Plans for a dual carriageway for a stretch of the A281 in Shalford could mean that, “In the long run it could lead to cricket no longer being played on the green,” says a planning inspector reporting on the Dunsfold Park housing development.
The development of 1,800 homes, care accommodation and a retail park on the old Dunsfold Aerodrome was approved by the Secretary of State in March 2018, after appeal. The widening of the A281 road at Shalford is a condition of the planning approval and has to be carried out before the 501st dwelling on the development is occupied.
The widening plans will enlarge the existing roundabout on the A281 at Kings Road, build a new roundabout at Broadford Road and widen about 120m of the A281 to four lanes between the roundabouts.
Whilst neither the pitch nor the cricket club pavilion would be affected by the road widening, the inspector said: “The proposal to take common land at Shalford has blighted the plans by Shalford Cricket Club to carry out major refurbishment of its facilities.”
A spokesperson for Shalford Cricket Club said: “The Club has been in existence for over 150 years. We see ourselves as a focal point of village life.
“The club have been investigating ways to completely refurbish our Pavilion. Any widening of the road is likely to impact on these plans. We cannot commit to anything substantial until this issue is resolved.
“We are concerned that these increased risks (from the widened road) could threaten the future of Shalford Cricket Club. ”
Eight out of ten people questioned by The Guildford Dragon NEWS in a survey on March 18 were not aware that the A281 was to be widened as part of the Dunsford Park housing project or that it would mean the loss of 1% of Shalford Common.
Those questioned were unhappy with the prospect of losing part of Shalford Common. But there was general agreement that something needed to be done with the level of traffic on the A281 due to the new houses at Dunsfold.
A woman in The Snooty Fox café said: “There is not enough infrastructure for 1,800 new houses at Dunsfold development. Shame to take the common land but they need to widen the full length of the A281. You can wait for 20 minutes in the morning at Shalford roundabout.”
One man did not agree with that saying: “They shouldn’t take the common land. Shalford used to be a nice place but the traffic has ruined it.”
Cllr Mary Phillips, chairman of Shalford Parish Council, said: “Despite our efforts to publicise this proposal we were very aware that many local residents did not fully understand the impact this would have on our village.
“This scheme will do nothing to solve the congestion problems on the A281 and will result in the loss of a cherished asset and the open character of the village for no real gain to either the village or those travelling to and from Guildford.”
Cllr Mike Parsons, Guildford borough councillor for Shalford and also a Shalford parish councillor, said: “The loss of common land is always a sad event, we must ensure we keep that to an absolute minimum and of course proactively seek an alternative land swap to ensure that the overall common land mass is not reduced.
“I suspect that any decision will be two or three years down the line and would be surprised if a spade goes into the ground for five years or more.”
Cllr Matt Furniss, lead councillor for infrastructure at GBC and county councillor for Shalford and SCC cabinet member for highways had not responded to The Guildford Dragon NEWS at the time of publication
Cllr Michael Illman, Guildford Borough councillor for Shalford also failed to respond to our enquiry.
Despite the widening having planning permission, the Secretary of State will still need to approve the loss of the 3,000 sq metres of Shalford Common. One option will be to find replacement land for the lost area.
The work on the A281 at Shalford has to be carried out before the 501st dwelling on the development is occupied. This gives the developer time, probably about five years, to go through the process of deregistration.
Other work on the A281 to help with the increased traffic from the Dunsfold Park development includes improvements to the signalised junction of A281/B2130 Elmbridge Road, the provision of a right turn lane at the junction of A281/Barrihurst Lane and traffic signals at the junction of Station Road/Snowdenham Lane/A281 Bramley.
A spokesperson for Waverley Borough Council confirmed that construction work had not started on the Dunsfold Park development. He also said: “The process for de-registering the common land has not formally commenced. There are a number of mechanisms for de-registering common land and the applicants have not yet confirmed which route will be taken.”
This website is published by The Guildford Dragon NEWS
Contact: Martin Giles mgilesdragon@gmail.com
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Jim Allen
March 23, 2019 at 9:05 am
This is precisely why SCC and GBC should take their heads out of the sand and stop claiming additional houses will not mean additional traffic. They should consider the real effects of an extra 45,000 plus additional vehicles in the area. If you bring in 100,000 additional souls you have 100,000 additional bums on seats to move around, its simple mathematics no one is prepared to accept.
The only real answer is moving the A281 out of Guildford by diverting traffic on to a new road and tunnel entrance at Compton by-pass – mirroring the need for a link road between A3 and A25 north of Guildford joined together by a tunnel – anything else is 100% mitigation and no solution whatsoever. In engineering terms, this project is tinkering with a toffee hammer where a sledgehammer is needed (now!).
Stuart Barnes
March 23, 2019 at 3:44 pm
This is a disgraceful idea. Instead of building ever more houses and concreting over ever more green land, the politicians should be stopping the endless and uncontrolled immigration which by increasing our population is the root cause of it all.
Wayne Smith
March 23, 2019 at 4:52 pm
One lane into two then back into one for a length of 120m! Will that really make any discernible difference considering the extra amount of traffic expected to be generated by the Dunsfold Park development? It sounds like a sop to get the application planning permission.
Gary Prior
May 16, 2019 at 10:53 pm
This is happening everywhere now. It is very sad I know but it’s all down to mass population increase in the last 10 years. Some people get upset about it but they have got to live somewhere and most will drive cars too.