Letter: Yes, Well Said – Let The Planners Plan

Published on: 8 Jul, 2015
Updated on: 8 Jul, 2015

From Peter Wilson

Finally, in Bibhas Neogi (Letter: Let The Planners Plan – Some Expansion Is Inevitable) we have a contributor who speaks some sense on this issue rather than the illogical arguments of those who are motivated by the fear of a fall in their house prices should new housing be built near them.

It has alway been quite obvious that there is not enough brownfield land in the borough to meet demand, so I say to those who believe brownfield alone is the answer, where exactly is it all?

Even if you assume the previously published housing figures are inaccurate you cannot magic up brownfield land that does not exist.

Of course, I do not think we should build on any areas of outstanding natural beauty, however there is plenty of suitable land which currently sits in the green belt but adds nothing to the area. Land that is unused and mostly just popular with the fly tippers. I see it every day on my drive to work.

I do not want to see tower blocks built in my town centre simply because the NIMBYS do not want anything built near them, even in cases where the sites are entirely suitable for housing. We need to see the bigger picture, and yes let the planners plan.

So well done to Mr Neogi for speaking sense and speaking up for the silent majority who want to see reasonable development within the planning framework and do not accept a blanket no to any green belt development.

Responses to Letter: Yes, Well Said – Let The Planners Plan

Jim Allen Reply

July 8, 2015 at 1:54 am

Mr Wilson name calls others as NIMBYs. I won’t insult him by calling him names – but would point out that some planners suffer a certain lack of ‘future sight’ a few examples:

1/ Building a two lane A3 carriageway through Guildford when everywhere else was seen as needing three….

2/ The roundabout down near Petersfield the only one an a major trunk road from London to Portsmouth

3/ The proposal in the ill-fated Local Plan to build large numbers of houses without considering the infrastructure available to each site

4/ The proposal to move a sewage plant from where it ticks all the boxes to where it doesn’t

5/ The lack of buses meeting the trains.

6/ The building of a home 44 mm from the boundary with the local park & ride

7/ the installation of an aircraft hanger in the centre of a village.

All perpetrated by ‘planners’.

So while planners, by their very name, need to draw up the plans, it is people with vision and common sense who need to provide the positive input, not narrow minded planners who can’t see the future.
Harry Eve Reply

July 8, 2015 at 10:41 am

I ask Mr Wilson to please define “Land that is unused” and how you identify its status from your car window?

Also could he please advise which particular cogent arguments, submitted in response to the former draft local plan, he considers to be illogical?

Does he think there might be people who object both to tower blocks in the town centre and to loss of greenfield sites? And how many storeys constitute a tower block?

Which particular aspects, and how wide an area, does his “bigger picture” capture and which does it choose to ignore? (By way of explanation – does he mean Guildford, SE England or a larger area – and does he consider future water supply to give just one example.)

Clearly, both he and Mr Neogi are not members of the silent majority as he has quite fairly given us the benefit of his personal opinion.

Mr Neogi did not claim to speak on behalf of the silent majority. Who among them authorised Mr Wilson to speak on their behalf ?
Chris Hartley Reply

July 8, 2015 at 6:20 pm

I have asked Susan Parker of the GGG through the letters of The Dragon to specify exactly where all this suitable, viable and available brownfield land is that she and her followers keep going on about, to no avail.

Maybe now she is a councillor with greater access to the professionals in the planning department her eyes are being opened to the reality of the situation.

Maybe she can let us know her current stance on this?
Ben Paton Reply

July 9, 2015 at 8:25 am

Mr Wilson says that ‘I do not want to see tower blocks built in my town centre’. And then he goes on to say that people who do not want anything ‘built near them’ are NIMBYS!

Isn’t this what is meant by the pot calling the kettle black?

Mr Wilson asserts that the people who do not agree with Mr Neogi are ‘illogical’ – but his statement is devoid of relevant evidence or logical argument.

Instead of just asserting without evidence that others are illogical and that the answers are obvious, Mr Wilson might try and address the facts and the rules.

The Draft Local Plan ignored many of the facts and rules. All right thinking people should object to that. Their objections have nothing to do with being NIMBYS and everything to do with respecting other people and their rights under the law.
Colin Cross Reply

July 10, 2015 at 12:04 am

Yes, let the planners build their 15,000 houses in Guildford borough over the next decade and let’s see where that gets us. We should be careful what we wish for.

Will it solve the over-demand problem or ease our traffic or infrastructure problems?

Will our school place availability or doctors’ appointments become more accessible?

Or will we be the victims of the developers’ insatiable appetites for profit and non-delivery?

We know there is a genuine local need for more affordable housing in our community. That probably equates to something like 300 new homes per annum, located proportionally rather than the much higher numbers that have been suggested.

Add to the 300 a fair amount of generic regeneration, including brownfield sites, and you have the way forward. Any more will merely hasten the demise of our once lovely town and countryside alike.

We may all wake up one day and realise we no longer want to live here and that the change is irreversible and final.

Colin Cross is the Lib Dem borough councillor for Lovelace.