Why hasn’t the flat at 14 Redhearn Fields, in Churt, GU10 2HY, ever been occupied? 

People living in the area have been wondering for years why the council property is seldom, if ever, occupied by its tenant.

The mysterious euphemistic ‘tenant’ has put some furniture in; he visits sometimes twice a week for 1-2 hours, usually on Wednesday and Sunday evenings.

However, in the 7 months or so since he acquired the property, it is believed that he has spent only one night there.

The council has been regularly updated on his comings and goings, but doesn’t seem to be either able or interested in doing anything about it. As long as the rent is being paid, they will look the other way.

If nothing changes, in 30 months the tenant will be eligible to buy the flat at a discount. He can then rent it out. Currently, you can obtain a 5-year contract to house four migrants in a flat (comprising two bedrooms, a shared bathroom, and a shared kitchen) for approximately £4,000 to £5,000 per month.

It appears that neither Waverley Council nor other tenants can take any action.

In the meantime, is someone who may be desperate for a place to live being deprived of a home?

 

 

 

For the second time, in under a year the Stovolds Hill Gipsy Inquiry has been Adjourned due to illness striking down the Inspector.

Is the Waverley Web surprised? No way! We felt ill just listening to THE most confusing hearing we have ever had the misfortune to witness!

Two separate gipsy families who have lived on a site they own off Dunsfold  Road, which is in the parish of Bramly a village five miles down the A281. Whose residents have probably never heard of the site adjacent to Dunsfold airfield.

Two families, Docherty, including their disabled members,  have lived there for more than four years, while councils and other officials have battled to kick them out.

The fight began with ‘Your Waverleys’ refusal, which was then appealed and challenged in the High Court, where a judge ruled they could stay.

Why? We hear you cry? Because she found there was nowhere else for them to go, pending the results of yet more planning appeals.

Last October, halfway through the first day of the Inquiry, Inspector Richard Clegg fell ill. The hearing in the council’s Chamber boasted two barristers acting for the two separate gipsy families and one for Waverley Council. Earning circa £400 an hour each plus VAT.  Kerching!

There was also a string of expert witnesses and members of the public.

ADJOURNED TO A FUTURE DATE.

So lots of dosh – including that of us, the ratepayer, sliding down the drain

Fast forward to June 3rd, the Inquiry re-convened for the second time. Same Inspectors, same families, same legal eagles, and teams of “experts.”

Four days into – one of the most confusing PI’s the WW has ever witnessed – during which even the Barristers were fighting among themselves.  Waverley s Barrister David Lintott testily claiming that if the gipsy Barrister  Alan Masters was allowed to cross-examine a Waverley Council witness –

“Then this public inquiry will never be finished”

By this time, it was already running two and a half days behind schedule. ‘

The inspector then, with a look of despair etched into his face, listened to this: in the link below.

The Dunsfold Toad Patrol is on the Gipsy’s case at a postponed public inquiry

That’s when the Waverley Web reached for our favourite Silent Pool Gin, and the inspector gave up the ghost of Gipsies & Travellers’ Past.

We respectfully offer a word of advice to the Government’s Inspectorate.

 

1. Find an Inspector who is fit enough to stay the course with nerves of steel and the patience of Job and his  brother Job’s Comforter.
2. Ensure that two different appellant appeals are  dealt with separately
3. Ensure the unfortunate soul that has to hear the case is given all the proper paperwork before the appeal begins.
4. And determine if the time limit during which an appeal should be heard has lapsed.

The Dunsfold Toad Patrol is on the Gipsy’s case at a postponed public inquiry

See Here; Confusion – Cock-up and controversy on day one of Stovolds Hill Gipsy Inquiry

Day Three of the Dunsfold Gipsy Inquiry

Could a village Toad Patrol scupper Gipsy families’ bid to stay on a site near Lydia Park, Stovolds Hill?

And was the arrival of the Great Crested Newt and its fellow Toads just too much for Government Inspector Richard Clegg? Because having adjourned the Inquiry last October after just one day, it has been adjourned again! Having lasted a little longer! 

 At his last appearance four days ago, Inspector Clegg heard the dramatic revelation that an enormous number of amphibians, including Triturus cristatus, regularly roam the streets of Dunsfold. 

The drama was too much for our seasoned bloggers here at the WW, and the same may have been true for poor Cleggy. There is only so much a man or our bloggers can take!  

Click on the link below to hear just a snippet of Cllr Waterson’s Toad Patrol Report from the Dunsfold Amphibian Rescue Team. But have a cup of tea and a lie down first.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/f71l7bq1ub4tdmkvfl245/Toad_Patrol.mp4?rlkey=35hfwkdunu3hzlewww9j9ud2m&dl=0

The Toad Patrol’s theme tune, Standing Together

But great crested news and frogs are not the only ones Dunsfold that are doing the rounds according to the Dunsfold Amphibian Rescue Group’s Toad Patrol. In fact the marine life that inhibit Dunsfold outweigh the gipsies 100 to 1.

Cllr Nigel Waterson told the Inspector that according to the Toad Patrols calculations there are…

“thousands of them.” 

Yes, folks thousands and that is good enough reason to ensure that two miles down the Dunsfold Road at Stovolds Hill in the Parish of Bramley. No more gipsy caravans must be allowed. Despite Waverley Planners giving consent for dozens of them in the past year or so.

Did planning officers go out in all weathers, which according to Cllr Waterson the Toad Patrol does regularly, regardless of the weather conditions to determine if  Dunsfold’s amphibian wildlife is under threat.

Will they do the same at  Hill Tops, New Acres, Lydia Park or Yellowstone Park  the Waverley Web wonders?

