Tag: Julia Potts

WAVERLEY BOROUGH COUNCIL INVESTIGATED BY POLICE!

waverleyairquality

After ranting on for years about Farnham’s Air Quality issues has someone, somewhere, finally listened to Jerry Hyman? 

After following the powerful Environment Overview & Scrutiny Committee chaired by Farnham Resident councillor Jerry Hyman for some time it was only a question of time before he would force his, and the serious concerns of many others, including the Farnham Society, to be heard. 

AND… NOW THEY HAVE!

Funny really when the webcasts of his meetings are either – not webcast at all  – or they don’t seem to work most/all/some of the time!!

Cover up or what…?  Accountability –  what accountability?

• Air Quality Officer Ann Marie Wade – GONE!
• Executive Director Paul – Wen-am-I-leaving – GONE!
• Deputy Director – Damien, The Omen,  Roberts – GONE!
• Council Leader during most of the period in question Robert Knowless … Has he gone… or is he just missing, most of the time?
• As for Julia – has she just put on her mask and gone to Potts?

WHO PAYS? We Do!

Roger Steel, a former borough councillor and member of Waverley’s executive, has criticised Waverley’s handling of Farnham’s air quality problem on behalf of the town planning watchdog the Farnham Society.

He told the Farnham Herald: “At the moment, Waverley judges that NO2 levels contravene safe limits set by European Union Regulations at three places in Farnham – two in The Borough and one in Wrecclesham Road. But with the correction of the local bias factor, I fully expect at least six to seven places to be exceeding that limit.

“We are concerned that there may now be further delay in the issuing of the 2016 Air Quality Report and subsequent air quality data which is needed so that appropriate measures can be taken to reduce the health risks to residents and retailers, and also so that well-informed planning decisions can be taken.

“Large developments such as East Street – which will increase traffic in the town centre by around 15 percent – should be well and truly put on the back burner until we know the full extent of the problem.”

Mr Steel added, although the content of the audit report and scope of the police investigation is unknown, he believes Waverley faces a substantial “six-figure” fine should it be found guilty of any wrong-doing, adding “if it is the case that Waverley knew its figures were wrong when submitting them to Defra, it could be very, very serious indeed”.

He continued: “The Environment Act 1995 makes clear that local authorities are obliged to monitor local air quality and submit their findings to Defra – and can be penalised if they break this law.

I’ve been writing to Waverley for years saying they are breaking this law, and the council’s leadership has got to take overall responsibility.”

WILL THEY WON’T THEY… NO! Because there is no accountability at Waverley Borough Council.

27798142_10156121430591613_469910384694172653_o.jpg

But the council is yet to release the audit report in the public domain or reissue its withdrawn 2016 air quality report – leaving a huge question mark as to whether Farnham has a pollution problem or not, at a time when planning appeals for more than 500 homes in the town area are to be determined in coming weeks.

Confirming the news, a police spokesman said: “Surrey Police is investigating following concerns reported to police over an official council environmental report. No arrests have been made and an investigation is ongoing to establish whether any criminal offences have taken place.”

A Waverley spokesman added: “The final version of the audit report has been received. The report has been passed onto the police, who are now investigating. We can’t say anymore until their investigation is completed.”

It comes after Waverley commissioned an independent review of its 2016 Air Quality Annual Status Report last August following complaints by the Farnham Society and Farnham-based air quality expert David Harvey that council officers had got their figures wrong.

This error was confirmed by red-faced council chiefs a month later – calling into question the validity of previous annual air quality reports that have used the same basis of calculation, and prompting a comprehensive audit of Waverley’s air quality monitoring and reporting arrangements.

Waverley is duty-bound to submit an annual air quality status report to DEFRA after an Air Quality Management Area was declared in Farnham in 2004, following the discovery of excessive levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) which has been linked to as many as 40,000 premature deaths every year in the UK.

The council’s latest Air Quality Annual Status Report, published last May, claimed air pollution – and specifically levels of NO2 only “slightly exceeds” the national objective at three monitoring stations in Farnham; two in The Borough and one in Wrecclesham Road.

However, this was challenged by Mr Harvey, the director of West Street firm ADM Ltd, who believes Waverley has dramatically under-estimated the problem after miscalculating two ‘bias adjustment factors’ used to counter discrepancies between the council’s monitoring equipment.

Waverley’s situation bears painful similarities with that faced by another unitary authority, Cheshire East Council, which admitted ‘falsifying’ its own air quality figures last year, requiring hundreds of planning applications to be reviewed and prompting an ongoing police investigation.

