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The Society
The Society is the Civic Trust for the Guildford Area. Historically our focus has been on the Guildford Town Centre and Urban Area. We also review broader borough considerations, notably the impact of large developments, and we have, as necessary, commented on developments across the borough.
The Society is a non-political group that can contribute to the continuous debate as to how Guildford evolves to meet future challenges; whilst preserving its Heritage and areas of Natural Landscape that make it such an attractive area to live.
Key Issues
There has been a lot of change in Guildford in the 2023 to 2024 period, including a major change in the political complexion of the Local Government in 2023. Key issues that the Society is currently engaged upon include:
Heritage and Environment
Guildford and its surrounding countryside are unique, and as well as making for an attractive environment for residents, also provides economic benefits. We damage heritage assets and the quality of our countryside at our peril.
Planning
Local Plan - The Society strongly objected to the Local Plan 2019 at its examination, together with other local groups. We didn’t press for a judicial review, in 2019, as our professional advice was an appeal had very little chance of success, which sadly turned out to be the case.
We continue to maintain the Local Plan and associated Development Management Policies are badly developed, which are harming the borough. Effort is continuing to try and mitigate the worst effects of the Local Plan.
The society supports a local plan update, as it an element in correcting the issues with the local plan. It is likely to be a lengthy process (3 Years?) and has its risks.
Housing numbers/targets are a risk related to the local plan update. The existing local plan is deficient in managing potential windfall sites, as well as identified sites, due to incomplete and weak policies.
A fully updated evidence base is critical in providing the information to debate effectively with central government on housing targets. The Society believes that the borough is approaching the limit of major new development, if the character of the borough is to be preserved, but we need the evidence to support this.
On balance we believe it best to manage the debate on housing numbers through a robust plan update based on an updated full evidence base.
(Note: GBC have a forward supply of deliverable housing sites of 6.29 years well in excess of the five years demanded in the NPPF. The Local Plan policy made a provision of ‘at least 10,678 homes to 2034. The LPSS identifies that a potential of 14,602 homes exists over the plan period. Source Appeal Decision APP/Y3615/W/23/3330618 Stag Hill)
The emerging issues in Cambridge, where lack of investment in infrastructure, particularly water supplies, is impacting plans for the area, is a warning to Guildford that it cannot just continue to build housing in a badly planned and unconstrained manner.
Supplementary Policies
The production of Supplementary policies which could be Supplementary Planning Documents (SPD’s), Design Guides or Area Action Plans for larger sites and areas carry weight, even if not formally adopted, can start now. Guildford cannot afford to wait for the long-winded Local Plan Update Process. Draft policies would provide a measure of control to stop overbidding on sites, with the result that affordable and social housing disappearing due to viability arguments. Developed policies can be ‘Written into’ an Updated local Plan
The current site policies provide, in practice, guidance only; with developers realising that with sufficient legal firepower they can achieve more on a site. (A recent example is a LPSS site allocated for 160 Dwellings, where we are now aware that a proposal for 350 Dwellings has come forward) It would also help avoid use of prime sites for Student Housing that might best be used for Guildford long term residents – with students located elsewhere.
We are actively promoting an SPD for Height’s policies see the D&H Group Review. We can think of other that are required. GOOD POLICIES ARE REQUIRED NOW
Sustainability
The Society supports efforts to make the existing and future built environment more sustainable. New development, and where possible existing buildings, should adopt the highest possible standards for insulation and heating.
Transport links especially to new developments must allow for modal shift, enabled by good, simple to use, public transport and Active Travel links.
Critical Infrastructure (Power Water, & Sewage) also needs to be upgraded to the comply with environmental concerns.
Quality Design
Quality of new development and respecting and maintaining older buildings is critical to Guildford to improve the urban landscape and to maintain its attractiveness to visitors.
As you will read below the Design and Heritage Group has been active in various initiatives to improve awareness of the impact of good design.
Town Centre
The Town Centre and Urban Area can accept new housing, which is why the Society has supported the ‘Shaping Guildford’s Future (SGF)’ exercise as it provides a way to define sites in the Town centre that can be developed in a balanced way to provide housing, commercial space and the infrastructure needed to support this.
The SGF plan needs to be completed, with proper public consultation, shows that the Town Centre could provide, in a sustainable location, 2500 to 3000 dwellings equivalent to one of the Local Plan Strategic sites, provided infrastructure is upgraded e.g. Sewage, Medical Facilities.
