Letter: I Am Shocked at the Small Number of Affordable Homes in Proposed Developments

Published on: 14 Aug, 2022
Updated on: 15 Aug, 2022

Model of the proposed North Street development

From: David Smith

In response to: Tory Talk of ‘Surrender to Developer Interests’ is Pure Hypocrisy

I speak in support of no party here but I am shocked that a) North Street will have no affordable homes (if approved) and b) the Debenhams site will just have five out of some 187 units, again if approved.

Guildford Borough Council does seem to want to push development through at any cost – some of its Executive, including Cllr John Rigg [R4GV, Holy Trinity], have been quite vocal on their support of either or both schemes.

I start to wonder if the urgency is the borough elections due in 2023 where the current administration will have to demonstrate exactly what it has achieved in the last four years, or is it the looming handover of GBC leadership back to the Lib Dems?

I want to see development in our town but not at the cost of excluding much-needed affordable homes on these key brownfield sites. It wouldn’t be so bad if Guildford Park Car Park hadn’t been sitting empty for so long where at least the previous council secured a planning consent.

I have to say I expected more.

Responses to Letter: I Am Shocked at the Small Number of Affordable Homes in Proposed Developments

Jeremy Holt Reply

August 15, 2022 at 11:56 am

Could the author get his facts straight when he harangues us? Please correct this article.

Penultimate paragraph: “Guildford Park Avenue”, a residential area with about 150 houses, is not empty. Guildford Park Car Park is the site.

Editor’s response: Apologies, we did not spot that error but it has now been corrected in the article.
Sara Tokunaga Reply

August 15, 2022 at 12:26 pm

Could you please stop calling the Guildford Park car park site Guildford Park Avenue? When all this first started we had huge lorries trundling round GPA, then attempting to turn round (it’s a circular road), and parking up because they didn’t know where they were.

Maybe GBC doesn’t know where the site is either, hence the fact nothing has been done to build anything.

Editor’s response: Apologies, we did not spot the naming error but it has now been corrected in the article.
- Maddy Redpath Reply
  
  August 16, 2022 at 1:09 pm
  
  Work is being done to develop Guildford Park car park and the second round of consultation is due to go ahead in September. More details can be found on the website here: https://www.guildfordparkroad.co.uk/
  
  Maddy Redpath is the R4GV borough councillor for Holy Trinity
David Smith Reply

August 20, 2022 at 11:11 am

Just reading the consultation on North Street. On St Edward’s consultation website https://www.northstreetregeneration.co.uk/about-st-edward.html they purport to be Experts in Placemaking and go further to say:

“It’s about creating strong communities where people from all walks of life can live comfortably together”.

With no affordable homes as part of this proposal they’ve failed on their mission.