Guildford’s MP Says She Has Raised Solum Decision With Transport Secretary

Published on: 24 Jan, 2018
Updated on: 24 Jan, 2018

Guildford’s MP Anne Milton has added her voice to those who have criticised a planning inspector’s decision to allow the appeal by Solum which gives the development consortium permission to carry out a major and controversial re-development of Guildford railway station. The MP says she has spoken to the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, on the issue.

Questions have been raised locally whether the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid, can “call the decision in” for reconsideration but our enquiries show that “call in” can only occur before an appeal decision.

In a statement issued this afternoon (January 24, 2018) Ms Milton said: “I am extremely disappointed by the outcome of this appeal.

“As early as January 2016 I met Network Rail and Kier (which combine to form the Solum consortium) to raise concerns about cycle and pedestrian access, the percentage of affordable housing and many other aspects of their proposals.

“In the following months I had numerous meetings with transport and planning ministers to highlight again and again the issues local residents were raising with me about the lack of benefit to rail users, access for cyclists, pedestrians and the disabled and the scale and design of the development.

“I wrote to Kier again that October to suggest pausing the process to listen more closely to what local people and organisations wanted.

“I am particularly disappointed about the very low percentage of affordable housing.

“I have spoken to the Secretary of State for Transport since the Appeal Decision was announced to express my concerns about the impact this development may have on improvements to rail capacity at Guildford.”

Responses to Guildford’s MP Says She Has Raised Solum Decision With Transport Secretary

Harry Elson Reply

January 24, 2018 at 7:06 pm

Guildford Says No!

A plea to everyone, not to let this travesty against the people’s will proceed. We live in a democracy where the majority has the final say, we are increasingly told that votes do not count, but we can’t take this laying down.

As Churchill would have said: “Action this day”. We should fight on.
Gordon Bridger Reply

January 25, 2018 at 9:15 am

Well done Anne Milton. This is the most disastrous planning decision in Guildford’s long history.

If we had had a clear policy on building heights in our Local Plan this could have been avoided. But we do not. All we have is a vague policy of “not affecting views”.

We must urgently ensure there is one if we are to avoid the town centre becoming a high rise Croydon lookalike.
- Jules Cranwell Reply
  
  January 26, 2018 at 11:29 pm
  
  This can be done. Ottawa is a beautiful city because it has a height restriction on all buildings. No building can be higher than the parliament buildings.
John Robson Reply

January 25, 2018 at 11:20 am

But the Conservative Government knows what’s best for Guildford and has swatted aside its Conservative Council and said yes.

No real surprise is it?

The same Conservative council rolled over and accepted a housing number for executive housing that will decimate the green belt and suffocate the urban area, so the grown-ups in Westminster are hardly going to take any notice of a bit of consternation in the commuter belt, are they?
Susan Jones Reply

January 25, 2018 at 5:18 pm

Let’s see what impact Ms Milton has on this decision. I fear, like most things, it shall be extremely little, however we can only hope a common sense balance can be met. Do we really want the first image of Guildford to the train passenger to be cheaply designed mass of concrete?

If anyone thinks this will benefit the town they should just visit Woking or Epsom to see similar projects which have killed the delicate nature of Surrey town centres so they shall all end up looking identical – in 30 years we will all sit back and agree that a mistake was made.
Stuart Barnes Reply

January 28, 2018 at 9:06 am

Is this country becoming a disguised dictatorship? The thoroughly undemocratic decision by the supposedly impartial inspector in this case, and the equally undemocratic manoeuvering to thwart the clearly expressed instruction of our people to get completely out of the corrupt and hated EU are just two examples of contempt for ordinary opinion which cause me to ask the question.
- John Robson Reply
  
  February 2, 2018 at 8:12 am
  
  This is not democracy: this is politics.
  
  Network Rail and the government have decided that all commuter towns in the South East should look the same; it saves money on design and town planning.
  
  Similarly, the government has decided that these commuter towns with their shiny new train stations should have thousands of low quality/high developer profit, unimaginative cardboard boxes, dumped on each town’s green belt to accommodate the masses trudging into London on a daily basis.
  
  And as we go through the traditional hand-wringing phase, the previous council leader has pointed out “the horse has bolted”, GBC had ample time to challenge this but seemingly couldn’t stay in the conference room long enough with Solum.
  
  Finally, if all the big decisions are going to be made by Westminster, why do we need GBC?
David Wragg Reply

January 28, 2018 at 12:47 pm

Would an appeal to the High Court be possible, and, if necessary the Supreme Court? After all, judges have no hesitation in throwing out the wishes of the majority in a referendum on the basis of an action by one person.
- Stuart Barnes Reply
  
  January 29, 2018 at 8:29 am
  
  An excellent point from Mr Wragg. It would be a good test to see if the “enemies of the people” are really unbiased.
Adam Aaronson Reply

February 1, 2018 at 7:48 pm

So a week has now passed since Anne Milton has spoken to the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, on the issue.

Perhaps she could indicate what he is proposing to do about this to resolve the situation?
Bernard Parke Reply

February 1, 2018 at 9:28 pm

Please do not criticise our MP. She cannot “carry the can” for our local councillors, several of whom are not even in her constituency, and account for their actions.

May I add I am no longer a Tory.
Bibhas Neogi Reply

February 2, 2018 at 11:34 pm

Perhaps Anne Milton could consider raising this in Parliament by questioning its appropriateness regarding the scale and controversy of the proposed development.

Could she also consider asking the SoS of Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government as to why he did not himself make the decision as laid down in the rules for large developments of over 150 housing units and over 9,000 sq.m of floor space.