Letter: Guildford Is In a Sorry State But Former Leader Has Himself to Blame

Published on: 1 Nov, 2019
Updated on: 31 Oct, 2019

From David Roberts

In response to: More Development Projects Were Possible Had People Cooperated

I agree with Mr Mansbridge [former leader of Guildford Borough Council] that Guildford is in a sorry state. But he only has himself to blame. For years, as council leader, he and his Tory friends promoted greenfield sprawl over urban renewal, enshrining this as early as 2013 in what was to become, five years later, the hated Local Plan.

By doing so, he removed any incentive for developers to invest in the more expensive alternative of well-designed urban, brownfield housing, where the necessary infrastructure already exists and where most people, especially the young and less well-off, want to live.

This unstoppable “trajectory”, of which he so often boasted, has had two inevitable results: a decaying town centre and a shrunken green belt under siege from greedy developers.

Responses to Letter: Guildford Is In a Sorry State But Former Leader Has Himself to Blame

Colin Cross Reply

November 1, 2019 at 9:59 am

I thank Mr Roberts for his succinct synopsis of GBC’s and Mr Mansbridge’s roles in Guildford’s current sorry malaise.

May I add further to the present and future results of this “quick and dirty” planning method? Not only are we about to concrete over some of our precious green belt unnecessarily but we are creating remote urban style ghettos, far from public transport links, in many cases, where younger people would prefer not to live. As an example, the Wisley site will have a 2+ kilometre central spine of seven five-storey blocks, 800 flats in all. Many will be like shoeboxes but they will tick the affordable housing box.

The plan is then to offer residents a Mickey Mouse private bus service to get over the complete lack of public transport, going here and there but not to the single most vital rail connection at Woking. The effect of this on the A3 and M25 locally will be tantamount to pouring oil on a burning house. As for the plans for cycling and walking etc they are just laughable to the locals, but we are not meant to be heard are we?

Meanwhile, for a decade or more, our once attractive town centre lies moribund and rots away at its very core. It is not rocket science to work out that our shops are closing for lack of footfall so putting a lot more residents in nearby local housing will give a double benefit to the town and its community. Or is that another silly idea?

Colin Cross is the R4GV borough councillor for Lovelace (Ripley, Wisley and Ockham).