Tag: Waverley Borough Council

Going Going Godalming

Build more homes say The Conservatives! Build more homes on Brownfield land says the Government! Convert empty offices into flats without planning permission says the Government! Brilliant – instant housing numbers say the Conservatives!

The unintended consequences of converting town centre offices to flats means naturally – there are no places to work in our towns. And to afford a town centre flat (starting at £350k), you’ll naturally need to commute to London. And you’ll be so busy working, you’ll need to rely on Amazon Prime and Ocado online to deliver your internet shopping. Visit the high street? Don’t have time – except for maybe a cheeky Saturday stroll around a Farmers Market.

The consequences of all this are there are no office workers to buy sandwiches and eat out during the day, and everybody is so tired or poor, they can’t afford to eat out in the evening. Hence Godalming’s failing high street:

 

Photos from Huw Price on the Community Board.
In addition the franchisee of Subway has handed back the lease, and independent Bar Coretto have shut down completely. Alan Paine Knitwear has gone, and next door to them the Scats/Mole Countryside store has shuttered. Opposite them the English Chain company are rumoured to be developing their offices works for flats too.
You can’t even spend a penny in Godalming High Street, since Waverley shut the toilets in Crown Court – although we understand the local councillors are so fed up of being pissed upon by Waverley that the Town Council will be investing in new bog roll very soon.

Oh Carole – every picture tells a story!

 

JUST ANOTHER PLANNING MEETING SHOWING THE RESPECT ONE COUNCILLOR HAS FOR ANOTHER,  HELD IN THE  SWAMP THAT IS ‘YOUR WAVERLEY’.

I will ignore anything you have to say Mr Hyman – because nothing you have to say either interests me, or has any bearing on my opinion on anything – and I mean anything.  The fact that I took exactly the same stand when you kept banging on about the non-production of the Farnham Air Quality Report that has sat in the Waverley swamp for almost two years, and has now proved to be wrong, has absolutely nothing to do with it. You just keep on, keeping on, and all my Tory Tosser friends ignore you too – except of course Wyatt Ramsdale,  John Williamson and John Ward your fellow Farnham councillors who you obviously managed to stir up. 

image002-1.jpg

Now you have gone too far this time Sir Jerry – I shall close my eyes and  shut my ears to anything you may have to say.

image001-1.png
Because I am here to speak up for Farnham – yes me, not you.  I have been here a long time, some may believe too long – but all the time I am here in the Chairman’s hot seat – YOU WILL BE IGNORED! GOT IT… I SAID – I G N O R E D.

OH! And, just in case you believe  I have broken the Council’s respect policy, I have no respect for you, or anyone else for that matter, who disagrees with me.

Can we believe anything ‘Your Waverley’ tells us?

waverleyairquality

Should we all follow the Leader?

 

Screen Shot 2017-09-27 at 18.44.38.png

Here’s a Press Release posted to-day! Looks bland and insignificant enough, doesn’t it?  Well, that’s what ‘YW’  hopes we will all think.

Except, here at the Waverley Web, we dug a little deeper and have discovered the sh*t is hitting ‘YW’s fan with a vengeance because it has duped its own unsuspecting councillors, it’s residents and possibly even some of it’s officers with information contained in its air quality monitoring procedure.

No problem there then, unless you happen to have asthma, respiratory problems, or any other health  problems that are acerbated by filthy and polluted air!

What you may ask is the latest little cover-up all about?

Suffice to say the council has been burying/concealing it’s Air Quality Report for Farnham for around 18 months – and there we were dopey old Farnham residents believing our air quality issues were not as bad as we first thought. Because that’s what we were told. Waverley have AQR reports up until 2015 only.

It doesn’t say anything in the Press Release that the council held an Emergency Meeting, because of course it either wasn’t webcast, or if it was, the webcast wasn’t working.  Even if it was working, we wouldn’t have heard anything, because they don’t intend us too. Because we’re  the voting fodder, and secrecy is endemic at ‘YW’.

It also begs the question? Can we believe anything we hear, like the flood risk assessments, highway assessments, noise and pollution assessments that are carried out in our borough?

Screen Shot 2017-09-28 at 09.53.03.png

Screen Shot 2017-09-27 at 18.05.03.png
The Bias Factor is a technically term for extrapolating the results from these monitoring stations and tubes accounting for temperature and how that affects to NO2 calculation.