Responding to the criminal investigation into Waverley’s own botched report this week, Mr Harvey told the Herald: “I am baffled as to why what seemed to be a case of discourteous incompetence has been referred to the police to investigate.

“There does seem to be similarities with the between what is going on at Waverley and East Cheshire where the police were called in to investigate what appears to have been ‘deliberate and systematic manipulation of data’ and perhaps is pointing to a wider problem with how local authorities are undertaking their statutory duties to review and assess air quality.

“I have no idea what the police have actually been asked to investigate and cannot understand how it could have come to this.

“I have been in contact with Waverley since first drawing attention to the problem in May last year and have been impressed by how pro-active they have been since understanding that there was a problem with the data.

“I hope that they will now release the corrected and update 2016 monitoring report so that we can understand whether this is actually an air quality problem in Farnham.”

Perhaps that Vote of NO CONFIDENCE fell on deaf ears?

NO CHANGE THERE THEN!

This is a letter sent out to supporters of The Cranleigh Civic Society – from the people…screen-shot-2016-05-03-at-14-22-39

Dear Members and Friends

As you are aware, Cranleigh Civic Society held a meeting in the Village Hall on 25th May to discuss the planning permission already granted and the further huge amount of housing being earmarked for Cranleigh in the draft Local Plan.
Many residents expressed their deep concerns about the relentless growth of new housing in Cranleigh, particularly as Waverley Borough Council has simply not dealt with Cranleigh’s serious infrastructure problems first.
At the end of the meeting, local residents took a vote of “NO CONFIDENCE” in the Leadership of Waverley Borough Council

226 FOR
1 AGAINST (this was a Waverley Borough Councillor)
2 ABSTENTIONS (we think from people who live outside of Cranleigh)

We have written to Julia Potts, the Leader of Waverley Borough Council, to confirm the vote of “No Confidence” taken by those attending the public meeting:
Dear Ms Potts
As you are aware, Cranleigh Civic Society recently organised a public meeting at our village hall at which we shared our knowledge of what is happening now, and what is being planned for the future of our village. Many of the 229 people who attended passionately expressed their anger and concerns about the volume of housing your team has approved to be built on our green fields and how many more you intend to send our way.
Equal to this were the worries about how our already poor infrastructure will cope with the huge increase in the population. As promised, I relayed your message of how much you care about our village, and I must tell you it was not well received.
At the end of the meeting we offered the opportunity for them to vote by a show of hands if they wanted to send you a strong and clear message that they do not have confidence in your team’s ability to care for the quality of our lives and wellbeing through your actions and inaction; 226 voted to support this statement, one opposed and two abstained.
I trust this message is clear.
Phill Price
Chairman
Cranleigh Civic Society

We have not received a reply from this letter yet.

Also discussed at the meeting was the petition we have been running to ask our MP to insist on our drinking water to be tested for the risk from asbestos, as 29.6% of our water pipes are made from asbestos cement. The petition has now closed at 714 signatures and we have now sent this to Anne Milton for her action.
What are the next steps?
We are now investigating the options available to us and we will let you know when we know more.

What can we all do?
– Write to your MP Anne Milton NOW (email anne.milton.mp@parliament.uk). Whilst we as the Cranleigh Civic Society are strictly non-political, you may feel that you have been let down by your MP in not stopping the relentless attack by housing developers on Cranleigh’s green fields, particularly as it is Government Policy that brown field sites should be built on nationally first.
– Write to the Waverley Borough Councillors (details are on their website) to tell them you are not happy with the way the decisions are made.
– Object online on all applications you feel are unsustainable – details are on our website
– Turn up at the Council Offices at The Bury’s, Godalming when the Joint Planning Committee meet to vote on the larger housing applications. The public gallery only has a few seats so either turn up early or turn up just for the arrival of the councillors before the meeting so that they can see that people of Cranleigh do really care.
– If not already done, subscribe to the updates from our website, so you are informed of any news

We will update the website in the next few days with diary dates for the upcoming Little Meadow application, Springbok Inquiry, Dunsfold Inquiry, etc

regards

Jane Price
Membership Secretary
Cranleigh Civic Society

http://www.cranleighsociety.org
https://www.facebook.com/cranleighsociety

Will the people of Cranleigh get a response?

Don’t hold your breath, because ‘Your Waverley’ doesn’t give a jot what Cranleigh people think. If it  did, it wouldn’t be putting out RFP’s (Request for Proposal) to sports consultants around the country to build a new Leisure Centre on the Snoxhall Playing fields – on land held  by Cranleigh Parish Council on behalf of its residents!

