlessly cost lives.

Speakers included:
Neena Modi – Professor of Neonatal Medicine, Consultant at Imperial College London and Chelsea & Westminster Hospital; President, Medical Women’ Federation; Immediate Past-President, Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health; Director, Neonatal Data Analysis Unit
Professor Allyson Pollock – Consultant in public health and director of Newcastle University Centre for Excellence in Regulatory Science
Dr John Lister – editor of Health Campaigns Together, co-editor Lowdownnhs.info,
Dr Sonia Adesara – Junior Doctor and member of KONP’s NHS Staff Voices
Pam Kleinot – Producer of Under The Knife

It is worth remembering that health is not a commodity and healthcare is not a business and we must not allow all those who have died from the Coronavirus, to have died in vain.

 Speakers relayed to a large following some of the catastrophic mistakes made by the Government since the Coronavirus hit our shores. They highlighted the years of mismanagement leading to us becoming THE worst country in Europe for deaths or long-term damage as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic.

But there were more worrying concerns as Health Secretary, following in the footsteps of our SW Surrey MP Jeremy Hunt continues the onward march towards privatisation.

Speakers outlined the cumulative impact of 20 years of ineptitude and privatisation that has led to a much-weakened NHS that has been de-stabilised now resulting in a Crisis in Social Care.

Why has the Government brought in new super labs, affectively shutting off NHS labs for testing?

Why are 40per cent of  NHS beds closed to patients, urgently needing medical attention while doctors stand by helpless, under-utilised and frustrated?

Speakers called for a full investigation – not another public inquiry which would take years – but determine now why thousands of elderly people have died needlessly in Care Homes, leaving families and carers devastated and traumatised. This includes care homes in the borough of Waverley? In one home  – rated by The Care Quality Commission  as – OUTSTANDING  – five residents died in just one night!

And, where is the local data? Where are the figures for deaths of Waverley residents?

The tragedy on the old the length and breadth of the country will undoubtedly come back to haunt the Tory Party membership. Many of whose members are among the vulnerable elderly,  some of whom have been left to die in homes without protection, testing and with conflicting information. Where GP’s were prevented from visiting.

Why did the Government stop tracking and tracing in mid-March? Why has local government been side-lined – why haven’t all local environmental health officers been utilised to track and trace? And why has a private company, alleged to be an associate  of Government advisor Dominic Cummins, been awarded  a £250m contract, without any public scrutiny, or debate, to introduce an NHS app to the Isle of Wight – a place where most are elderly and many of whom probably don’t even own a SmartPhone?

Claims The government is using the coronavirus pandemic to transfer key public health duties from the NHS and other state bodies to the private sector without proper scrutiny, were raised during the Webinar, during which participants could add questions and comments.

Doctors, campaign groups, academics and MPs raised the concerns about a “power grab” after it emerged on Monday that Serco was in pole position to win a deal to supply 15,000 call-handlers for the government’s tracking and tracing operation.  

They said the health secretary, Matt Hancock, had “accelerated” the dismantling of state healthcare and that the duty to keep the public safe was being “outsourced” to the private sector.

In recent weeks, ministers have used special powers to bypass normal tendering and award a string of contracts to private companies and management consultants without open competition.

Deloitte, KPMG, Serco, Sodexo, Mitie, Boots and the US data-mining group Palantir have secured taxpayer-funded commissions to manage Covid-19 drive-in testing centres, the purchasing of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the building of Nightingale Hospitals. 

We heard, that the Department of Healthhas written to NHS trusts instructing them to stop buying any of their own PPE and ventilators.

Questions from the public, including the Waverley Web came thick and fast about the 31 testing centres. They asked why care workers living in Norfolk were offered testing in Glasgow and Aberdeen? Said speaker John Lester – in a word, “Bizarre.”

He said 13 separate contracts had been awarded to private companies, which were completely dysfunctional, the army was brought in – then a Government Tzar who managed the Olympics.

The group called for the Health & Social Care Act, currently suspended, to be dumped once the crisis is over. Investigation held into why The Nightingale Hospitals referred to as ‘Dead White Elephants’  were not used to treat non-Covid patients rather than paying private hospitals millions of pounds  to carry out a few elective operations for NHS patients.  Hospitals which are only able to deal with minor cases, as most have few experienced staff, no emergency departments and no Intensive Care facilities.

• In the system – there were 10,000 Private Care Beds – Empty
• Thousands of Nightingale Beds –  Empty
• and Thousands of NHS beds –  Empty

Speakers and the public agreed: It just doesn’t make sense!

Said Neena Modi – “There is a substantial amount of public funds going into private sector pockets.” People do have hearts of gold, clapping and donating to the NHS – but the NHS is a publicly funded organisation and they should instead use that money to clamour for much-needed change. To keep the NHS PUBLIC”

Speakers want the public reassured that the NHS is a public service and in common with the Health Service Journal (HSJ) believed former Strategic Health Authorities would have been better placed to deal with the crisis.