Watch this space…. to be continued…

Don’t open the champagne just yet Waverley Council – the Cranleigh Civic Society is still in business.

Screen Shot 2017-09-18 at 10.08.55

So frustrated by rules, regulations, bureaucracy, politics and delays in getting anything done, residents  opted out of the Cranleigh Neighbourhood Plan three years ago and formed the Cranleigh Civic Society.

BuScreen Shot 2017-08-12 at 21.47.22.pngt since its formation – the Society that prides itself on ‘Speaking up for Cranleigh’ has met one brick wall after another in its dealings with Waverley Borough Council, and moral among its members has suffered as a result.

So, at an EGM on Tuesday its’ members heard that highly valued committee members would leave,  but would continue to work to achieve the society’s aims and objectives in the future. In his address, (notes of which were sent to the Waverley Web), Richard Bryant said everyone involved had endeavoured to keep Cranleigh special:
“You only have to look at our website to appreciate all the hard work put in by those nine people”.

  • He paid tribute to: Chris Budgen (CPRE).
  • Liz Townsend – who was pressured by WBC to resign. Who, he said, had resisted pressure from Waverley to resign when she became a parish councillor, but had no option but to resign as chairman, when she becoming  a Waverley borough councillor.

Why WW wonders? Is it a rule among Waverley councillors that none of its members can belong to Civic Groups? 

He went on to thank…

  • Phill and Jane Price and Steve Jeacock.
  • Although he had resigned the committee, everyone was delighted Adrian Clarke would continue as the society’s technical advisor.

He said: ‘The fact is that CCS is a thorn in the side of WBC, and the three remaining committee members are not prepared to give up and give them an excuse to uncork the champagne bottles’.

Because of failing infrastructure, including inadequate roads, lack of employment, or a railway,  the society had scrutinised and opposed the vast majority of housing development. It had taken the four minutes allotted to public speakers – and its objections were both accurate and factual. Site visits were held with statutory authorities, including Thames Water, identifying serious concerns with the Cranleigh Waters and the Sewage Treatment Works. It had also appeared at all major public inquiries including those in Alfold and Dunsfold. 

ClientEarth (CE) had taken the Government to Court in December, due to its failure to deal with rising air pollution, and won! The society had sought its’ help, sending  a dossier outlining  the deteriorating state of Cranleigh Waters.

‘We received good and bad news – (CE) is only involved in air quality matters, the good news, so impressed was it by the extensive report it was passed on to the Environmental Law Foundation (ELF), which specialises in breaches of environmental law. ‘ELF has not only agreed to assist us, but we now have the pro bono services of a leading environmental barrister’.

The barrister was  of the opinion that case-law could be used by us to stop further development until Cranleigh Waters and the sewage works  are fit for purpose. This is now – work in progress’.

Further issues raised at the meeting will be featured in future posts. But suffice to say the Cranleigh Civic Society has gathered in new blood, and is fit for whatever is thrown at it. A full list of the new committee members is available on the Cranleigh Civic Society website. 

NB. Waverley’s new Managing Director responded immediately to an invitation to meet the society – and the meeting is to be held this week.

Are we all about to play the Waverley lottery?

One way or another they’re gonna getcha.

peter_vickers_waverleyWho is this grinning man? Why is he so happy? What crazy ideas does he have to help our local services? Well he is Peter Vickers – Waverley Borough Council’s Head of Finance no less.  This accountant-in-chief has come up with a thumping good idea of how to reduce the burden of the voluntary services in the borough of Waverley.

How? A WAVERLEY LOTTERY of course!

The Head of Finance can be heard in the clip below revealing his cunning plan to save the council £750,000 by ending funding to voluntary organisations such as the Citizens’ Advice Bureau, Meals on Wheels, and old people’s day centres, and instead throwing the burden onto – yes you guessed US!

Screen Shot 2017-09-16 at 07.36.44

Click Play above to listen to Peter Vickers bright idea. Notice he never uses the words “Cut their pesky grants” but a rather accountant like “switch out their funding”. Such an elegant choice of words. Clearly the man is in a hole, and needs any suggestions you can make to balance the budget, without which Waverley will be bankrupt in 3 years time. If you do have a cost cutting idea, please help a man out and phone him on 01483 523539.