Tag: Farnham

Waverley triumphant!

We here at the Waverley Web – and quite a few others, judging by the e-mails we received at  mailto:contact@waverleyweb.org – didn’t actually find ‘Your Waverley’s’ triumphalism  over its David & Goliath win over Farnham’s Famous Five very edifying. As you will no doubt gather, neither did one of our  contributors pictured here!

We have in the past few hours received this Press Release from the Farnham Five and will post on this separately at a future date. Press Release on Ruling [4]

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However, its  Pyrrhic  victory over Farnham’s Fearless Ones may not boost their reputation in the eyes of all Waverley’s residents and it could, like Pyrrhus, suffer heavy losses ! 

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Just to recap – “Your Waverley” and its NBF – Crest Nicholson – joined forces and engaged top barristers – after being told by council members … ‘win and it doesn’t matter how much it costs’ to prevent  a bunch of pensioners even getting to a Judicial Review of the Blightwells Saga.

Of course it didn’t matter how much it cost did it? Because ‘Your Waverley”  was using our money to defend  a challenge brought by residents with their own,, and other Farnham residents’  money. So we make that paying twice! Or is that conclusion due to our heightened sense of humour?

Remember …  what ‘YW’ and its New Best Friend ‘CN” actually won, was merely the right to stop  FFFF’s – even getting to a Judicial Review because the Judge ruled out their right to challenge. (Well he would wouldn’t he – don’t want the voting fodder all over the country getting above themselves and actually believing they can challenge authority – do we? Whatever next! Anyone would think this was Cameron’s BIG SOCIETY!

 Oh! and before Gone to Potts (YW’s leader) goes on record humming and hahhing about how the challenge has delayed the East Street/Blightwells re-development – maybe she should look closer to home.

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So the  regeneration goes ahead . However –  before “YW” and its ‘NBF’ get too complacent about their bully boy tactics perhaps they should read the letter and article below which was sent to us by a Farnham architect with 30 years experience in retail development.

And, perhaps ‘Your Waverley” should consider this. – The problem with being a bully is that on the flip side of that particular coin, you’ll find the imprint of a coward!

Only time will tell if ‘Your Waverley – and its NBF – are heading for the slow motion car crash that many are predicting!  

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Will Farnham’s Fearless, Famous Five get their days in Court?

AS IT WILL SOON BE…

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Of course if “Your Waverley” hadn’t challenged the people’s right to a Judicial Review it would have probably been well under way by now…

Instead the town is in a sort of limbo… as the clock ticks awaiting the Court’s decision on the preliminary hearing to prove the claimant’s legal status. So the question on everyone’s lips is – “will  Farnham’s Famous Fearless Five” fall at the first fence – or – will they take the massive leap that will see them over the fence to stand face to face with local authority and developer giants at a Judicial Review.

Of course it could be a waste of the council taxpayers money – but “Your Waverley” couldn’t give a damn about that – after all there’s plenty more dosh  where that came from … isn’t there?

But the delay is not all bad for the angry and frustrated people of Farnham is it? Because although the perpetrators of the fight reached their target for its funding in just two months – others elsewhere in the borough are watching Farnham’s Fight – ready to pitch in with more!

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Because thanks to the Farnham Herald and the Waverley Web everyone in the borough can read all about it!

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 Because this is not just Farnham’s fight – it is the people of Waverley’s fight too.

 

 

 

 

Because:

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Here are the men and women who have had the guts to stand up for Farnham against the might of “Your Waverley” and its New Best Friend – Crest Nicholson.

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It’s official – the lunatics have taken over the Waverley Asylum.

Willy the Web is going slightly mad!

The men in white coats really are on their way to Waverley Towers – or will they be beaten by the men in grey coats?

read here:Are Waverley Planners going stark staring mad?

We urge everyone to watch the webcast of Waverley’s  Joint Planning Committee next  Wednesday  particularly if you live in the East of the borough in Cranleigh. Then you will see this disreputable council at work. Better still – go along and watch?