The non-politically aligned organisation is considering public protests when the crisis has passed – believing that when the clapping stops the public must be mobilised to stop creeping privatisation of OUR health services. It wanted infection and disease control put back into local hands. through a better financed local government, which once had the expertise and more important, strong local knowledge to deal with a track and racing during a pandemic.

Lack of space prevents us from reporting speakers’ concerns on the Cinderella Service of Mental Health, the service needed to deal with the Sunami of patient and health workers predicted to follow the pandemic. Also the effect of the pandemic  on both maternal and child health which will be affected for many years to come.

For more information: nationaladmin@keepournhspublic.com.

You can watch the webinar video on Facebook. at keepournhspublic.

This video by Professor Allyson Pollock – Consultant in public health and director of Newcastle University Centre for Excellence in Regulatory Science  narrated by Alison Steadman is well worth watching. It will be available until Sunday 10th May.  https://vimeo.com/360850524

You couldn’t make it up – really you couldn’t. What a very short memory Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner possesses?  

Munro gets the boot from the Guildford Conservative Association

The man who has had his tenure extended for a further year due to the postponement of this month’s PCC election is now calling for more traveller sites!

WWeb thinks the man doth protest too much. Twas he of the two-faced variety that persistently resisted  any gypsy sites becoming established on land near Dunsfold airfield when he was a Tory councillor at ‘Your Waverley.’ 

Research by the WW reveals this protracted planning saga concerned private land bought by an elderly Romany named Lydia. The battle between the gypsies and ‘Your Waverley’ spanned a decade and appeals went through five public inquiries – costing many hundreds of thousands of pounds. It was finally consented by a Government Inspector, as he argued the council had not provided its share of traveller sites in its area.  

 ‘Your Waverley’ under its former Tory administration then extended the New Acres transit site in Stovolds  Hill by another 37 pitches. The planners have recently allowed another site to become established near Lydia Park in Stovolds Hill. So there are now four sites within spitting distance of Dunsfold’s proposed new Government-backed Garden Village.

Are Waverley’s eastern​ villages under siege​?​ From up, down, and all-around​?

Mr Munro who was adamantly opposed to gypsy sites in Waverley during his term at Waverley and then again at Surrey County Council now does a complete volte-face and says he wants temporary sites set up in Surrey – as a “matter of urgency.” He says the Government  – should take on greater responsibility by compelling local authorities to provide sites.” Really, Mr Munro – really?  

Here is an article from the Guildford Dragon.

On the BBC Today programme Communities Minister Robert ‘Covid rules are not meant for me’ –  Jenrick, made a pledge.

He said beleaguered local authorities faced with dramatically reduced revenue – from such services as leisure, car parks etc, would not be disadvantaged by the Covid-19 epidemic. He said £16 billion had already been handed to the country’s local authorities to handle the crisis. He gave assurances that local councils would not be left short of funds. the link below is not from yesterday’s TODAY programme. This is one he made earlier.

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-52337852/coronavirus-robert-jenrick-announces-16bn-cash-boost-for-councils

The big black hole at the Godalming Town Council Zoom meeting is the Waverley Web. The WWeb Zooms in on Godalming Town Council.

But when Waverley’s Deputy leader spoke at Godalming Town Council Cllr Paul Follows said he had grave doubts about receiving further funding in future.  He also registered his, and his Executive’s concern, at the Government’s directive that planning services should continue – recently through planning officers’ delegated powers. Though two combined planning meetings for either side of the borough would go ahead when technology was available.

He said the government had handed out two significant tranches of cash to both the county and borough authorities. But said:

“It simply will not be enough.”

He explained the Government was funding only the direct costs of the Covid-19 epidemic, but this did not include the loss of revenue – such as venue hire, leisure centre income, car parks and more. He said it would be prudent for the town, parish and the borough councils to prepare for losses until at least October. The Government’s help does not include any town or parish councils. However, Waverley’s Executive was proposing to write to every town and parish council asking for their combined costs associated with the current emergency in an attempt to seek Government compensation.

He said: “They must be compensated for all their good work during these difficult times, but I very much doubt this will be available, and I expect councils will all be in the same place next year?”

Councillors Steve Cosser and Peter Martin both agreed that further funding to compensate local authorities either at Waverley or the county council would be unlikely to be forthcoming.

Councillor Steve Williams said that whilst the Town Council’s focus must be on supporting the community it would be …

‘It is utterly obscene if the Government doesn’t compensate us all for the additional expenditure and loss of revenue that will eminate from this crisis.  By the time the lockdown is lifted we don’t want the local community to be   battered and bruised because of additional costs because that won’t help the economic recovery.’