Or… perhaps not. As these Tory ladies are calling canvassing by a new name it’s now called ‘surveying residents.’ And there were silly old us, thinking that surveying was the practice carried out by developers before they start covering the countryside in concrete?
Wannabe Waverley borough and Cranleigh parish councillors are stomping around the streets as they rev up in readiness for next May’s borough and parish elections.
No point waiting for the starters’ gun is there? Get out their girls, start mixing with the voting fodder. By the sounds of it all is going well according to the very ambitious – Ewhurst’s Angie of I’m a Cranleigh parish councillor, then a borough councillor – and I’m on my way up the greasy Tory pole to Westminster – because I bag loads of dosh for them all over the Guildford and the East – Tory patch so I can become Annie’s replacement? But first – I have my eye on keeping the Tories in power at Waverley?
Don’t they have enough CRANLEIGH people over there to speak up for the New Town? Let us hope here in Farnham we can manage to stump up a few true locals?
We’ve heard over here there is a groundswell of Independent, Residents’ Associations and Liberal Democrat candidates out there seeking to snatch some of those seats in a bid to change the face of Waverley’s Tory dominance. Go girls go.
Cranleigh Parish Councillor Angela Richardson, Waverley Councillor and Parish Chairman Liz Townsend and Waverley’s Deputy Mayor Mary Foryszewski out pressing the flesh with Cranleigh’s voting fodder.
‘More Barratt’s than Berkeley’s’ was how Waverley councillors described the detailed design for the first phase of 55 executive homes on part of Cranleigh’s once green and pleasant land. So they refused its application and told the national house builder, with a reputation for providing quality homes, to go ‘back to the drawing board.’
Despite the planning ‘experts’ at ‘Your Waverley’ supporting the design of the scheme, councillors from around the borough backed the locals who claimed the development would do ‘nothing’ to enhance the character of Cranleigh – as the design and layout was ‘mediocre’ and ‘unimaginative’ and the two-three storey sentinel blocks (which the developer had wanted to be gated,) facing onto a rural lane, was out of character – and more suited to Walton and Weybridge.
This was to have been the first phase of 425 homes to be built on land behind Stocklund Square with access off Knowle Lane. Granted by a Government Inspector following an appeal.
Despite all their shoving, cajoling, pushing and prodding, the ‘experts’ were unable to lead councillors by the nose – and the scheme was rejected. Weeks earlier Berkeleys was also told it couldn’t take down ancient woodland – despite Liz The Biz Simms, ‘YW’ head honcho explaining a while back it could always be, re-planted. Ugh!
We, and probably you, would like to know –
Who is actually running the planning function at ‘YW’ – is it Gone to Potts? The Executive? The Planning Officers? Or is it the democratically elected members?
Because if it’s all the former, then why is taxpayers money being wasted on all those allowances , special responsibility payments, travelling expenses and pensions that 58 councillors are paid, when they could be done away with?
From now on officers can grant up to 25 dwellings without reference to the planning committees!
So now, a company that once hoped to be accepted in Cranleigh New Town, has upset the locals and instead of listening to all the cogent and reasonable arguments from the locals, and doing a small re-design, they are spending lots of dosh on lawyers and QC’s just to spite the taxpayer by appealing….
AGAIN!
Remember! The company has already done this once. The original application or 425 homes was refused by ‘YW’ – not its officers of course, and allowed at appeal. The Inspector, at that time, allowed five storey homes on the site!!! Less like Cranleigh more like Canary Wharf!
Why – have they decided to Appeal! Quite simply….Because they can!
It just shows how much profit they make that they can afford to do this on a matter of pique. I suppose as their CEO awarded himself a bonus of £23 million last year and only contributes a small sum of £3 million towards infrastructure he can afford to do it. Of course if you look at it from his point of view, Berkeleys were led to believe by the WBC planners that all would be well and it would be plain sailing through the planning process, so you can imagine his frustration. The design was challenged on two main points – the 5 houses fronting Knowle Lane (a rural lane) were effectively 3 stories high, and not in keeping with Cranleigh whose vast majority of houses are only 2 stories high. Secondly the design was trying to make it look like a gated community. But as one councillor – Brian Freestone, told the Joint Planning Committee, ‘we welcome the new residents into Cranleigh, but how can we do that if they feel elite and cut off from us? This argument and others won the day. If Berkeleys had engaged with Cranleigh Parish Council, in open forum rather than behind closed doors with ‘YW, all this could probably have been avoided. Berkeley’s attempt to throw its toys out of the pram is a flagrant waste of money and will not be approved by its shareholders. Even more damaging is the cost to cash-strapped WBC and therefore us the taxpayer.
