Letter: This Will Be My First March – I Am 69

Published on: 29 Nov, 2013
Updated on: 29 Nov, 2013

From Valerie Thompson

I will be marching today in protest at the GBC plans. This will be my first ever march. I am 69.

I have already expressed my views to the council in several emails. I have asked questions from my local councillors, which they have not answered. I have been to local meetings, where I have been told I have misread documents, even though I was able to quote directly from them.

The council has, I believe, decided to reserve many brownfield sites in and around Guildford and propose to remove green belt status form 16 villages, thereby leaving them open to further development. The reserved sites have presumably been kept back, so that the council can use them for businesses and shops, which will bring in more council tax than houses.

Apart from this, I have read, or skimmed, hundreds of pages of documents that GBC did not make available at the beginning of the “consultation ” process. The last disc we came across, on 19th November, contained a further 19 documents, several of which were very important in the planning process.

<em>No one</em> can have read all these documents and made a truly informed protest. The planned increase in housing in some of the villages, for instance in West Horsley, where over 800 houses have been proposed in a village with only about 1100 at present, is ludicrous.

Come and join our protest today!