Shortly before Christmas (a few moments after its planning application to build a Care Home, Cranleigh Village Hospital Trust morphed into another charity: Cranleigh Village Health Trust.

Changing the name – so what’s the game?

In the interest of clarity – here are the new Cranleigh Health Trust’s future charitable aims.

Now it has lost its former Chairman-President, Trustee who, apparently according to the mutter in Cranleigh’s gutter – is now spending more time with his personal interests, as a property developer. Which, according to the locals, was always his sole intention – but his comfort blanket was the “hospital project.” Now that has been pulled away – for the time being, he will follow his main interest – owning Cranleigh through his company ‘Lettuce and Leafhy.’

His latest cunning plan to turn the village’s treasured department store, or at least most of David Manns – into yet another development site. This time 90/40 flats or as many as the planners will allow him in the middle of a Conservation Area.

DUMB & DUMBER STRIKES AGAIN!

Here are all the councillors and officers safely gathered in to overview and scrutinize, the business of the Wellbeing Committee last night Wednesday.

Read their lips – and you might discover the debate on all the items on the Agenda – because you certainly couldn’t hear it!!! And those of us who actually care about Waverley’s decision-making watched yet another silent film. When will someone be made accountable? Perhaps the man at the top, who never opens his mouth at meetings?

Yet again – ‘Your Waverley’ seems unable to handle the technology – or is it a case of female officer goes into cupboard and doesn’t know how to turn the bloody webcast’s sound on?

Not really.  Figures revealed that whilst the council raised £61,000 in revenue from introducing charges for parking at places like Rodborough Common, in Waverley. It cost around £300,000 to instal the machines. WW wonders how much it will cost to remove the machines and reinstate the sites?

 Six locations in Waverley were included in the unpopular decision, including Rodborough Common, and Milford.   The popular beauty spot at Newlands Corner in Guildford was also part of the cunning plan to raise money. It provoked a huge backlash from the public, with petitions and questions raised at council meetings and a huge decrease in people going into the countryside.

Surrey’s cabinet abolished the policy of charging as it had not “delivered the significant contributions as expected” and did not align with the council’s Community Vision 2030. So was unanimously binned!

‘Your Waverley’ is presently preparing a new car-parking strategy – which could yield another £500,000 a year for the council’s depleting coffers.

Some residents will remember when the borough council’s Newsletter was called the Waverley Wave. Which then morphed into ‘Your Waverley.’

There is more than a little angst among ‘Your Waverley’s’ opposition that since the takeover of the new administration – they can’t get prompt answers to their questions.

Bit rich when you consider that residents’ questions seldom received answers promptly when the other lot had a firm grip on the reins. And, of course, the Tories didn’t even have to answer to an opposition. – At least, not a credible opposition to speak of – just a couple of Independents a Lib Dem (half-way through its last term) and a couple of Farnham Residents’ who were mostly trodden underfoot.

The new Council Leader John Ward (Farnham Residents’) has come in for a drubbing. The tories claim he doesn’t answer e-mails.

As he is now off on his second Winter cruise – will he be using his free time on the ocean waves – to bring a halt to the criticism Waverley Web wonders? Or will he be playing deck quoits?

It is now revealed that over 13,500 affordable homes have been lost due to a Government diktat that allowed office conversions.

We all knew it was a crap policy from the outset when the Government changed planning rules. 

Now it’s an official crap policy.

The experts say that the planning policy introduced four years ago is not only not contributing to the provision of affordable homes, the homes built are sub-standard, and there is no 106 contribution! Daft or what? So lose, lose, lose all round?
Over 13,500 affordable homes lost due to PD office conversions, says Local Government Association.

 Numerous offices and shops in the borough of Waverley have been lost to such conversions.

In Haslemere, Waverley Planners invoked an Article 4 direction, a planning mechanism, to stop the continued loss of valuable office and retail space, and is taking a tough-line on conversions elsewhere.

Will converting shops and offices to residential be prevented in, ALL our towns and villages, by ‘Your Waverley?’

10 January 2020 by David Blackman

More than 13,500 affordable homes have been lost over the past four years as a result of developers using permitted development (PD) rights to sidestep planning permission for office to residential conversions, the Local Government Association (LGA) has calculated.

One of our followers – who regularly travels to London sent us the article below. She is presently cleaning her push-bike in readiness for the new Bamford Bike-ride from the eastern villages to Wimbledon every day!

She says: Something to make you laugh, or cry?

So we can all ride, walk or cycle to work now, can we??? – The snide comment that opening it could result in more housing – Crikes – we have taken MORE than our fair share of Housing for the Borough….About time the rest took theirs

Honestly SPEND SOME MONEY SURREY!

Another said: “The road condition along the A281 between Cranleigh and Guildford is now so bad, some believe the existing surface of the Downs Link will soon be an improvement for motorists.”

This post comes with a health warning to the locals:

Don’t complain when the development starts – or you might find Alfold painted RED!

