Letter: It Was A Good Meeting But What Has Happened To Transport for Guildford?

Published on: 16 Nov, 2012
Updated on: 16 Nov, 2012

From Bibhas Neogi

My wife and I attended ‘Guildford’s Future – What’s Going On?’. Although we are not residents but we both have very long association with the town. Like Mr Peter Gordon my wife was also born in Mount Alvernia. I was a Battersea post graduate student and I moved to Guildford when the University relocated here in 1968.

Yes, it was indeed a good meeting and we listened to much well thought out and reasoned comments and nearly satisfactory answers from the presenters and the panel of experts.

I did have my hand up many a times, but Mr Gordon did not give me the opportunity to speak. Anyway, I would have liked to ask Mr Iain Reeve as to what happened to Transport for Guildford (TfG), the body set up when Guildford was to receive £29m from the government for improving traffic in Guildford. Mr Reeve headed up TfG that had representatives from the Councils, the developers, various stakeholders including Guildford Society and other Resident Associations.

I would have thought such a body could ideally co-ordinate the traffic issues concerning the major developments and help draw up a joined-up plan that is essential for a successful outcome. However, Mr Reeve did mention that Surrey County Council was closely liaising with The Highways Agency (HA) on the A3 issues.

I would have liked to find out if the Council has any inclination to carry out Value Engineering (VE) sessions that are used by The HA to brainstorm ideas when Consultants have almost finalised the preferred options for the schemes. These sessions are open to engineers and non-engineers drawn from the office and agents of the HA and conducted by independent facilitators.

No idea is thrown out in the initial rounds but then further discussions narrow them down to those that look most promising. The Consultants take away those ideas for further examination and evaluation. There is no reason why the Councils and the developers could not use VE, if they are not already, in the same way, to sharpen up their approach and maybe save money at the same time?

After the meeting I spoke, very briefly, with Cllr Stephen Mansbridge who kindly gave me his email address and asked me to write in with my ideas for improving traffic in Guildford. I’ve now sent Cllr Mansbridge address of my web site and the pdf document that is in the Guildford Vision Group’s web site. I did send the same information to Cllr James Palmer a few months back. I hope Guildford Borough Council and Surrey County Council would look at my suggestions and explore them further.

I have no commercial interest in promoting my ideas – I am just passionate about improving traffic in Guildford after having lived in this area for more than 40 years.