Borough Council Accused of Presenting ‘Lame Duck’ Defence of Wisley Planning Decision

Published on: 1 Sep, 2017
Updated on: 2 Sep, 2017

A Wisley campaign group is accusing Guildford Borough Council (GBC) of presenting a “lame duck” case against the forthcoming appeal by a Cayman Island company to build a “new town” at Three Farms Meadows, the former Wisley airfield.

The Wisley Action Group (WAG) has labelled the council’s decision to focus only on green belt issues as a “weak and feeble capitulation”. It claims, the council is effectively ignoring 13 other reasons why it originally refused the planning application by Wisley Property Investments Ltd (WPIL).

The Guildford Dragon NEWS invited Council Leader Paul Spooner to respond to the accusation but no comment has been received. Colin Cross, Lib Dem borough councillor, who represents Wisley, said: “Sadly it would appear that GBC are giving up the ghost on defending their own Planning Committee’s decision…” The leader of the Guildford Greenbelt Group added: “The people of Guildford want to protect our countryside, and we reject subversion of planning decisions by the back door.”

Helen Jefferies

WAG committee member Helen Jefferies said: “GBC’s Statement of Case [which outlines the case for rejecting the appeal] is a lame duck effort which probably owes much to its own draft Local Plan aspirations to take this site out of the green belt and open it up to a development of similar size and content to the one they are now meant to be opposing.”

“It’s a weak, feeble and faint hearted effort – little short of a total capitulation – which appears to justify much of the potential harm such a development would bring,” she said.

WAG spotlights the fact that while GBC lists, as background, the 14 original reasons why its planning committee unanimously refused permission for the proposal, it focusses only on the green belt issue. And, WAG adds, GBC makes no effort to expand on the original reasons for its rejection of the scheme.

Jefferies continued: “Having listed half a dozen ‘potential benefits’ of the scheme, the council’s ‘conclusions’ are a flimsy, two paragraph statement that the development constitutes inappropriate development in the green belt.

“And GBC then goes on to seemingly present an upside to such issues as an adverse impact on the TBH SPA [Thames Basin Heath Special Protection Area], lack of transport facilities, and potential harm to local villages. It could have been written by the would-be developer.

“GBC agreed to WPIL’s Air Quality Review which has since been completely revised in recent evidence, indicating that the original presentation was wholly inadequate.”

The Wisley planning appeal hearing begins on Tuesday, September 19th at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre before moving on to Guildford Borough Council’s office the following week.

Cllr Julie Iles

Julie Iles, Conservative county councillor for the Horsleys division, who has publicly stated her support for the Wisley Action Group, said: “I agree with Guildford Borough Council that the proposed development constitutes inappropriate development in the green belt. There are also very real concerns about air quality, the lack of infrastructure to provide for the traffic and the lack of sustainable transport links. I hope these arguments will also be made at the appeal hearing.”

Colin Cross, Lib Dem borough councillor for Lovelace said: “Sadly it would appear that GBC are “giving up the ghost” on defending their own Planning Committee’s decision of two years ago to unanimously reject this totally unsustainable speculation by WPIL .

Cllr Colin Cross

“The fact is that it goes against about 50% of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) guidelines and, if all goes to plan, will result in the most hideous blot on the landscape in Surrey’s history. And that’s saying something when you allow for the architectural atrocities that have befallen Guildford and Woking town centres post the 1960s.

“All Local Planning Authorities are obliged to create sympathetic developments which fit into their particular rural, green belt environment – so how does 2,000+ dwellings, incorporating a dozen or more four- or five-storey blocks of flats, do that in a heritage hamlet like Ockham?

“Lovelace Ward leads the way, per head of its small population, in welcoming proportional expansion and new homes and families to our small villages but this proposal amounts to the rape of rural Guildford by foreign speculators, with GBC standing coyly by. Sad days indeed.

“Of course GBC or WIPL, or both, may change their positions and alternatives could appear.”

Cllr Susan Parker

Susan Parker, leader of the Guildford Greenbelt Group, said: “The Wisley Action Group’s comments seem very fair.

“It is unbelievable that Guildford Borough Council is being so weak in its defence of this planning appeal.  The Planning Committee at Guildford Borough Council voted unanimously to reject the planning application.

“Despite this, the reasons given for rejection by that committee are not being properly defended by the borough council officials.  It is the responsibility of the borough officials to implement the decisions made by councillors, not to undermine them by failing to provide evidence where required.

“It’s time that the council started to recognise that local people want to protect our countryside and open spaces.  We don’t want to see our countryside subject to massive overdevelopment.

“The Local Plan should have reflected the unanimous decision of the planning committee and deleted the former Wisley airfield from the Local Plan.  However, instead, the decision of the Planning Committee has been undermined.

“The people of Guildford want to protect our countryside, and we reject subversion of planning decisions by the back door.”

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