Effingham Eye: Local Plan Suggestion,, Heritage Open Day, Sports Pitch, Building and Bells

Published on: 17 Aug, 2019
Updated on: 22 Aug, 2019

Chris Dick gives his personal monthly round-up of some recent local events. These include: letters from our MP and a Secretary of State regarding the Local Plan, Heritage Open Day exhibition, the new all-weather pitch and things that could keep you awake at night.

Mole Valley MP writes to Guildford council leader

Sir Paul Beresford MP.

The Effingham Eye has been provided with a copy of a letter dated July 19, from Effingham’s Mole Valley MP Sir Paul Beresford to Guildford Borough Council (GBC) leader Cllr Caroline Reeves. A variation of this letter was also sent to some borough and parish councils including Effingham’s.

Readers may already be aware of the launch of three judicial reviews that challenge the Local Plan and that GBC, after initially deciding to defend the plan, is now seeking a second legal opinion. It may therefore change its position. Worth recalling is the plan was adopted in the dying embers of the previous Tory-led council just a few days before the May elections. Either way the Secretary of State for Housing will defend the Local Plan against these judicial reviews.

Letter from Sir Paul Beresford to Cllr Reeves suggesting a review of the Local Plan.

Above is a copy of the letter from Sir Paul Beresford to Cllr Reeves which, if acted upon, could return green belt status to our villages. A status that was swept away in that fateful Local Plan.

In his letter to Cllr Reeves, Beresford suggests either revoking the plan or undertaking an early review. Such a review could provide a reduction in the overall number of sites that need to be developed. It could also return the washed-over green belt protection to our villages that had existed since c.1947.

As will be seen in the letter below from the then Secretary of State for Housing Kit Malthouse: “…local planning authorities must review their plans at least every five years”. Sir Paul is suggesting that GBC do it sooner rather than later and writes: “… to commence the review of the plan, also with full consultation etc. GBC is required to undertake such a review within 5 years in any event – but such a review can commence immediately”

This does not seem to imply that the Local Plan would be suspended during such a review or that developers could put in development plans claiming there was no Local Plan in place during said review.

However, some councils are still concerned that such a review might open up their villages to more development. Presumably if this view is correct then every review of every Local Plan up and down the country could be marred by developers putting in applications on the basis that there were insufficient housing supplies.

On the other hand, there is a possibility that the three judicial reviews could void the plan and oblige GBC to start over again.

Letter of advice from Kit Malthouse MP to Sir Paul Beresford MP regarding reviews of local plans.

Heritage Open Day

Leaflet advertising Heritage Day Sir Barnes Wallis Exhibition at the Tithe Barn in Little Bookham.

This year Heritage Open Day will see nine local properties opening their doors to the public as well as an exhibition on Sir Barnes Wallis. The exhibition has been put together by qualified historian Vivien White, who is also chairman of Effingham Residents’ Association and Bryan Sherwood. I was fortunate enough to have a preview of some of the displays and can vouch for this exhibition being first class.

Vivien said: “Preparations are well under way for the exhibition being held on September 14, between 9am and 5pm at the Tithe Barn in Little Bookham to commemorate the life of Sir Barnes Wallis.

“This year is 40 years after his death. He lived in Effingham for over 30 years and is buried in the churchyard here. He was very involved in village life and the exhibition will focus on his contribution to the village and also his amazing career.

“We are being kindly lent lots of items to show especially from the Brooklands Museum and his family, the Barnes Wallis Foundation. And village organisations are supporting us. We hope lots of people will visit to find out more about this amazing man and that it is a really enjoyable day for everyone.”

3G all-weather pitch nears completion

Effingham playing fields 3G all-weather pitch nearing completion.

Howard Manton, the newly appointed chairman of the Effingham Village Recreation Trust (EVRT) said: “As we said at the last AGM, EVRT has worked closely with Bookham Colts and its initiative to bring this 3G pitch to Effingham and KGV [King George V].

“We are confident it will be a great success. The anticipated official opening is on Saturday, September 14”. Howard added that those interested in making a booking can do so via managerkgv@evrt.org.uk

Effingham Lodge Farm and the new school

The future of the Berkeley Homes housing development on Effingham Lodge Farm appears to be hanging in the balance.

The fall in house prices and the change of Berkeley Homes director covering our area means that there may be a long delay or possible cancellation of the project to build a new Howard of Effingham School and 295 homes.

There is an apparent £5 million shortfall that is currently putting the future of the project into question. The Guildford Dragon NEWS has been told that senior staff at the Howard school are no longer saying when the school rebuild will take place… but, if.

If correct then there would be no developer contribution available to fund a rebuild of the King George V village hall and club facilities.

And finally … while almost avoiding some corny puns

On the face of it there was a right old ding dong at the July Effingham Parish Council meeting when one parish councillor ticked off a resident in the audience who had voiced concerns about a request from St Lawrence Church for a grant of £2,800 to repair the clock and bells which have been silent for several months.

The resident who lives near the church pointed out that, as the clock chimed every 15 minutes, at midnight the 28 chimes lasted for about two minutes … they were very loud and disturbed some residents trying to sleep.

The councillor then dropped a clanger by suggesting that the resident should have checked before buying a property near the church. This wound the resident up and so he responded by saying that he had not raised the matter to be ridiculed by the councillor and it was not practical for people buying houses to visit them in the middle of the night just to check on whether the bells rang or not. It was clearly a quasi idea. [Wow … I got that pun – wait for it – right in the modo of the article.] As one resident definitely did not say: “Ahh the bells … are often not working for months on end for one reason or another.”

This produced various strongly held opinions both for and against the bells chiming through the night. Happily nobody thought to mention the many laws regarding; decibel levels, EU directives or council monitoring noise pollution and abatement orders that cover this subject.

Calm was restored when another resident (yours truly) was eventually permitted to speak and set the record straight. The Revd Mandy MacVean had told me weeks ago that there had been a timer fitted to the clock when it was first converted to electric power back in the 1980s. Unfortunately, the timer had broken down shortly afterwards and never been repaired. Perhaps costs had been a factor but surely they could have fitted a second-hand one.

Anyway, Revd Mandy had explained that the current plan was to install a modern timer that would cater for silent running during the night and automatically adjust for the annual hour changes. The latter is important as every time the clocks go back or forward requires someone to climb an old wooden ladder, fixed to the wall of the tower, to gain access to the belfry. Something I did many years ago, with our then teenage son, to untangle the flag pole wires and would not wish to do again.

The item was deferred pending a request for further information. Leaving aside the above disagreements all present seemed to agree that the church bells were part of rural village life and a lovely tradition worth preserving.

[Ed: These are some of the worst puns we have ever posted but we had some space to fill. Profuse apologies to the one regular Effingham Eye reader.]

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