Waverley Web

A BIG THANK YOU TO THE WAVERLEY WHISTLEBLOWERS – MAY YOUR WHISTLES REMAIN FOREVER WET…

Burying bad news is becoming a bit of a habit at Waverley Borough Council, so is telling porkies. What the borough’s taxpayers and our elected representatives must remember is:

RULE NO 1.
You will only be told if there is something dodgy going on inside the hallowed halls of Waverley if your are – in their words not ours – A RELEVANT COUNCILLOR. Relevant normally means THE EXECUTIVE.

So if you were unaware of the £200,000 fraud that had taken place Councillor – you are now,and probably always will be, IRRELEVANT.  If however you want to know about another dodgy councillor’s dealings scroll down to the beginning of WW and read the post on Comrade Reynolds – the newest member of the Labour Party and one of Waverley’s chosen few Conservative Executive members.

 Oh by the way, only two months into his term on the EX  one councillor has already gone missing and is now an ex portfolio hol , any idea why? Was it announced somewhere? Is that something else we all missed. Start whistling!

RULE NO 2.
Read every dot and comma in your reports and do not believe everything they say, as the EXECUTIVE we have known and loathed for the past five years will ensure anything bad is either not mentioned or is buried in the papers.  Whatever you do, keep wake however long the meeting takes, because if it is important it will come at the end of the meeting.

Out there in big wide Waverley world we all know that when the former CEO Mary Orton now Mary Pett left her plumply salaried  post everyone in the Chamber was sworn to secrecy, as it could have damaging consequences for Waverley’s reputation. Reputation what reputation we cry!  Not much of a secret now though because we all know her association with local developers was called into question, and one of those is just set to achieve planning consent in Cranleigh.

Yes, of course the leadership of Waverley should be considering their positions- but don’t hold your breath. With a former policeman at the helm – we all know we are in safe hands. If our Farnham Residents Group – the official opposition, can reign the arrogant bunch in we at WW wish them well.  The loss of public funds is serious, doctoring official documents, is also very serious, posing as a Labour party voter is serious – but more serious is the pervading culture of hiding the truth from the residents of our borough.

Waverley’s Deputy Leader could hardly contain her glee when she announced how many homes the borough would have to take each year and guess what, she says seven sites have been identified for them in Cranleigh and 25 in the villages and she even names some of the possible sites above.

Well that’s all right then – over here in Farnham it has the protection of the Wealden Heathland – hasn’t Cranleigh got some of that too – though not quite so lucky as Farnham which has the Thames Basin Heath almost surrounding it.

Woking has to build 517 homes per year and Guildford 693, Waverley 519,  but this is only the councils’ chosen figure the Inspector has not got his hands on any of their Draft Plans yet, so watch this space it could be very many more. Waverley has already ignored its, highly paid consultants’ advice which advised considerably more, as well as earmarking more space for business expansion.

Councillor Potts says, “It is also essential that the emerging local plan takes into account our main landscape designations and has the appropriate infrastructure in place to support any future housing.” No problem there then. Your secret meetings with some of the Cranleigh developers is certainly getting to grips with that little conundrum Oh Potty one. Not quite so sure that your comment – “the most important thing is to build homes in the right place and that the council works with local residents to ensure it has the right strategy in place.” We think you should re-phrase that, working with wannabe developers and borough councillors more like.

Funny really – we thought you held a very expensive Public Consultation exercise last year – you know all those workshops around the borough, questionnaires posted to every home etc, etc, and the public told you quite clearly – they don’t want Waverley’s green fields covered in concrete and asked you not to allow buildings on areas that flood ! Have we actually seen the report on that exercise yet? Oops perhaps we missed it. Now you see it – now you don’t.

So what is the first thing you do – turn down the Hewitts Industrial Estate, over there in Cranleigh – a brown field site in the middle of a residential area. Blimey – stupid or what!  By the way, anyone out there knows how much that consultation exercise cost? Whatever figure Waverley admits to, it will not take into account, officers’ time, because presumably its staff don’t get paid anything – they work for free, gratis and for nothing and only go there for the fun…

The Civic Society is certainly battling Cranleigh’s corner, as does the Farnham Society – but neither are  holding their public spirited breath that they will be consulted. We all know in the end all the development – like East Street – will go to the highest bidder.

