Letter: The Council Must Take the Blame for this Blot on the Townscape

Published on: 23 Jan, 2018
Updated on: 23 Jan, 2018

From Ben Paton

In response to: Solum Wins Planning Appeal for Controversial Railway Station Re-development

The railway station meets or exceeds most of the criteria for sustainable development. It was therefore inevitable that proposals for its development would come forward.

But it was not inevitable that a scheme with so few aesthetic attractions and so poorly integrated with the town should have gained approval.

Responsibility for this outcome rests with the political leadership of the borough and with the planning department. They have had years to think about how to develop this site. It was their duty to defend our built environment and support informed opinion in Guildford.

The Guildford Society and GVG [Guildford Vision Group] reached out to the council and the planning department. By combining forces with these groups and proposing more constructive policies in the Local Plan this outcome could well have been improved upon or avoided.

Instead of listening and putting itself at the head of local public opinion the council gave local opinion leaders the cold shoulder.

The council got it wrong. It dropped the ball. Now the council must take the blame for this blot on the townscape.

Responses to Letter: The Council Must Take the Blame for this Blot on the Townscape

Jules Cranwell Reply

January 24, 2018 at 4:40 pm

I could not agree more. The Executive and the leader are blaming it on the inspector, but their inertia and lack of understanding are at the root of this fiasco.

They have, unfortunately, devoted all their efforts to ripping up the countryside with their ruinous Local Plan, and have let this roll past them, seemingly unnoticed, until the inspector called.

It really will be the most ghastly carbuncle and the beginning of the Croydonisation of Guildford.