The same madness that has been going on in Farnham regarding East Street and Brightwells is spreading like a disease across the borough!

 Click on the music above to get yourselves in the mood

You can watch “your Cranleigh Borough Councillors” Brian Ellis, and Stuart Stennett go along with all the other JPC members,  (though from past experience we doubt that will include Mary Foryszewski,)  from other parts of the borough, grant permission for another 340 houses in the Alfold Road at Cranleigh.

Perhaps Councillor Stennett will  declare an interest and leave the chamber – as he’s a chump  of the applicant – but WW is not holding his breath! Councillor Ellis called the planning application in and has been working together with Mr Stennett and the council officers for years at secret meetings with wannabe developers,  Knowle Park Initiative included. After all, according to our followers – Councillor Ellis wants to be Cranleigh New Towns’ first Mayor. Don’t buy your tricorn hat yet Cllr E!

But perhaps – just perhaps, the Dummies on the JPC should read this little missive from Cranleigh resident Adrian Clarke who has  more than a passing interest in poo! This could leave them all slightly flushed. Because – quite simply The Environment Agency say it is “technically infeasible” to upgrade the Cranleigh sewage works to meet the housing already granted, – let alone more… Why? Because the technology doesn’t exist – just read it for yourselves.

One more piece of the jigsaw though, and it’s the “elephant in the room” no one wants to talk about. In the last 3 years, Cranleigh Waters (the stream Cranleigh Sewage Works discharges into) has become ephemeral. This means it flows OK in winter as it always has done, but in summer it flows much less, and at times it stops flowing altogether. (The Environment Agency told us it is because of low aquifers, increasing water abstraction upstream, global warming and increasing population density).

The Environment Agency said a few weeks ago that it is currently “technically infeasible” (their words) for Thames Water to upgrade the sewage works in Cranleigh to meet growing housing developments because the technology doesn’t exist to upgrade the plant in Cranleigh to give a clean enough discharge into the stream. Cranleigh Society explained this to Elizabeth Sims at Waverley in December (I know because I was at that meeting) and she and the other planners are simply ignoring this, hoping the problem will magically go away. The Environment Agency is well aware of the problem, and we’ve sent them photos of a dry stream bed on the 6th October last year, but they are too weak to do anything about it, as much of their power has been stripped by Government in the last 2 years. Take a look at –

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2015/nov/12/toothless-environment-agency-is-allowing-the-living-world-to-be-wrecked-with-impunity

I just thought you should know this critical piece of information, as I think that it has has become the single biggest problem for new housing schemes in Cranleigh. It’s “Catch 22”. Waverley are pushing their allocation onto Cranleigh as we don’t have any Greenbelt Protection. The Environment Agency knows about the ephemeral nature of the stream but they are keeping quiet about it. Waverley are keeping quite about it saying that if the Environment Agency doesn’t properly object, then what’s the problem? And Thames Water blithely look on as the Environment Agency hasn’t updated their Permit to Discharge for Cranleigh since 2009, so they don’t have to actually DO anything! The perfect storm of bungling caused by Waverley sticking their heads in the sand on this.

And against this background, I find it incredible that Waverley are recommending that KPI and Little Meadow go through at the JPC meeting on the 27th.

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However, Mr Clarke sadly we don’t find it incredible.  We think Waverley planning officers and  your borough councillors over there have been planning this for years! Remember all those secret meetings?

The Council is finally losing the plot! They will sacrifice the Green Belt next! Why doesn’t everyone in Cranleigh wake up and smell the poo- and get over there next Wednesday in their droves, and tell them – enough is enough and if you do not stop this madness we will challenge you in the Courts?

Is £3m Memorial Hall extension what Farnham really, really wants?

