Monday 4 October 2024
Guildford will need to do much better to show it is delivering its considerable brownfield land holdings for housing if its pleadings to reduce further Green Belt incursion is to carry any weight. I fear we will now pay the price for inactivity in the town centre.
Guildford’s strategic planning has been lamentable for years in delivering these eminently suitable brownfield sites in the centre for housing. North Street, where a big scheme is now getting underway, has lain fallow for nigh on thirty years. That’s disgraceful.
The council owns large surface car parks in the town. It has failed miserably to take action to remove obstacles to their development.
The 2019 Local Plan, much vaunted by its creators, has a threadbare town centre policy and missed the opportunity to create up to 3,000 new homes in the centre, with around 30 blighted sites that could be liberated if there was an up-to-date flood alleviation scheme.
The last administration got a comprehensive masterplan underway called ‘Shaping Guildford’s Future’ (SGF). Within SGF is a nascent flood alleviation scheme, drawn up under the auspices of the Environment Agency. Why has the current LibDem administration let the initiative stall?
John Rigg
Chair, GVG
The comment above was published in The Guildford Dragon – see article https://guildford-dragon.com/reactions-to-news-of-gbc-asking-for-reconsideration-of-doubled-housing-target/
Monday 4 October 2024
Guildford will need to do much better to show it is delivering its considerable brownfield land holdings for housing if its pleadings to reduce further Green Belt incursion is to carry any weight. I fear we will now pay the price for inactivity in the town centre.
Guildford’s strategic planning has been lamentable for years in delivering these eminently suitable brownfield sites in the centre for housing. North Street, where a big scheme is now getting underway, has lain fallow for nigh on thirty years. That’s disgraceful.
The council owns large surface car parks in the town. It has failed miserably to take action to remove obstacles to their development.
The 2019 Local Plan, much vaunted by its creators, has a threadbare town centre policy and missed the opportunity to create up to 3,000 new homes in the centre, with around 30 blighted sites that could be liberated if there was an up-to-date flood alleviation scheme.
The last administration got a comprehensive masterplan underway called ‘Shaping Guildford’s Future’ (SGF). Within SGF is a nascent flood alleviation scheme, drawn up under the auspices of the Environment Agency. Why has the current LibDem administration let the initiative stall?
John Rigg
Chair, GVG
The comment above was published in The Guildford Dragon – see article https://guildford-dragon.com/reactions-to-news-of-gbc-asking-for-reconsideration-of-doubled-housing-target/
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