Look at the spectacularly failing sequential test if you want a good laugh/cry?
OR WILL THE LAST PERSON LEAVING ‘CASH COW’ CRANLEIGH PLEASE – FLUSH THE TOILET?
“Your Waverley”s Joint Planning Committee Numpties who are on a roll – all over the East and the West of the borough – will be at it again tomorrow. So Cranleigh get your concrete boots and your wellington boots ready!! Because they are off again!!!
This cartoon certainly applies to the new redesignation of the East of the borough including “Poor Old Cranleigh” as the ‘new town’ has been dubbed by “Your Waverley Councillors.”
No doubt poor old Mary Foryszewski will be fighting tooth and nail to stop yet another 265+ homes being built on the lowest point in Cranleigh by the Knowle Park Initiative (now re-named A2 Dominion – same people new name) in the beleaguered Elmbridge area of Cranleigh New Town. Ah well – it is the only road in and out of Cranleigh that isn’t sporting a set of traffic lights or a…
No doubt the Stennett Duo will either remain silent or declare yet another “pecuniary interest” due to all those ‘not so secret meetings with their friend the Cranleigh Lettuce lout. Let’s hope Cranleigh’s digger driver has a groundworks contract to add to his lucrative ‘Your Surrey’ waste recycling contract in the bag? Let’s also hope that when they slink out of the Council Chamber this time – they do Cranleigh residents a big favour, and never return!
Then it would give an opportunity for properly elected representatives to actually represent the views of some very angry Cranleigh people! Who … are becoming more angry by the minute!
Bramley’s By-Pass Byham will however support the application, despite being worried about the increase in traffic – because he is only concerned about traffic leaving Dunsfold New Town not Cranleigh New Town. After all, the cars are different leaving Dunsfold…’they have Wings not Wheels’ don’t they.
And doesn’t he believe, in common with Cala Homes, that everyone travels to Cranleigh by train!!
Now councillor Byham, and all you other thickoids that we entrust with the future of our towns and villages – the owners of these homes will probably be arriving by boat!! Because here’s part of the site pictured in 2014... Still it’s only a big puddle according to Cranleigh resident ‘Batty Bamford’ that he claims – old ladies moan about!
Alfold Road Access to West Cranleigh Nurseries. Get your wellies on chaps?
Oh and just in case you need a little light reading here’s some info about flood insurance! http://www.cranleighsociety.org/2017/02/21/flood-insurance-new-homes/not that we expect the planning plonkers to take much notice of that – do we – after all they won’t live there, work there or even represent the area at the next election… will they? They will have tucked their planning permissions neatly under their big fat belts and buggered off into green pastures new – that’s of course, if they can find any?
Want to read what the Cranleigh Society thinks of ‘Your Waverley”? Read it here..though they are far more polite than we are! Here’s a sample if you don’t have time>
Do we hear the distant call for a Merger Coming on? Maybe 600 Surrey councillors/allowances/expenses/ is just too many?
Amlets Park, in Amlets Lane, Cranleigh has been sold to Cala Homes.
The highly controversial site was owned by the Roberts family, who lived in the village for many years. They offered the land to Cranleigh Parish Council in the 1980s for a peppercorn payment of £1.00, which it subsequently turned down. The site has been sold today for an undisclosed sum.
The detailed planning application for 125 homes has already been examined by Waverley Borough Council’s planing experts and it is expected that building will commence in the middle of next year.
The site, which is adjacent to private houses and opposite St Josephs’ School, was granted outline planning approval by a narrow margin of just two votes at a full planning meeting of Waverley Borough Council in September 2014.
The site leads off Barhatch Lane and Horseshoe Lane and was believed by planning officers and some councillors to be an ideal site close to the village, with no flooding history, and with easy pedestrian/cycle links into the village and local schools.
A spokesman for the Roberts family said shortly after planning permission was granted, that he was determined that when the site was sold, it would contain green space, a community building and whilst providing much needed homes, would also be an asset to the village.This vision will be continued by the new owner.
On Monday, Cllr Maurice Byham told a Waverley Committee that whilst recognising it would be very painful, for Cranleigh to take development, it was better than building homes on brownfield sites.
A spokesman for the Roberts family said shortly after planning permission was granted, that he was determined that when the site was sold, it would contain green space, a community building and whilst providing much needed homes, would also be an asset to the village.This vision will be continued by the new owner.