Campaign Group Accuses Council Leader of Failing to Explain Rejection of Public Opinion

Published on: 30 Jun, 2017
Updated on: 5 Jul, 2017

Cllr Paul Spooner.

The leader of Guildford Borough Council, Paul Spooner (Con, Ash South & Tongham) is accused of ignoring written requests to explain his rejection of public opinion in the Local Plan process by the Wisley Action Group.

In an emailed letter to Cllr Spooner dated June 7, local campaigners, the Wisley Action Group (WAG), pointed out that responses to both the 2014 and 2016 Local Plan consultations indicated that the public had clearly opted to protect Guildford’s green belt.

Group spokesman Anthony Edwards said: “An overview of around 20,000 public responses to the 2014 Local Plan consultation and over 30,000 responses to the revised 2016 version clearly indicates that the overwhelming public plea has been to safeguard the borough’s green belt.

Tony Edwards, Wisley Action Group spokesman.

In a letter to Cllr Spooner he asked: “Would you be so kind, therefore, as to explain your apparent rejection of local public opinion and the on-going plea from residents to protect the green belt”.

WAG, which campaigns to protect green belt, agricultural land at ‘Three Farms Meadows’, the former Wisley airfield, claimed that while Guildford Borough Council’s planning committee unanimously rejected proposals for a “new town” on the site, Cllr Spooner continued to personally promote the concept through the Local Plan process.

Cllr Spooner responded to Edwards on June 9:

Dear Tony,

I look forward to seeing the WAG submission for the consultation that is live now based on changes to the plan.

Best regards

Paul

Seeking a response to the question posed in his letter, Edwards sent four further requests the following week but received no answer.

Edwards said: “The emerging draft Local Plan continues to spotlight major developments in the green belt, in opposition to public opinion and Green Belt safeguards promised in both the 2015 and 2017 Conservative Party manifestos.

“A request to Cllr Spooner to clarify his attitude to public opinion should, we would have hoped, at least warrant the courtesy of a response.”

Yesterday, June 29 (2017), in response to an enquiry from The Guildford Dragon NEWS a GBC spokesperson said: “Cllr Spooner did respond to Mr Edward’s email letter from WAG. He sent a short reply directly to him on 9 June. In the same way that he has responded to similar questions in the past.

“Regarding WAG’s view and comment about ‘rejection of public opinion’, we made a number of significant changes to the plan and proposed sites, as well as updating the supporting evidence and policies, after reviewing the comments from last year’s consultation.

“This continued the ‘brownfield first’ policy of proposing sites with past development, minimising development in green belt, protecting our Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and some of the changes increase the number of homes in the town centre with reduced or removed housing sites in rural areas and green belt.

“Our current consultation gives the public, partners and organisations such as WAG another opportunity to give us their comments about the changes to the latest version of the Local Plan. We look forward to receiving everyone’s feedback to help balance community needs and tackle local issues across our borough”

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