Letter: We Must Break This Dangerous Planning Cycle

Published on: 14 Nov, 2019
Updated on: 13 Nov, 2019

Cllr John Rigg

From: Alistair Smith

Chairman of the Guildford Society

In response to: Dragon Interview: John Rigg – Who Wants to Help Create a ‘Spectacular’ Guildford

Councillor John Rigg spoke eloquently of having the public involved in the plans for North Street. If this is going to happen in next spring, don’t we need some view on the shape of the Town Centre by then as part of the master plan development?

The town centre has many major sites possibly “in play”, North Street, Bedford Wharf, surface car-parks and perhaps Debenhams.   Other sites will emerge, maybe including renewal/redevelopment of the police station. MIPIM is the world’s leading property conference. In their brochure, the council have identified town centre sites not in the Local Plan.

Committing to the usage and related design of North Street must relate to other sites. Should the cinema move to North Street, should the site have a health centre for the townspeople, and what is the strategy for bus routes and the need for bus stands?

Guildford has suffered long with site development as opposed to an understanding of developing within a master plan. It is time to break this dangerous cycle, a side-effect of which is to require development within the green belt.

A first step would be for the council to tell residents what brief it has asked M&G/Berkeley Homes to deliver for North Street.  One assumes it is a step beyond the very limited details provided in the Local Plan.

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