Letter: St Mary’s Wharf News Is a Turning Point for Guildford

Published on: 15 Oct, 2026
Updated on: 15 Oct, 2026

From John Rigg

former R4GV borough councillor

In response to: Work to Recommence on Former Debenham’s Site – But Guildford Society Unhappy

Guildford has been given a rare piece of genuinely good news: Native Land has secured £132 million in financing to take forward the St Mary’s Wharf development.

That funding does more than unlock a construction project. It brings the transformation of one of the town’s most prominent and neglected sites significantly closer.

The long-derelict Debenhams store can finally be replaced by a major landmark development, while an important stretch of riverside – closed to the public for many years – can be opened up and reconnected with the town centre.

Crucially, the finance offers a realistic and serious prospect of delivering the scheme through to completion, as envisaged in Native Land’s planning application submitted in November 2021.

The involvement of Homes England, the Government’s housing and regeneration agency, makes this achievement all the more significant. Across London and elsewhere, housing schemes are being shelved as higher construction costs, regulatory delays, falling real incomes and rising interest rates undermine their viability.

In that difficult environment, securing the investment needed to bring St Mary’s Wharf forward is a powerful vote of confidence in the project and in Guildford’s future.

The benefits for the town are substantial. The scheme will provide 180 new homes, helping to meet local housing needs and reduce pressure to build on the green belt. It will give the High Street a much-needed boost and create the opportunity to reconnect Guildford’s centre with its riverside.

This is exactly the kind of ambitious, town-centre regeneration Guildford needs: making better use of previously developed land while creating new homes, public spaces and economic opportunities.

That outcome is particularly worth celebrating because the planning decision was far from inevitable. The scheme passed Guildford’s Planning Committee by just one vote.

R4GV [Residents for Guildford & Villages] supported it, while Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors voted against it.

The progress announced today demonstrates why councillors must be prepared to take a long-term view, support high-quality regeneration and stand by difficult decisions when the wider interests of the town are at stake.

St Mary’s Wharf now has the opportunity to become more than a replacement for a derelict department store. It can become a new gateway to Guildford, reconnecting the town with its river and showing what can be achieved when a positive vision is matched by determination and investment.