Letter: It’s No Good the Tories Blaming R4GV for the Local Plan

Published on: 5 Aug, 2021
Updated on: 5 Aug, 2021

From: Peta Malthouse

In response to: We Should Demand to Know When the Local Plan Is To Be Reviewed

I read Julie Iles’ opinion piece with some surprise and disbelief. The letter from John Rigg shows clearly what the position was when the Lib Dems took over.

The last election caused the Tory party to lose their majority on the borough council. The complaint against our residents’ party [Residents for Guildford and the Villages], who are now in charge under a power-sharing agreement with the Lib Dems, is that they campaigned to change the Local Plan before the election and that was a promise they should keep.

At the time, the proposed Plan was just that until the Tories used their majority, just one week before the borough council election, to adopt it.

As a result, it is the legal framework for all planning applications. Making changes now is extremely difficult as those who voted for its adoption understood.

And how dare Ms Iles say that builders cannot afford to supply the infrastructure that they and the Tory government claimed they would?

The claims about the Tories being beholden to the major builders comes from their reliance on donations from them at the very top of government. Who can forget Robert Jenryk calling in a plan in Tower Hamlets to assist a party donor who would have been due to pay CIL money (ie infrastructure) of £50 million under the Tories own policy?

The High Court quashed the decision and criticized him for bias (see https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/planning-permission-for-1500-home-development-quashed-after-jenrick-accused-of-biased-approval-66558).