More Details of SGF
https://www.guildfordsociety.org.uk/SGFDEC23.html
A critical enabler is the Flood Alleviation Scheme https://www.guildfordsociety.org.uk/Floodprevention.html which will ‘unlock’ several Town Centre sites. Flood alleviation has been subject to many years of debate.
There are probably a further 2-3 large sites in the town that can contribute housing and commercial space, but these may be prohibitively expensive to implement.
Current proposed, and on-going Town Centre development, part of which is unplanned windfall, is not of good quality, with several sites having been overdeveloped and providing limited housing types.
The Town Centre is currently ahead of the allocation proposed for it in the Local Plan, but with minimal Infrastructure investment which is an increasing issue.
The Wider Borough
The Town Centre and Urban area is unlikely to deliver all the extra dwellings required in the borough; providing family housing is a particular challenge. In principle developments that extend the town such as the one proposed at Gosden Hill could have fewer downsides, as in part they can use existing Town facilities, provided good sustainable transport links and other infrastructure (Schools, Medical Facilities, Rail Stations etc) are provided, and they are built to good modern design to the highest environmental standards.
A real concern is that Weyside Urban Village fails to address providing proper transport links, failing to set a standard for the future.
Regarding development along the A3, we objected to the proposals at Wisley particularly on sustainability grounds, being a car-based development despite protestations to the contrary. We also objected to the poor quality of development in Ash and at Garlicks Arch. Garlicks Arch exhibits the issues with poor planning being dependent on car use, has poor design and provides little or no affordable/social housing. Although the A3 is being ‘improved’ at Junction 10 other improvements appear to have been delayed or quietly cancelled.
We also continue to object to what we believe is overdevelopment and poor quality on many of the smaller infill sites.
Local Strategy & Economy
We have tried to create a viable Local Strategy and Economy Group but this has proven very difficult and the group is currently in abeyance. We continue to believe we should have a group considering the Guildford Area meeting 3-4 times a year.
The current economic situation means that Guildford is operating in a challenging environment, although we remain a successful town.
The borough has seen several major companies leave the area e.g. Sanofi, Alexander Dennis and the closure of Debenhams, and recently House of Fraser, in the town centre.
Neighbouring towns like Reading and Woking remain very attractive to businesses and provide a good retail offer to inhabitants.
Despite no Working Group we have continued to monitor relevant Strategies and Reports notably Guildford Borough Council (GBC produced Guildford’s Economic Strategy in early 2023 that we commented upon and that we view as an important contribution on consideration of the economic future of the borough.
See GBC Report at https://www.guildfordsociety.org.uk/Economyreport1.html
The Society believes that the town needs to provide employment of all types to attract and keep the population in the town and avoid Guildford becoming solely viewed as a commuter centre. We need to build upon the mixed economy based on Professional Services (Legal, Accountancy), Education (University etc.), Retail, and the businesses fostered by the Research Park and Pirbright.
It should not be forgotten that many in Guildford also commute to jobs in London and elsewhere (e.g. Heathrow) using the reasonable rail links to London and creaking road network.
Working Groups
Design and Heritage Group
The Design and Heritage group has had a busy year.
Quality of new development and maintaining streets and older buildings is critical to Guildford to improve the urban landscape and to maintain its attractiveness to visitors.
It is particularly important as new Buildings may have a long life, as concern grows on embodied Carbon prompting re-use. Unfortunately, we are seeing some very poor estate houses being produced and major schemes are showing unimaginative plans and design.
Design Quality - New development should be of quality design, built to high environmental standards using ideally reused and/or sustainable materials and have access to facilities for relaxation, retail, education and medical resources. Too many local developments are still using vast quantities of concrete, often using gas heating etc.
An example of better development that Guildford could aspire too, is the recently consented Phoenix Project in Lewes https://www.guildfordsociety.org.uk/ThePhoenixSuccess.html This scheme is being developed by an organisation which is not one of the big developers.
We were fortunate to have the Phoenix project present at a public meeting the society organised in the autumn of last year.
Architecture Lectures - The 2023 Architecture Lecture was held at the University of Surrey on the 4th October.
The Society with our partners the University of Surrey welcomed two leading architects Peter Barber and Simon Hudspith to discuss ‘The challenges of achieving good design for high density housing within urban settings‘. Both are respected and innovative architects who have successfully completed award winning urban housing which is unique to the location and provides healthy liveable space.
