Opinion: A Tale of Two Meetings

Published on: 6 Sep, 2014
Updated on: 10 Sep, 2014

By Martin Giles

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…”

Charles Dickens’ introduction to A Tale of Two Cities cannot be bettered to sum up my feelings this week, having attended another two meetings on plans for Guildford.

First came the ‘best of times’, the vision presented by Guildford Vision Group (GVG) and Allies & Morrison who had been commissioned by Guildford Borough Council following their bust up and then, surprisingly affectionate, make up with GVG.

Artists impressions can be dangerous, as many disappointed holiday makers can tell you, but the images of a traffic free town centre were beguiling. Surely this vision is the correct one. Traffic is the town’s major curse, creating nasty road barriers and preventing the development of attractive public spaces.

Victorian architecture, … shamelessly copied styles from previous times (psst – and Tunsgate is not really a Tuscan arch!)

When the architect chap said that his firm was renowned for its modern architecture I did twitch, as I did when he spat out the word ‘pastiche’ as if it were the height of bad taste.

Victorian architecture, including our now much loved and appreciated Arts and Crafts houses, were designed using directly and shamelessly copied styles from previous times (psst – and Tunsgate is not really a Tuscan arch!). Those styles evolved because of a thorough understanding of what pleases our eye.

But he went on to make the right noises about congruity so I tried to calm myself down.

Of course, making pretty pictures and even coming up with ideas, many of them not original, can be the easiest phase of a project. But the best plans have to be based on good ideas and there seemed to be several on offer. A large degree of consensus was most definitely in the air.

I left the meeting more optimistic than I had been despite the realistically cautious remark that even if a plan is agreed the first construction work would be at least seven years away. As usual at these affairs, there were few in the audience who would not be drawing their state pension by that time, even if they were still drawing breath.

Then ‘the worst of times’ a meeting of my local St Catherine’s Village Association to discuss the Draft Local Plan. One of our ward councillors, Caroline Reeves, carefully took us through the issues and the process

There is talk of a ‘silent majority’ that support large scale housing development… Well they seem very, very silent.

As always, when talking about the plan, the need to satisfy a government planning inspector came up. The requirement to satisfy him or her seems more important than the requirement to draw up a local plan that most people in this borough want. Surely it is hardly ‘local’ if it does not tick that box.

There is talk of a ‘silent majority’ that supports large scale housing development, represented by the 652 houses per year in the current draft plan. Well they seem very, very silent. They could teach church mice a thing or two about keeping quiet. (Please write in to: guildford.dragon@gmail.com and tell me I am wrong.)

How the 652 figure, frightening to me, has been arrived at remains a bit of a mystery, especially as the population projections provided by the Office of National Statistics seem so changeable.

In any case, as one of the few members of the audience who was under 50 observed, if whole new roads of houses are built how can we ensure they can be afforded and bought by our children.

The short answer is we can’t. Developers will, of course, sell to the highest bidders. Our proximity to London makes the demand for Guildford houses almost insatiable, yet satisfying the needs of our children is still put forward as one justification for the housing figure.

Then there is infrastructure. It can hardly cope with our existing population. More houses will mean more people, and more people will mean more cars. Where will they go? The town’s topography does not allow for major new roads even if we were not in a borough that is 89 per cent green belt.

Which brings us to the green belt itself and the proposal to build on some bits of it. It might seem okay to use just a very small percentage but it can only be used once. As Cllr Richard Billington, a member of the GBC Executive, said, a little while ago: “Land is a precious resource: they have stopped making it.”

So what will happen in 2030 at the end of the Local Plan period. Will we look to use another few per cent? Where will it end? Will it really be the “far, far better place” that we all hope for?

Whether we end up with a heavenly Guildford or we are all going ‘the other way’ seems to be in the balance. One thing is for certain, if we don’t individually make our views known we can hardly blame others. So get writing – fill in those council questionnaires…

PS My wife and I visited Dumfries in south west Scotland the other day. It seemed to us like a ghost town at 7.30pm on a lovely evening. We wanted a bite but there was not a single restaurant in sight. I suspect they are desperate for some economic growth, something our bed and breakfast hosts near Castle Douglas confirmed. Seems to be something badly wrong somewhere.

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