To be fair, others have put forward numerous other reasons for refusing the appeals.

The locals maintain if the Inspector agrees the Docherty families  can stay then the Amphibians of Dunsfold are seriously under threat.

Or perhaps it means the amphibians of Stovolds Hill are under threat.  But until the Inquiry reconvenes we will never know. And the Docherty families will have lived there longer than four years!

 

 

Can you, Adam and Eve, it? Last Friday marked one year since the start of the disruptive water restriction affecting 621 Bramley homes, schools, and businesses due to the major fuel leak.

A leak causing major roadworks, queuing traffic, noise, excavations, digging, vibration, and fumes. Hundreds of residents had no phone or internet connection as petrol penetrated the network of communication cables.

One local said recently, it could have been worse. It most certainly could have been – the massive risk of explosion if someone had dropped a spent cigarette near the excavation holes.

It seems like only yesterday when the Waverley Web revealed that petrol was leaking from the Bramley Garage, but it was four long years ago. But nobody listened to us!

Then a couple of MPs and councillors jumped on the oil wagon, despite either not noticing it or ignoring the issue for years.

While the village is recovering, the water restriction was only a small part of the havoc that has blighted Bramley, which has looked like a building site for years.

Will anyone ever be able to fully assess the damage that has been caused underground, particularly since the leak was located near a primary Bramley private school, St Catherine’s?

Businesses have been severely impacted; some have abandoned their shops, while others have suffered a massive loss of trade.

 

Don’t wish to be churlish – Asda did send everyone a £50 coupon to spend in its supermarket.

So,  in June 2025, the fuel and fuel vapour continue to be recovered from the ground, but frustratingly, there are still no answers from the Environment Agency, despite Sir Jeremy having all the key figures on speed dial.  Will there ever be a criminal investigation?

Jezza now says he has arranged to meet the Chief Executive to find out why. We can hardly wait!

He says he had a meeting with the CEO of Openreach, Clive Selley, recently, to improve digital infrastructure for Bramley. Most have already found other ways to communicate, such as pigeons and smoke signals.

 

Openreach is now working on a new timetable for a full roll-out of full fibre in the Bramley area. So well done, Sir J – more roadworks on the A281 in Bramley. Is it any wonder poor old Byham wanted a bypass all those years ago to deal with the traffic from – yep, you guessed it. DUNSFOLD!

Cllr Ed Holliday said “‘Shouldn’t have been hard to find a massive fuel leak going into the waterways from the only fuel station for miles around

On and on it goes.

Most of the third morning of the Public inquiry into gipsy sites in Stovolds Hill was spent with barristers scrapping amongst themselves.

The morning began badly with a vital witness stuck on the M25. He turned up many hours later.

Waverley’s barrister claimed that the appellant’s barrister, Alan Master, was not permitted under Inquiry rules to ask questions of Waverley’s expert witness regarding specific landscaping evidence. Evidence given a day earlier by Mr  Ian Dudley,  covering both of the Docherty’s appeal sites.

Counsel for Waverley’s David Lintott testily claimed that if Mr Masters were allowed to ask specific questions,

“Then this public inquiry will never be finished”

That Inquiry is already well behind schedule and the parties involved have set aside 27th of June to continue.

Well, that’s alright. Because at more than £400 per hour plus VAT – simples. Everyone in he room is laughing all the way to the bank. Some of which invoices will no doubt be paid by us, Waverley taxpayers.

However,  Mr Woods, the Appellants’ Landscaping expert, commented.

 ” To be fair, we asked the government Inspectorate to deal with the two individual family appeals separately, but it refused, which would have made a huge difference to this ( the inquiry). He said that decision had made the proceeding very difficult for everyone, including the Inspector.

Bang on target, Mr Woods.  Here at the WW, we fear for the sanity of poor  Mr Clegg, who has hidden his growing frustration to the best of his ability throughout the hearing. 

After insisting on being heard, the Inspector allowed Mr Masters to examine the evidence provided earlier by Waverley’s witness. A witness, whom he claimed had omitted to mention the UCOG fracking site, and the Industrial Units at a nearby farm. Both have been given planning consent since Docherty’s planning was refused.

Mr Woods said the view from Dunsfold Road of the appeal site would be “minimal” – views into the site would only be in the winter months, and then, very limited.

He said it was difficult to distinguish the appeal sites from the rest of the gipsy sites in Lydia Park and Stovolds Hill, saying that the appeal sites, if allowed, would cause no significant harm.

He told Inspector Richard Clegg that eyes were drawn to the much larger intensity of development in Stovolds Hill and Lydia Park, some of which is authorised. But development there had nothing to do with the Dochertys. The fundamental question was?  Would  two caravans cause more harm?

I say they will not.

He argued, though, that the appeal sites were in a natural landscape,  but they were not in a valued landscape. To the west of the site may be included, but not the land on Lydia Park to the North.  Adding,

“Neither is it a candidate for the new  National Landscape Designation. It has been excluded.”

There was much discussion about other significant developments in the area of Stovolds Hill. 

Including The Brewery at Thatched House Farm, the approved UK Oil & Gas Fracking Site at Loxley Farm, the large commercial industrial units adjacent to the site at Thatched House Farm, and the proposed development of 1,800 consented homes at Dunsfold Park – Waverley’s largest brownfield site. Earmarked for 2,300 homes and accompanying infrastructure.

However, there was no mention of the large Biodivestor in Stovolds Hill!

The Inspector said he would travel around ‘the whole area’ of Stovolds Hill, including to the entrance gates of Dunsfold Park and along the Dunsfold Road to view the “fracking site.

The Inquiry continues.