Letter: Trust Must Be Restored in Guildford’s Planning Department

Published on: 2 Sep, 2019
Updated on: 2 Sep, 2019

Cllr Hodge’s letter in support of GBC’s Wisley garden village proposal

From Gordon Bridger

hon alderman and former Mayor of Guildford

Congratulations on another really valuable article, We Voters Were Promised Openness – It’s Time to Deliver.

Re the “smoking gun” reference, I wish to amplify the concern that the matter of Surrey County Council’s letter of support for a Wisley Garden Village bid has still not been resolved.

A planning proposal for the site had previously been refused by GBC and an appeal against the refusal turned down.

Despite the rejection, the council kept it in the Local Plan, approved just days before the May elections. While this was not illegal for the council, it does clearly imply that those responsible for planning expected a new Wisley planning application to be approved when submitted.

The complaint was that after a Freedom of Information request, a letter presented as unsolicited support from the leader of Surrey County Council for a garden village development at Wisley, was found to have been drafted by the developers’ agents.

So what is the council doing about this? Months have passed. It is taking far too long for the council to deal with this, if they intend to. In the meantime, the council’s reputation continues to suffer.

Cllr Paul Spooner has denied he or his deputy, Matt Furniss, knew the true origin of the letter and since Mr Spooner is no longer leader, and Mr Furniss no longer a borough councillor, there could be a temptation to bury this embarrassing topic.

But if they knew nothing, this still leaves the Chief Planning Officer. In response to questions from The Dragon in April she said: “The council and Savills (on behalf of Wisley Property Investments) worked together to agree and produce a draft text for supporting a garden village, for onward use by stakeholders.”

How can the public now have any faith in our Planning Department’s judgement How can anyone trust the Department if such behaviour is considered appropriate?

In the many decades with which I have been associated with the GBC Planning Department, I cannot recall any such outrageous action.

If not already underway, an investigation must be conducted and councillors must have a very full say on the outcome. Trust must be restored.

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