Letter: I Will Never Vote Tory Again Because of the Local Plan

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

From: Peta Malthouse

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

I wholly agree with David Roberts. As one of the correspondents to every stage of the Local Plan I can remember expressing my frustration with the then Tory councillors who seemed to believe that their planned areas for development could be rolled back when the planning applications were lodged.

They inset the villages, turning them into mini areas of suburbia and set aside land for development with guidance numbers of homes that simply failed to take account of statutory guidance on how many homes should be built per acre.

The result? Some of those developers have already been granted permission for far more homes than the Local Plan intended simply because such low numbers could not be defended on appeal (Send is one example).

Where was the additional part of the plan that dictated building standards for inset areas that we were promised, giving maximum numbers per acre and heights of buildings?

The Local Plan is the bedrock of every application for planning and they rushed it through just before the election knowing that the public was not happy with the plan for good reason.

I will never vote Tory again. Sensible Local Plans building for local need, with provision for the much-needed infrastructure to support it, was much needed. Instead of that the Tories raped our countryside and left us with a poor plan. It seems they operated like that at the national level too. Incompetent in every way.

Responses to Letter: I Will Never Vote Tory Again Because of the Local Plan

Valerie Thompson Reply

August 15, 2022 at 9:24 am

But who is one to vote for?

R4GV promised, when they took the Conservative seats last election, to review the Local Plan, which has been proven to have exaggerated, hugely, the number of houses needed in the Guildford area, but they have now said they are not going to do this.
David Ogilvie Reply

August 15, 2022 at 3:16 pm

I am sure that Valerie Thompson knows that once green belt is re zoned in the Local Plan for housing and once the green belt protection that the villages had, has been removed in the Tory Local Plan it cannot be undone without huge compensation to those deprived of the free upgrade to their land value that they have received.