Both lecturers provided thought providing lectures with relevance to Guildford Town Centre which is under pressure to build large dense housing developments. North Street, The Plaza and St Marys Wharf match the density of schemes being built in London.
The Lectures can be viewed on the Society’s Website
https://www.guildfordsociety.org.uk/AL2023Videos.html
Guildford Design Awards - The awards were held in 2023 as a joint exercise with the Guildford Borough Council. A judging panel of Society Members, Guildford Borough Council representatives, and invitees was assembled, worked together to review a long list and then visit a short list of entrants. See more details https://www.guildfordsociety.org.uk/GDAWinners2023.html
Design Review Panels - The group has been exploring how the Design Panel Process operates. Currently the Design South East Panel reviews major developments for design quality. This panel is composed on independent architects who come from outside the borough.
The D&H group wish to see more local input into design decisions and have been discussing with GBC and Design South East options as how this can best be achieved. We hope to announce an agreed approach shortly.
Visits, Walks & Talks - The group has held, walks on the on Heritage and Architecture in Guildford and visits to new developments of interest elsewhere e.g. Cambridge. The group recognises that we can do more in this area.
The group has also held a meeting for members to allow the National Trust to provide details on their evolving plans for the preservation of Clandon House.
Planning Policy – Building Heights The D&H group are extremely concerned that we have a weak Local Plan and Development Management Policies. There is a failure make any mention of Height restrictions in the town.
A critical SPD for the Town Centre is one to manage Height of new buildings which would ensure new buildings have some relationship as far as height and mass is concerned with their surroundings.
The current Town Centre Views SPD has limitations, particularly in not managing how developments appear at a street level. Sadly, the current Guildford station development shows what we can expect on several other consented sites in the future. See Picture
The D&H Group has analysed other Cities and Town Heights policies and have produced a summary of how Guildford might create a heights policy https://www.guildfordsociety.org.uk/GuildfordHeightSPD.html
We also contend that well-constructed SPD's would help the council manage more effectively the pressure for development, and save money both for the council and the development community by providing clarity at pre-application stage on what is considered appropriate for sites.
Overdevelopment is also a critical concern where Buildings are put into sites that are two small and fail to provide space for Public Realm.
Heritage
The origins of the Society are in protecting heritage buildings. We are concerned at the damage to heritage buildings due to inappropriate development on nearby and/or adjoining sites. In addition, we are looking at locally listed buildings to see if any might merit consideration for improved protection. We have improved linkage on Heritage matters between D&H and Planning groups recently.
The Society has continued to support Heritage Open Days (HODs) acting as guides for opened buildings.
We are also considering whether to review the list of locally listed buildings to see if the lists need additions.
Planning Applications Team
The Planning Team has met regularly every 3 weeks to review new planning applications. The group reviews applications that
The Planning Team, with aid from members of the Design and Heritage Group have had to deal with several major applications.
St Mary’s/Debenhams Site - The society viewed this site as one of the best in the South of England. The consented scheme on which development has started in early in 2024 on current plans, we still contend is a missed opportunity, with a overscale mundane design, providing a little public benefit.
North Street - After many failures to develop the site over decades St Edwards proposed a scheme that was consented in modified form in October 2023. It is anticipated work on site will start mid 2024 with the first phase including a revised bus station and North Street modifications.
Wisley Airfield - The Society has participated in consultations with the developers Taylor Wimpey. The Society has noted that the site is a Strategic Site in the Local Plan 2019 and we have confined our comments to, in particular, the lack of transport infrastructure to support the scheme.
The Planning Group remains concerned that there are schemes coming forward which are of poor quality and represent overdevelopment on sites. Several in-fill schemes have been particularly poor.
Solar Farms. - An emerging issue is the applications for Solar Farms. Most of these have been for small domestically sized arrays in parts of fields/garden but often situated in sensitive landscape areas.
Recently the University has applied for a large Solar Farm at Blackwells Farm. The society has objected to this latest application.
The society feels that a policy needs production to guide how to plan for Solar Farms. The society accepts solar power arrays are a component of the move to net-zero. There needs to be policies to guide development.
Heritage - Recently the group has been joined by Niels Laub who focusses on applications for Listed Buildings. We are already benefiting from his expertise.
Transport Group
The Transport Group has met regularly, every 4 to 6 weeks.