LAST TRY GOSTREY LETTER
via Farnham Herald

Or, is it what some Waverley councillors really, really want…

We too fear for the future of old people Mr Downs! However, unlike you, not just for the future of the old in Farnham, but in Godalming, Haslemere, Cranleigh and all the towns and villages in the borough, BECAUSE THEY TOO ARE SUFFERING AT WBC’s HANDS.  You are not alone in your concern, according to our insiders at Waverley. One senior officer was so sickened by it all, we hear he resigned – or as it is normally referred to within Waverley – taken early retirement! There are more considering doing the same, as morale there is at rock bottom. Working for the “Nasty Party” is not easy.

Hearing Waverley boasting about how much they care for the elderly in their Ageing Well Strategy, is making us feel quite sick too. They just don’t understand that it’s not spending £3m of the ratepayers money on extending the Memorial Hall that is the problem, but completly ignoring the state of the Gostrey Centre for years. Now it is sacrificing it, along with its users and volunteers, including the WRVS, on the alter of the East Street developers. The same developers who, thus far, don’t appear to be spending one penny on its replacement and are busy attending ‘secret’ meetings with WBC to build wherever there is a patch of green in the borough that needs a concrete plaster.

This despite the protestations of members of the Farnham Residents’ group and the only Independent at Waverley, who all questioned the scheme. They were soon given a clip around the ear,  were over-ruled and rubished by the rulers of the Nasty Party.

They then railroaded through the vote, to spend £3m of our money, not WBC’s money, OUR MONEY, on sticking a carbuncle on the face of an old friend (The Memorial Hall). Read more on the post, “All  Things Bright and Not So Beautiful”, here.

*NEWS FLASH* Nothing to discuss? Well there certainly is now!

Goodbye Cranleigh Village… Hello Cranleigh New Town. 

At 5.25pm on Friday, shortly after we posted this update on the cancelled WBC Executive Meeting, came the news that all WBC councillors were advised that the Draft Spatial Strategy will go to the Community Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 16th November – to which ALL are invited. This is prior to the December Full Council Meeting.

And guess what? The same old strategy remains. Pile housing onto the green fields that are flood plains in Cranleigh. In Farnham, ignore the over-riding legal constraints (habitats) and the practical constraints of transport and flood risk and cover as many fields, some of which may be in the Green Belt, as possible with concrete.

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So now you have it. The borough needs 519 homes every year, but over the whole local Plan period of 2013 – 2032, there is a shortfall of around 6,000 homes. So what will the borough get on the green fields around Cranleigh? Potentially around 1,350 new homes.

We reckon WBC will put up a very lacklustre defence against the Berkley Homes Appeal due in February, to build 425 homes on the Bonham Land, off Stocklund Square. One Waverley Web contributor said:

“Heaven knows why WBC is even bothering to turn up before an Inspector – probably to waste even more of our money. Guess the only real opposition will come from the Cranleigh Civic Society, but bearing in mind what WBC is up to,  it might as well save its breath.”

The little Dutchman with his finger in the dyke and a fistful of dollars.
The little Dutchman with his finger in the dyke and a fistful of dollars.

In the meantime, the heavy lobbying by the Knowle Park Initiative (aided by Cranleigh Chamber of Commerce), will have paid off and we can look forward to West Cranleigh disappearing under floodwater. Crown Hall Estates will be hanging onto its coat tails and more will follow. The Guildford Road between Cranleigh and Shamley Green is next..

Then of course, Crest Nicholson will throw in another 150+ into the Horsham Road development, adding to the 149 houses it already has the go-ahead for. With work starting on Amlets Park’s 125 houses soon, there are all the Alfold applications (too many to even mention, but for starters 600). The Strategy also identifies building in all the villages: Shamley Green, Bramley, Witley and so it goes on.

Don’t forget Dunsfold Park either- up to 3,500 there with 1,800 coming soon in the application about to land on their desks, when Scottie gets his act together.

So where does that leave the rest of the Waverley Borough? 1,000 houses in Farnham… 1,000 houses  in Haslemere… 500 houses in Godalming… and an additional 1,200 houses dotted around the villages. And who gets the lions share? Yup, you guessed it – Cranleigh. And who can stop them?