Letter: I Hope Residents Take Opportunity Comment on Wisley Development

Published on: 10 Jul, 2020
Updated on: 10 Jul, 2020

From Liz Hogger

Lib Dem borough councillor for Effingham

In response to: Developer Pledges ‘Full and Open’ Co-operation With Resident in Wisley Airfield Build

The first planning application for 2,000 homes on this site was refused by Guildford Borough Council and dismissed at appeal.

As Cllr Colin Cross [R4GV, Lovelace] points out, that refusal was not based solely on green belt grounds and there are many challenges developers will have to overcome before they could expect to gain planning permission now.

These range over environmental concerns, traffic congestion and the effect on the character of the area and sustainability.

I hope residents will take the opportunity to make their views clear to Taylor Wimpey on these fundamental planning issues.

County Cllr Julie Iles [Con, The Horsleys] has a curious view of the situation at GBC. No single party has “control” as she asserts, rather R4GV and the Lib Dems are working in partnership, reflecting the outcome of the borough elections.

As far as planning is concerned, we are of course constrained by the adopted Local Plan forced through by the Conservative majority at GBC, a week before they were thrown out of power at the 2019 election.

Far from the mutual blame game Cllr Iles foresees, my expectation is that R4GV and Lib Dem councillors will work co-operatively to ensure good planning principles are followed in assessing any application at the former Wisley Airfield.

Responses to Letter: I Hope Residents Take Opportunity Comment on Wisley Development

Robert Shatwell Reply

July 12, 2020 at 7:38 am

Unfortunately, I don’t live within a few yards of the site so have not been included in the “consultations. However, I was a beat officer for Ockham and Wisley many years ago so know the area well. The roads adjacent to the site, serving the whole surrounding area, including the M25 and A3 were not wide enough to accommodate the traffic 30 years ago. Public transport is non-existent so a development of this magnitude will place a further burden of some 4,000 additional vehicles onto roads designed for horse traffic.

As a police officer, I attended several road traffic accidents on these roads, including a couple involving fatalities.

As usual, all developers see is an empty plot of land where they can make a massive profit without a care for the local residents or the surrounding environment.
- Robert Pargitter Reply
  
  July 17, 2020 at 9:17 am
  
  As a young teenager living at Hatchford end in the 1970s we used to cycle around the airfield and aircraft hangers making jumps and generally having fun until one day when an off duty beat officer caught us and read us the riot act. It nearly scared us to death and I’ve kept a clean sheet since.
  
  I was just wondering whether that beat officer was Robert Shatwell as I’d like to thank him for putting me on the straight and narrow.
Jeremy Palmer Reply

July 16, 2020 at 7:59 pm

Listened to the first Taylor Wimpey consultation tonight. Two hours of greenwash, staking everything on the new A3/ M25 intersection going through and hoping everyone in the new development works from home or uses an electric bike.

Maximum height four not five storeys and the temerity to insist that this would overcome the inspector’s dismissal at appeal when he said: “the scale of the buildings would be wholly out of keeping with its context, causing harm to both the character and the appearance of the area.”