Wisley Campaigners Dismiss Developer’s Naming Offer As a Gimmick

Published on: 26 Jul, 2021
Updated on: 30 Jul, 2021

Aerial photograph of the former Wisley Airfield site.

An invitation by Taylor-Wimpey to help name three “new neighbourhoods” as part of its anticipated plans for a “garden village” at the former Wisley Airfield or “Three Farms Meadows” has been dismissed by campaigners as “yet another cynical attempt to suggest that planning approval is a ‘done deal’”.

“It’s most certainly not,” said Tony Edwards of the Wisley Action Group [WAG]. “And the company’s call to representatives of local campaign groups to join a Zoom meeting on August 2 to “consider naming opportunities” for three non-existent neighbourhoods is, at best, jumping the gun.”

At worst, Edwards claimed that the process is: “A cynical propaganda gimmick, intended to provide credibility for Taylor-Wimpey’s ambitions when they have not yet even presented an outline planning application.”

A spokesperson for Taylor-Wimpey refused to rise to Mr Edwards accusations saying only: “Taylor-Wimpey is grateful for all of the feedback received so far during the three chapters of community consultation we have completed.

“We remain committed to engaging with the local community with regards to our proposals for the former Wisley Airfield site, which is allocated in the adopted Guildford Borough Council Local Plan.”

But Mr Edwards was un-mollified: “It’s a bit like Christening a baby before its conception and demonstrates little more than wishful thinking,” he says. “And while we are told that a planning application will be forthcoming in the third quarter of this year, TW has failed to provide a more specific date, despite our calls for clarity.

“It might be more realistic and less ludicrous, however, for Taylor-Wimpey to explain how such a development would override 13 of the 14 reasons why a similar scheme was roundly rejected on appeal by the Secretary of State just three years ago in June 2018.

“Since that time we have, of course, seen Guildford’s controversial Local Plan called into doubt with specific reference to an overestimate on housing need and alongside the apparent over-estimates for population figures in Guildford. And then there’s the clear and obvious question mark over the M25 Junction 10 road works, without which no major housing development at Wisley could be sanctioned.”