Allotment Group Fighting Homes Threat Urges Supporters To Email Council

Published on: 5 Nov, 2013
Updated on: 7 Nov, 2013

A group that has tirelessly campaigned against houses being built on a Guildford allotment site is urging residents to help it once more by responding in a positive way to the borough’s Local Plan.

The group WDBRA fighting to stop the threat of housing on the Aldershot Road allotments is urging residents to support its campaign.

The Westborough, Broadacres & District Residents’ Association (WBDRA) says that for more than 10 years local people have been battling Guildford Borough Council (GBC) to stop it building houses on the Aldershot Road allotment site.

Spokesman for WBDRA David Bird said this week: “We are nearly there (I think) but we need a lot of people to email GBC about this, hopefully more than the 260 folks who responded to the last GBC public consultation in 2008.”

In the first instance, the pressure group is asking people who support its campaign to spare five minutes of their time to go on line and send an email to the borough council’s planning department.

Mr Bird suggests the message is worded something like: “I support the use of this land to help meet our future allotment needs and I agree with your Appendix D suggestion that a good use of this site is to provide additional allotments on a site that is already well used for this purpose.”

He also states that anyone may like to add: “I support the use of land at Jacobs Well for allotments and agree that allotments should be provided as part of any new large-scale housing development.”

He gives the email address as: localplan@guildford.gov.uk

Mr Bird said: “GBC has moved its position since we started campaigning from saying ‘we will build houses and that development will start’ to now saying that ‘is no longer likely that we will provide new homes on this site’.

“If this turns out to be so,and we’ll have to wait until 2015 to find out, what a relief for all of us who like open spaces and trees, etc, where we live. and what a relief for Broadstreet and Broadacres/Oakfields residents as the threat of a new road and dozens more cars running through the estate will have disappeared too.

“It will also be good news also for people who’ve wanted a local allotment plot instead of having to wait years to get one or having to trek over to Bellfields.

The Aldershot Road allotments pictured a few months ago.

Mr Bird also adds that anyone would would like to participate in the whole borough-wide consultation on the Local Plan consultation should click here. The allotment question is on page 10 shown as question 36.

He warns: “Please be aware that GBC persist in referring to the Aldershot Road site as “Westborough Allotments” or “Woodside Road Allotments” – it is all the same place!”

WBDRA’s campaign website is at: www.saveouropenspaces.com
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