Dragon Interview: Bill Stokoe, Guildford Vision Group

Published on: 21 Aug, 2019
Updated on: 23 Aug, 2019

Bill Stokoe

John Rigg resigned after seven years’ at the helm of the Guildford Vision Group when he was elected as a Residents for Guildford & Villages councillor for Holy Trinity at the May elections.

Step forward Bill Stokoe who stood as an unsuccessful Conservative candidate for Friary & St Nicolas.

Martin Giles interviewed GVG’s new leader to ask: what are GVG aims now, what changes will he make, how will the group’s relationship with the council develop, what will happen to the GVG vision?

The interview was recorded and edited by Mark Insoll.

Responses to Dragon Interview: Bill Stokoe, Guildford Vision Group

Bibhas Neogi Reply

August 22, 2019 at 6:47 pm

A pedestrian-friendly town centre is surely desirable. Traffic is not going away, so it needs to go somewhere.

GVG’s idea is to route the traffic to the west of the railway tracks and then the route crosses the tracks and continues to join Woodbridge Road near York Road roundabout.

If Solum’s development of the railway station goes ahead as per their plan, this route will be blocked as indeed acknowledged by Bill Stokoe. Also, GVG’s scheme requires a new Farnham Road Bridge and a raised Town Bridge either retained after substantial alterations or renewed so as to allow riverside paths to pass under it.

Farnham Road Bridge is due for strengthening by Network Rail with £4m contribution by Surrey County Council. It is unlikely that this bridge would be demolished and replaced by a new bridge before its claimed renewed life of some 60 years.

I have raised these issues before here in The Guildford Dragon NEWS but I got no replies from GVG.
Bibhas Neogi Reply

August 23, 2019 at 10:00 am

Following on from my comments I made a few days ago, I would like to draw the readers’ attention to my comments of 2017 to GVG proposals . Please see –

https://guildford-dragon.com/2017/02/09/opinion-gvg-plan-time-councillors-properly-engage-us/#comments
- Lachlan Anthony Reply
  
  August 25, 2019 at 5:19 pm
  
  Guildford Vision Group has had its day – the fact that Bill Stokoe was not elected by residents of one of Guildford’s most central wards (likely to benefit from town centre improvements) shows how out of touch they now are.
  
  Perhaps one of their biggest triumphs was challenging the Waitrose development but in the end, they lost the battle and now people are questioning what the problem with Waitrose was. It doesn’t appear to have created any additional traffic and the building itself has led to a steady programme of gentrification in the immediate environs perhaps the best example being the canopy coffee shop.
  
  The latest from the group is this proposed bridge crossing one of the widest parts of the railway and cutting through at high-level a series of residential areas as well as adding to what is an already dangerous roundabout on the Woodbridge road and they said the footbridge to Bedford wharf was a bridge to nowhere…
  - Bibhas Neogi Reply
    
    August 26, 2019 at 9:48 pm
    
    Guildford Vision Group members have freely given their time(and money) for the benefit of Guildford’s people. They have brought in Allies and Morrison to produce a masterplan that was eventually adopted by the council. This plan did not deal with the traffic issues.
    
    GVG then concentrated on dealing with the traffic and produced their idea of rerouting traffic away from the town centre.
    
    Although I have raised practical issues about the GVG scheme, it is not fair to say GVG’s continued contribution is not relevant anymore. GVG has played an important role and hopefully would continue to do so. I do not know what contribution Mr Lachlan Anthony has made to the town centre debates, but all matters should be addressed to GVG and without any personal remarks about its members.
Bill Stokoe Reply

August 25, 2019 at 11:24 am

I will contact Bibhas Neogi directly so we can discuss the matter he raises.

I think our website sets out what GVG wants to do quite comprehensively but, as I said in the interview, it is but one suggestion. The Solum development is a major issue and we are actively exploring the options open to us.
Bibhas Neogi Reply

August 25, 2019 at 7:45 pm

I thank Bill Stokoe for his reply. I think the readers would also be interested to know the answers to issues I have raised.

The issue of a new platform as raised by GVG with Network Rail is a separate issue as far as the proposed east-west route is concerned. Trains run almost 21 hours-a-day and therefore it seems hard to imagine how the GVG scheme could be realised, I think, without resolving the issues concerning the building of bridges over the tracks.

Associated improvements that are not dependent on Network Rail operational and safety requirements are welcome and GVG should be congratulated for their vision of an attractive and sensible transformation of Guildford.
Bill Stokoe Reply

August 27, 2019 at 2:08 pm

Something must have chimed with the electorate, Lachlan, as four of my GVG colleagues became councillors at the May elections. Two of them represent town centre wards and all espouse the GVG aims, including brownfield housing in the centre.

Of the attendees at the launch of the GVG masterplan, 95% supported the concept of a new east-west crossing. It’s the great enabler. It opens up the riverside, delivers wider pedestrianisation, a safer and less polluted route from the railway station to the centre, more connected cycle routes, supplants the ugly gyratory and gives added resilience to an area that currently relies on just the old Farnham Rd bridge that’s in need of strengthening work.

As for the Waitrose site, I’m glad you get access to good coffee but so might another 100+ homes if the site had been developed for much-needed town centre housing as originally zoned.

Bill Stokoe is the Chairman of GVG