Letter: I Hope Councillors Examine Their Conscience’s Before Opposing Local Plan JRs

Published on: 27 Jun, 2019
Updated on: 28 Jun, 2019

From Jules Cranwell

In response to: Those Who Wish to Protect Guildford’s Green Fields Should Not Be Called Nimbys

Cllr George Potter is correct in his response to Valerie Thompson. It is required that the grounds and supporting documents are served on the potential defendants, being GBC and the communities ministry, before they go before a judge on June 27. This has been done for all three JRs, including mine.

It is now for councillors, many of whom campaigned on a ticket of opposition to the Local Plan, to determine if the council wishes to oppose the JRs.

Let’s hope they will examine their consciences appropriately.

As to Nimbyism, the gist of my JR is “NIABY” (Not In Anyone’s Back Yard), as it seeks to protect all the “strategic” sites in the Local Plan, and prevent the removal of all 16 villages from the green belt.

Yes, the borough needs homes, particularly for key workers, but this plan will only deliver massive estates of executive homes and not one truly affordable home.

It will also massively increase traffic, pollution, and an unbearable strain on our already overstretched infrastructure.