Ash Aspect: ‘Ash Is Being Used As A Dumping Ground’

Published on: 24 Jan, 2018
Updated on: 25 Jan, 2018

By David Reading

The Ash Centre on a cold January evening. The main hall is packed full of residents and they are not happy. There is a definite feeling of “Us versus Them”.

“Them” or the “opposition”, judging by the mood in the audience, are Guildford Borough Council’s deputy leader Matt Furniss, ward councillor Nigel Kearse (Con, South Ash & Tongham),  Tracey Coleman director of planning and, speaking on behalf of developers Bewley Homes, Victoria Groves. Bewley Homes is the company planning to build 492 homes on land south of Ash Lodge Drive.

As one resident put it when he called out from the floor – Ash is being used as the borough’s “dumping ground.” For the fact is that Ash, Ash Green and Tongham are becoming overwhelmed with plans for new housing developments.

The meeting, held on January 17, was arranged by the borough council to keep people informed, and the organisers would certainly have known the strength of opposition to the many housing plans that the area now faces.

The loss of open space, the inevitable rise in traffic volume, and the pressure on local services are hot topics among local people. There are also serious fears about the potential for flooding at several of the sites once the homes are built.

The Ash Lodge Drive development is just one of those housing schemes causing deep concern. Another is the proposal for 60 homes covering the area from Foreman Park up to the corner of Grange Road and Foreman Road. The Ash Residents Association (ASHRA) believes this development will be a disaster for residents already living in the area and will cause serious traffic problems in Foreman Road, Grange Road, Ash Green Road and White Lane leading up to the Hog’s Back.

Sue Wyeth-Price, of Ash Green, has completed her own comprehensive analysis document of the 2017 Guildford Borough Local Plan and the impact it will have on Ash, Tongham and Ash Green.

As she told the meeting, she has calculated that Ash makes up five percent of the area of the borough and yet 38 per cent of the housing planned for the borough outside the Guildford urban area is likely to be in the Ash area – “a disproportionate volume,” she says. With the loss of so much open space, soon the area will be overwhelmed with housing, merging the villages of Ash Green and Tongham with Ash.

Her report points out that in the submitted version of the Local Plan there is limited infrastructure included that would enable the area to meet the expanding population and none of it is committed spend. No additional transport links have been planned and no public transport improvements have been proposed.

The pressure on local services, including health and education, were major issues raised by residents at the meeting. Unfortunately there were no clear answers forthcoming.

On the subject of health services, Bewley Homes announced last year that land had been set aside for the building of a new health centre to serve the new estate. As I reported at that time, discussions were taking place to work out how the new centre would be funded and who would run it. The partners at the Bartlett Group Practice at Ash Vale told me they were evaluating all options on how to accommodate the new patients, with the implication that the new centre could satisfy residents’ fears.

But is it really that clear-cut? An opposing view voiced at the meeting was that it would be difficult to find enough GPs to run the new centre. Indeed an article in the British Medical Journal in 2017 said this about the national picture: “In its plan for general practice published in 2016, NHS England set a target of 5,000 additional general practitioners by 2020. However, no data were presented to show that this would be enough to meet the country’s needs. An analysis from Imperial College suggests that NHS England has substantially underestimated the current shortage of general practitioners and the numbers required to plug the gap.”

And the Financial Times reported that family doctors have been leaving the National Health Service at a rate of more than 400 a month. The problem seems to be the intense pressure that GPs are now working under.

On the subject of traffic congestion, the borough representatives reported on plans for a bridge to replace the Ash level crossing. On the face of it, this would seem to address, at least partially, the congestion that builds up when the crossing barrier is down – which happens well over 100 times a day.

The idea is that a road bridge will be located to the south of the present level crossing and a footbridge provided on or next to the alignment of the present level crossing. The plans are at the very early stages. The exact route is yet to be fixed, detailed design work must go ahead, and funding has not yet been found. One can only hope that the new bridge, if it gets approval, will be built before the new residents begin moving in.

Does any of this affect you? We would like your views on what is happening to Ash, Tongham and Ash Green. Please write your comments in the box below.

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