Great Saturday morning in Cranleigh High Street. With the rain thankfully holding off and the high street bustling with residents, the Cranleigh Civic Society managed to speak to lots of residents.
Many or you spoke about the ongoing sewage issues, especially residents from the Elmbridge Road area. This has been going on for many years and residents described the misery of having sewage in their gardens and of toilets regularly backing up, especially when it rains, this was echoed by businesses both large and small on the high street as well.
One report from a resident in the Elmbridge Road said that they had spoken to someone working on the recent sewage spill who voiced their complete amazement that another 425 houses were going to be connected to the Cranleigh network; “It should never have been approved” they said.
Residents are rightly fed up with the ongoing sewage issues and the inability or unwillingness of Waverley Borough Council to recognise and consult with the village on this subject and on other material considerations such as flooding and road infrastructure constraints.
One resident advised Anne Milton MP back in 2014 about this problem and was disappointed that nothing had been done, and that Thames Water, Waverley Borough Council, and the Environment Agency seemed unable or unwilling to deal with the issue. “I think it suits them [Waverley] not to have any publicity about this issue, they just don’t want anyone to notice so that they can keep building here, we won’t be able to flush our loos soon”
Many insisted that Waverley Borough Council’s New Leader Julia Potts should come to the village and speak to us face-to-face. “It’s all too easy for them to put housing here when they don’t live here or have to come here and explain their decisions to us” said one resident.
We think Julia Potts, the new leader of Waverley Borough Council, should come here too! If you think so email her julia.potts@waverley.gov.uk (please copy us (cc) in info@cranleighsociety.org and your MP Anne Milton anne.milton.mp@parliament.uk). We need her to come here in the next two weeks before Waverley approve yet another unsustainable planning application for 265 houses on our green fields.
Another resident said “I live near the Amlets Lane site and I’m really worried about the flooding. Waverley have no idea what effect all of this building is going to have and yet they keep approving more and more without finding out if any of these drainage systems will actually work, it’s just stupid”.
There were many concerns about the inability of the A281 to cope with the traffic from Cranleigh, Alfold and Dunsfold “Where do they [Waverley] think all the traffic is going to go? They have no plan and they don’t care”.
Finally, many commented on yet another delay in Waverley’s Local Plan, which was announced recently. “What is the reason for another delay, seems convenient that all the time there’s no plan they can keep putting more houses here, they should come here and explain what the hell they’re doing”.
In light of these comments, we request that Julia Potts, the new Leader of Waverley Borough Council comes to Cranleigh and explains to us why they are approving so many houses here.
If you want to see Julia Potts in Cranleigh email her: julia.potts@waverley.gov.uk (please copy us in info@cranleighsociety.org and your MP Anne Milton anne.milton.mp@parliament.uk). We demand and deserve transparency from our council and consultation.
If Waverley is planning a town here by stealth of several thousand houses they should share their plans with us. They have meetings with developers behind closed doors and yet residents of Cranleigh are firmly excluded from this conversation. Why?
Our Request
The Cranleigh Civic Society invites Julia Potts (julia.potts@waverley.gov.uk) to come to Cranleigh before 26th April 2016 for a public meeting to explain to the people who live here what Waverley Borough Council are up to!