We at WW wonder why West Midlands Police are investigating this incident and why it took a whistleblower to reveal that Waverley’s  staff were duped into changing the payment details for a supplier and which resulted in a £200,000 fraud. Could the reason be that Surrey Police now share the council’s Bury Offices in Godalming and they are too close to home. Council Leader the infamous PC Bobby Knowles didn’t want to reveal that the council’s own internal procedures did not identify the problem which occurred on his watch! Isn’t it strange that press  releases abound when there is good news, but it is left to whistleblowers to tell the press when it is not so good.

WW welcomes whistleblowers – you can whistle to us with complete anonymity  just as  often as you like.

A great big leaky sieve, that is the  hallowed halls of Waverley.

The secret’s out!  So sure is the Knowle Park Initiative, that its planning is “in the bag” that it cannot help itself from shouting the good news from the glasshouse rooftops.

So now WBC – there’s no such thing as a well-kept secret and your meetings behind what you thought were closed doors, are anything but! Today’s the day – Friday!

Back around the table, tucked behind the security doors, there you are creating Cranleigh New Town. You read it in the Surrey Advertiser first and we’re hot on their heels!  Read all about it – the developers and councillors are putting their own spin on it but the public’s not stupid – they know what’s going on.

Around the table, Surrey County Councillor Alan Young and Messers Ellis and Stennett (Conservative Cranleigh East and West ) are all eager to tell us all, they are right behind the West Cranleigh Nurseries (KPI) scheme.   One can’t help wondering what the point is of going to a public planning committee at all?  Might just as well let the Gang of Four, aided and abetted by Planning Officers, push the applications through. Those involved in the creation of the Neighbourhood Plan and members of the Cranleigh Civic Society might as well save their breath to cool their porridge.  The Kooples – Councillors Brian & Patricia Ellis and Councillors Stewart and Jeanette Stennett, know what’s best for you and they’re not interested anyone’s opinion but their own and, of course, that of the Flying Dutchman, (aka KPI owner Nick Vrijland), who is singing the praises of his own scheme from the rooftops!

Watch out Cranleigh – the new town is on its way and the KPI is on the verge of making millions – and don’t be misled it won’t be ploughed back into the community regardless of what the Flying Dutchman says about how much he cares for Cranleigh or the community or how many awards he gets for “volunteering.” Volunteering what we ask – Information? Money?  Political donations?

Having wrapped up the Chamber of Trade and with his PR machine working overtime – the balloons went up all over Cranleigh at the week-end urging everyone to support the KPI – and peddeling the message that the Berkeley scheme is “too close to the village.” Do they think we’re all stupid?  That we can’t see what they’re up to?

Watch out Cranleigh Chamber of Commerce – if you lie down with dogs you get fleas! Urging everyone to support development on the green fields may come back and bite you, shoppers are also villagers who can be an unforgiving lot.

So back to  the not so secret meeting – where all those developers, including Thakeham Homes – (450) watch out Alfold! – Crest Nicholson – about to go back in with at least another 150 homes – to add to the 149 they already have planning permission for – we at WW are sure they will get another nod and a wink from Councillor Jeannette Stennett.

The  KPI (265 houses) and Cozens Smith (75 houses) in Alfold Road and Threadneedle (Hewitts Industrial Estate 120) already refused. They are all going there to open their cheque books and see who can throw the most into the infrastructure pot.

Who we wonder, is going to pull the biggest golden rabbit out of the hat, as the would-be developers vie with each other to get approval for their scheme?  Watch this space because the fun – or do we mean auction to the highest bidder? – has only just begun.i

Please note: Two of the developers sitting behind WBC’s closed doors have had their applications turned down. Berkeley goes to appeal in February and Threadneedle, owners of  Hewitt’s, had its application turned down last week – see story below.

Threadneedle has been urged by Cranleigh councillors not to go to appeal but to work with the council. The stench just gets stronger every day. The future developers of Amlets Park have been left out – we wonder why?