OH DEAR! What can the matter be?

Sing-along…

‘Three of our towns won’t have any lavatories, they’ll have nothing from Monday till Saturday, nobody knows to pee where..?

Haslemere,  Godalming and Farncombe won’t have a pot to pi** in thanks to ‘Your Waverley.’

In other words the borough has, literally Gone to Potts!

gonetopotts
Let’s all pee in Julia’s Potty!

How about this for a sorry tale of woe if ever there was one. Spending a penny, just became a whole lot more difficult for the folk in three  of our beleaguered towns.

In its bid to save pounds, spending a penny in the three town’s public conveniences is about to become a Hurculean task. Because they are about to: Close; shut; taet; dicht; fermer; preto; in der Nahe; chiudere; közel; preto; a prop; gar….

Get the picture? SHUT.

Screen Shot 2017-06-16 at 21.59.32.png

Screen Shot 2017-06-16 at 22.00.04.pngScreen Shot 2017-06-16 at 22.00.39.png

WW found the bit about the “Acting Town Clerk” Andy Jeffery interesting! In fact we could find the reason for the sudden departure of The Town Clerk … very interesting. WWethinks we need to start spinning that web!

Here’s Haslemere’s WC which is about to be slashed to make for more parking spaces! It tells the WW…

Haslemere Town Council is very concerned that Waverley Borough Council is intending to close the public toilets in the High St carpark to make way for more parking spaces.

Screen Shot 2017-06-16 at 22.22.56.png

We are currently making representations to WBC to try and keep this well used facility open on behalf of local residents but we need your help. Although we know they are well used and vital to many residents, by signing this petition you give further weight to our fight by clicking on the link at the bottom of the post.

Thankfully over there in the East of the borough all the developers over there are flushed with their own success. They are busy building their very own poo pits now the Grampian Conditions drafted by ‘Your Waverley’ aren’t worth the toilet paper they were written on and the sewage treatment works cannot cope! 

Sign Haslemere’s petition to stop the slashing of services! https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-haslemeres-public-toilets

It’s finally happened – She’s Gone to Potts!

WE’RE GOING SLIGHTLY MAD – BUT WE ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES!

gonetopotts.jpg

What exactly is our  disingenuous  Leader of ‘Your Waverley’ on about? – She speaks triumphantly  of the recent High Court’s judgement on the Farnham Five’s Fight  as if it were  some sort of endorsement of ‘YW’s toxic partnership with Crest Nicholson and the merit of redeveloping Blightwells/ East Street Farnham.

We here at the Waverley Web thought we had gone – slightly mad when we heard her gloating about their success.  She actually had the bare faced cheek to speak  publicly of a judge who, she said, had made the ‘right decision for Farnham! For God’s sake woman, what does the judge know, or even want to know about redeveloping Farnham? His ruling was not about ” development in Farnham” it was about HIS, yes  HIS, interpretation of the law. And we don’t want to say too much about his interpretation  do we as he might stamp on us!!! UGH!!

“If you want to live and thrive let a spider run alive!!animated-spider-image-0157

YOU CHALLENGED  THE FARNHAM FIVE RIGHT TO HAVE   THEIR CASE HEARD? GOT IT!

Your gloating just  continues to alienate, even those Farnham residents, who actually support the scheme, by your preposterous, and ever more cynical misrepresentation of the facts.

It is quite simple – the judge, accepted Waverley’s argument that the claimants had no standing in law to have their case heard. Got it! – he ruled out their request to HAVE THE CASE HEARD. Why? Because – “they had no direct commercial or financial interest in the matter.” That’s WHY! The fact that another judge had come to a different conclusion in a Wincheser issue  just goes to show-  different Judge – different decision – the Law is an Ass!

So let’s face it Councillor Potts all you and Your Council have achieved is to evade any possibility of your shenanigans (we will call them that rather any stronger accusations) being examined in the cold harsh light of day in public at a Judicial Review. So all your nasty little secrets remain just that… unless of course… the WW knows different!

  • To retain some credibility, honesty and transparency in the eyes of the public. Produce the letter that was handed over to the Inspector at the Compulsory purchase Inquiry on the Marlborough Head? You know the letter that you prevented your democratically elected councillors from seeing? The one that gave the name of the funder – that you didn’t have in place – did you?

But the facts remain – You have given away Farnham land that was assigned a minimum value for ‘Your Waverley’ of £8.76million in 2003 but which is worth only £3.19m now!

What a great shame for Farnham residents and the rest of the Waverley borough that you were not given an opportunity to explain Why? at a Judicial Review?