Letter: North Street Debacle Was Caused By the Influence of National Politics

Published on: 17 Jan, 2023
Updated on: 17 Jan, 2023

From: Julian Lyon

In response to: Lib Dem Claims of Working with North Street Developers Shows a Divided Party, Says R4GV

Quite simply the North Street debacle is the outcome of a cocktail of national political parties disrespecting Guildford and being found out.

The die was cast by, (1) The Conservatives’ flakey national planning policies, (2) the Guildford Conservatives’ Local Plan, supported enthusiastically in 2019 by the Lib Dem leader immediately before and after the last borough council elections and then (3) the protection of that Local Plan from challenge by the same Lib Dem dogma (or inertia) when GVG and GGG wanted to review it at residents’ requests after those elections.

The situation was exacerbated when those Conservative and Lib Dem councillors felt it was beneath them (or maybe just not a good use of their time?) to attend any of the developer’s briefings about the scheme when they could have influenced the outcome.

The barrister in this case advised the council that the development as submitted for approval was compliant with the (Conservatives) Local Plan, and yet those Conservatives and Lib Dems are now crying “foul”.

The two national parties have delivered for us in the town, Ash urban area, and in our villages and countryside, the havoc so many of us pointed out would happen; and now, with an election looming, they are seeking to hide behind their own emperor’s new clothes. Let’s be under no illusion here; the successive failure to deliver homes in the town centre will lead to greater pressure on the green belt and will inevitably require more land to be urbanised.

This scheme, and the cash Guildford Borough residents will spend defending this irrational decision, are entirely and directly attributable to the fundamental and structural inadequacies of that Local Plan.

This must be addressed quickly by a comprehensive review of the plan and the tools available to residents and community groups to understand the context and impacts of developments and to set and police suitable strategies and policies for defining characteristics of schemes such as North Street and Debenhams.

It is not necessary for me to say whether I like the North Street development or any of these development proposals. This is about the process and, quite frankly, the lack of integrity of those national parties in our local council.

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