You can read our post on the appeal decision last November to allow a 10,000 square metre building to be erected adjacent to Dunsfold Park off the Dunsfold Road in Alfold. 

Here:

An appeal to build Dunsfold Airfield Mark 2 – on land adjacent to Dunsfold has been ALLOWED.

Now read about the woman who is funding the project to bring the hudge national visitor attraction into the heart of a once, quiet rural village on the Surrey/Sussex borders.

A woman who angered her neighbours by decorating her multimillion-pound townhouse with red and white stripes can ignore a planning order to repaint the property, the high court has ruled.

Zipporah Lisle-Mainwaring, a property developer, painted candy stripes on the three-storey facade of the terrace home in South End, Kensington, west London, in March 2015.

She has denied that the paint job was done to spite neighbours who objected to her plans to demolish the property, currently used for storage, and replace it with a new home.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea served her with a notice under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, requiring her to repaint “all external paintwork located on the front elevation white” within 28 days. But she refused saying:

The council said:

“The condition and appearance of the property, particularly the red and white painted stripes on the front elevation, is incongruous with the streetscape of South End and the local area.”

After failed appeals to magistrates and Isleworth crown court last year, Lisle-Mainwaring launched judicial review action at the high court in London. On Monday, a judge ruled in her favour and quashed the notice.

One issue was whether a notice served under section 215 of the 1990 act “may be used when the complaint is that the planning authority considers that the choice of painting scheme harms amenity”.

Its time for getting out and about so how about visiting a dog walker’s paradise with a vast open space of heathland – perfect for a runaround for children and their pets.

A walk around the pond takes about 40 minutes or hike up to Snowball ride for a longer walk and some amazing views.

The starting point is the NT car park off Priory Lane.

Doggy dos and don’ts: Remember birds are nesting between March and September s don’t let dogs run through the heather during this period or go into the ponds as this will disturb the wildlife.

Try going there on quieter days during the week – as it can get very busy during the weekends and during the bank holidays.

Have fun – but observe the rules – and all will be well for man, child and wildlife.

But – whatever you do – don’t repeat this disgraceful episode that occurred at Frensham Great Pond last year!

Despite many of us feel that we have had enough elections – there will be more soon.

Surrey residents, including those living in Waverley, are being asked to consider whether they would like to stand in the county council elections. The date earmarked for the poll is  Thursday 6 May 2021 – and those interested are invited to attend a meeting on January 29th in Woking.  

However, an election for a new Surrey Police & Crime Commissioner takes place this year on Thursday 7th of May.

Here are the results of the 2017 election. After the huge change in the Waverley Borough on May 17 are big changes on the way in Surrey WW wonders?

Will taking control of ‘Your Waverley’ prove to be a poisoned chalice for the Rainbow Alliance.

Add to that a huge backlog of maintenance and repairs estimated to cost over £2.5m, if carried out over the next ten years. Also needed are major capital works to the 50-year-old building of which only 75% is used, even with its present tenants e.g. police. So is it any wonder that the new administration wants to re-develop a large part of central Godalming – including The Burys?

Waverley’s new Portfolio Holder for Finance Mark Merryweather, an accountant by profession, painted a grim picture of the life of The Burys – saying that the under-utilised facility had run its course.

In seeking the EXECUTIVE committee’s approval to spend £40,000 on consultants to carry out an Options Appraisal on three sites in the council’s ownership – The Burys, and car parks at The Wharf and the Crown Court, Cllr Merryweather said the council could meet its investment objectives and provide quality housing developments, which could set a standard for other developers to follow. This could generate much-needed income to provide Waverleys residents with the services they need.

Earlier in the evening, he painted another grim picture of the council’s finances after years of Central Government cuts, despite Waverley officers identifying efficiency savings of 5%, right across the board and  – and for which they must be congratulated.

“We knew this year would be tough and it is coming up to those expectations we were looking at a deficit of £1.4m and it looks closer to £1.8m.”

He said a full report would go to the Overview & Scrutiny Committee next week  and which would include recommending increases in council tax, fees and charges and council rents. 

“We are suffering because the Government heavily regulates the income we can raise. We have no say on business rates 95% of which goes to either SCC or  Government – our grant income from Government is also diminishing – FAST. Our ability to raise additional finance through fees and charges is also regulated.”

Cllr Jerry Hyman, Farnham Residents,’ who sounds more like ‘the official opposition every day that goes by,’ said residents’ believed efficiency savings should be made by the council before raising council rents. Though the Waverley Web understands that for the past four years a Government diktat reduced rents by 1% year-on-year.

Responding Cllr Merryweather said: “Our businesses, residents and visitors excluding council house tenants pay in £170m into this council each year and we get to keep £10m to fund all our services.”

He said “quite understandably” our residents are left with the impression when they receive their council tax or business rates bill with our name on the back of it that everything they pay, ends up in our pocket. However, we are getting less and less of it. If we go into negative tariff our residents will be subsidising the Government through the back door.

The council had to cut its cloth to match demands that are made on it