Letter: I Hope The Council Leader Will Listen

Published on: 17 Jul, 2014
Updated on: 17 Jul, 2014

From Fiona White

In response to the article – Opinion: ‘Us and Them’ Won’t Help Deliver a Local Plan Most Of Us Can Support

Your opinion is absolutely right. In a situation like this there is a danger that it will set rural communities against the urban areas and vice versa. The only way that we will end up with a plan that’s right for Guildford is for residents all across the borough to respond to the proposals using good planning arguments.

I have not heard anyone say that we do not need any housing but I have certainly heard a lot of people question the need for the amount of housing set out in the plan. I hold the view that we need to identify what our need is and set the housing numbers to meet that need. No community should be overwhelmed by new development and we should not have to sacrifice our borough to meet housing demand for other places such as London.

I can only hope that the council leader [Cllr Stephen Mansbridge, Con, Ash South & Tongham] and the Executive members will listen to what Guildford has to say.

Fiona White is the Lib Dem County Councillor for Guildford West.