The Group bought together many of its ideas into a document published in April 2022 “ A Manifesto for Change - Guildford Transport - Improving and Supporting the Borough”.
This document is currently being updated, to reflect changes. A element of this will be a full review of the ideas on traffic presented in the draft material from Shaping Guildford’s Future.
Current report is at https://www.guildfordsociety.org.uk/2021-4__Transport_in_Guildford_manifesto_for_change.pdf
The group has reviewed and commented on a diverse range of subjects including:
Rail Services - Post Covid rail services have been slow to be re-established e.g. only 3 not 4 fast services to London. The new trains proposed for the line have failed to materialise. South West Rail don’t appear to be on top of the issues of upgrading services and encouraging rail usage.
Local Plan - We hope the local Plan will revise policies to strengthen the need to provide sustainable transport links. A indicator of the authorities resolve in this matter will be the provision of rail stations at Gosden Hill and Blackwells Farm proposed developments.
Bus Services - The group has been interested to see Surrey County Council extend its On Demand ‘Connect’ bus network to areas around Guildford. It will be interesting to see how this service is adopted by the local community.
Bike Lanes / Active Travel - This subject has been subject of considerable debate with the proposed London Road Active travel scheme causing considerable concern locally. The scheme is going forward in a more limited form.
The Bike Hire Scheme is due to arrive in Guildford in mid 2024. Although we support the moves to encourage all forms of active travel we remain very concerned that Cycling faces a moajor issue in that the Guildford Gyratory is really not suitable for cycling. SCC needs to do more to bring forward good plans for cycling.
Air Quality - The transport network imposes high levels of pollution in areas of Guildford. As an example, monitoring has shown that the A3 at Guildford suffers from some of the highest levels of nitrogen dioxide on the national road network. The section from Manor Way to the Wooden Bridge junction.
The Department of Transport are making slow progress in bringing forward proposals for the A3.
The Election
The major national parties appear to want to target new housing at a level, of circa 300,000 dwellings per annum. The planning system is heavily criticised for hindering slow economic growth, ignoring the lack of national infrastructure investment, and lack of Planning Resources in Local governments.
The Labour Party have a major desire to allow development on what is called ‘Brown/Greybelt land which is defined as low quality Greenbelt areas. How this impacts Guildford is uncertain.
Society Matters
Communications
We continue to update our Website, including keeping our Key Sites in the Borough updated See Map at https://www.guildfordsociety.org.uk/Keysites.html We are also revising the Website to provide more information on our letters related to planning applications. Although we update our Facebook page, we are aware it is not reaching as a wide an audience as possible. We need expertise to support a proper social media presence.
Engagement with others
We have been active in strengthening our relationship with Guildford Borough Council (GBC), in particular interacting with the new senior officers, including the new CEO Pedro Wrobel, who have been appointed over the last two to three years. We are especially interested in being able to comment and advise at the early stages of design for the strategic projects in the borough.
Executive
During the past year the Executive Membership has remained as
Alistair Smith - Chair
Peter Coleman - Deputy Chair and Chair of D&H
Gillian Cameron - Secretary
Barry Williams - Transport &Temporary Membership Secretary
John Baylis - Planning
Nic Allen - D&H and Planning
Rosemary Napp - D&H
We are pleased to have recruited John Harbor to the executive to act as our Treasurer. John is currently taking over management of the Society’s financial affairs.
After many years devoted service to the Society Gillian Cameron is stepping down as Secretary. She remains on the Executive for the present.
Future of the Society
Ensuring that the Society continues to thrive and respond to the needs of Guildford is a challenge. We are very aware that we must continue to focus on three areas:
90th Anniversary
Next year the Society in its present form reaches its 90th anniversary. We are exploring options on how to mark this event. Currently, a favoured option is to donate 90 trees to mark 90 years to the borough. Discussions are ongoing on the feasibility of this option.
Help us make Guildford better
We want our town to be vibrant, attractive and liveable. We support development that brings a sense of place and enhances the best aspects of our town. If such aims can be embraced, we believe Guildford has the chance to lead the way in enabling sensitive and sustainable development.
Pressures for development are increasing. Planning rules are being eased. The Society’s commitment to standing up for Guildford is needed more than ever.
Support Us
Getting involved allows the society to continue its work. We welcome new members, from every age and background. Membership provides an opportunity for you to contribute to the continued health of the town and surrounding area, and to meet other people who care about Guildford.