Chance For A Further Say On Local Plan At Special Forum

Published on: 20 Feb, 2014
Updated on: 20 Feb, 2014

Guildford’s residents and organisations have another chance to make their views known as the borough council compiles its Local Plan. The council will be hosting a forum so it can reappraise its evidence base.

There will be two identical sessions at Guildford Borough Council’s (GBC) offices at Millmead on Tuesday, March 4, from 3pm to 5.30pm and from 6.30pm to 9pm.

The chairman of the customer and community scrutiny committee, Cllr Terence Patrick, said: “This is an opportunity for residents to give their views and raise any concerns they may have on the Local Plan evidence base. The sessions will give us useful feedback on issues relating to the methodology and maths behind the documents.”

In a statement,the council says that the forum follows its consideration last month of two e-petitions – Keeping West Horsley in the Green Belt and Save the Hogs Back.

GBC has agreed to allow full public involvement in the reappraisal of the Local Plan’s evidence base, including the green belt and countryside study.

The chairman of the corporate improvement scrutiny committee, Cllr Zoe Franklin, said: “We will consider the comments we receive at the forum sessions fully. The findings will be reported to a joint scrutiny committee on Thursday, April 3.”

Forum invitations will be sent to everyone on the Local Plan database and those who responded to GBC’s issues and options consultation.

To view the evidence base information visit www.guildford.gov.uk/evidencebase

Responses to Chance For A Further Say On Local Plan At Special Forum

Susan Parker Reply

February 25, 2014 at 3:12 pm

This is more than a little concerning; this is not what was agreed at the council meeting, and is a much lower level of public involvement than was then proposed.

At the petition to debate the Hog’s Back and the West Horsley petitions, two amendments were passed. These each read: “the council will enable full public involvement in this reappraisal of the evidence base, especially the Green Belt and Countryside Study by holding a special joint meeting of the two scrutiny committees”.

I may of course be wrong, but the impression I gained at the meeting from the speeches to introduce those amendments was that it was being proposed that the public should actually attend and be involved in the scrutiny committees, at least in terms of some representative involvement.

It now seems to be being suggested that the forums will be the only further public involvement, from Cllr Franklin’s comment that: “We will consider the comments we receive at the forum sessions fully. The findings will be reported to a joint scrutiny committee on Thursday, April 3.”

It does not sound as though the public will be involved in that scrutiny committee. How is this the full public involvement that was agreed by the council?

I am not sure that this is what the councillors voted for; it is certainly not what the public thought that they voted for.