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Letter: The Problems That Will Be Caused by the Weyside Project Are No Laughing Matter

Published on: 11 Dec, 2024
Updated on: 11 Dec, 2024

Four-storey apartment blocks in phase three Weyside Urban Village development. Image Guildford Borough Council

From Jim Allen

In response to: Paul Spooner’s comment on Weyside Urban Village Update – Hard Choices Face Guildford Borough Council

I recall a meeting on the Slyfield Area Regeneration Project (SARP), as it was then known, in 2010 and subsequent discussions, where Conservative members, and later representatives from other parties, dismissed my concerns regarding this project’s direction, stating that my approach was non-compliant with current thinking and misguided.

I proposed a more financially sound alternative and I highlighted the lack of a comprehensive plan to address the strain on existing sewage infrastructure, now resulting in tankering out every night to other sewage treatment works.

This plan was irresponsible in 2004/05, irrational in 2010, but stubbornly pursued by councillors and planning officers in 2016/19 in the Local Plan. The resulting environmental damage to the Wey Valley, from Stoke Lock to the old Oxbow, is significant and not to be taken lightly .

And the substantial destruction has yielded what? A future overcrowded residential area expanded from 750 to 1,550 homes, trying to make it financially viable with no completion in sight, by any schedule.

The Thames Water sewage treatment works facing financial insolvency by January 2025, and residents burdened with ever-increasing, seemingly endless costs.

As a major promoter during his time as a GBC leader, Paul Spooner, must take his fair share of the responsibility. It is not a laughing matter and sarcastic jokes are inappropriate.

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