July/August 2004                                       No 91 

Stadium for Stoke Park?

A September decision?

 

The surprise application to build a Stadium on Council owned land on the North of Guildford is not expected to be  considered by the Guildford Planning Committee before September.  It has Looking towards the application site from Spectrum                  been left to Andrew Hodges to lead the discussion on behalf of the ward, as Vivienne Johnson has put herself in a prejudicial position as regards this application.    At the time of writing almost 500 letters of opposition have been received by the council, and over 100 in support.  In addition a petition has been submitted. 

Under the probity rules, Andrew Hodges has kept his counsel until the meeting when all information was available.

The proposed capacity is twice that already available at Spectrum. There are three main areas of consultations to be considered. First, the County Highway Authority has sought further clarification and information on the transport assessment supplied by the applicant. Second, the applicant is putting together a flood risk assessment in response to requirements made by the Environment Agency for further information on this aspect. Third, the applicant has been asked by Environmental Health to provide a detailed noise assessment.  The results of these consultations are needed in order to assist in the decision making.

 

At the same time as the application was made, an offer was made to the Council to sell the land to the applicant. This was scheduled for consideration in September, but consideration of this will be deferred until the application for planning permission has been determined.

Planning successes

An application to demolish five town houses at Lindfield Gardens, London Road and replace them with 14 flats was rejected by the Council.  A revised application to remodel the town houses was later submitted and approved – thus retaining a lower density.

 

Planning concerns

There are an increasing number of applications to build flats and more flats in the ward. They are invariably not welcomed by the local residents, and yet the government insist on increasing the density. The Council is putting out to consultation a proposed Supplementary Planning Guidance on residential design.  Residents groups are already aware of the importance of this new guidance.  Your views will be important and welcome.  This will be a significant document for the Borough, and Christchurch Ward in particular, when it comes to future

 

Civic Hall costs under control

Despite what you may have read elsewhere, the control of the costs of building the new Civic Hall is in safe hands.  Your Conservative Borough Council is seeking approval for specific costs are we go along.  This is different to when the Electric Theatre was developed under a different party control, where more and more money was spent on the building and fitting out, and there was a huge overspent from that approved by the Council.    We are seeking approval as we go along.

 

Anne Milton 

visits Christchurch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anne Milton taking a break chatting with Andrew Hodges, and retired councillor, John Twining  

Anne Milton, your Conservative Prospective Parliamentary candidate, joined in with local Conservatives at their Summer Garden party.  

She spoke of the work carried out by the branch at the European Elections, and of the work being done to regain the Guildford Parliamentary seat at the General Election.

24/7 from Guildford Council

Booking theatre tickets or applying for council services at any time of the day or night could soon be a reality. “eGovernment” is on the way – making as many council services as possible available electronically by next year.

 500 young subscribers are already receiving information on leisure activities direct to their mobile phones as a result of the council’s new txt2u feature,.. Anyone can sign up to receive text bulletins on topics such as the environment or general council news.

The new technology will also help us  provide a more seamless service for the public from local government.  Also in the pipe line are

·        planning pages on the council website so you can view planning applications.

Electronic payments for council services.

 

New planning guidelines

New guidelines for residential design have been adopted by the council,  these have been aided by the considerable amount of work put in by your local residents associations, to whom I am most grateful.  These guidelines will help us protect the borough’s character, particularly in Christchurch.  It was a pity the previous administration which set this process in motion failed to get on top of it, leaving it to the Conservatives to complete the task.

 

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