MEETING TONIGHT- 7PM CRANLEIGH PARISH COUNCIL OFFICE extra full council meeting
Dear supporters,
As you know, Cranleigh Society speaks up for Cranleigh residents when there is something to be concerned about. In particular when green fields are under threat.
CVHT is a charity that was formed in good faith to save our beds in Cranleigh hospital over 20 years ago.
The original plan was simply to save Cranleigh Village Hospital beds from closure. The financial argument was excellent and put forward by Cranleigh GPs. Step up/step down beds in local small hospitals cost less than in large acute hospitals. GPs and nurses used to care for the patients and were in contact with consultants at RSCH etc.
Once it became apparent that the beds alone could not be saved, because of NHS policy changes, the community gave money for the hospital building, and more money in bequests has been donated. The money was firstly for the building – to buy it from the NHS so they could use the money to pay for staffing to keep the beds open. We were told they valued the hospital site at £1million.
70 CVHT volunteers worked to bring this story to life and get the job done – save the beds. However, it didn’t work at all. The NHS policy changed several times. They wanted community beds, then they didn’t, then they did again and finally decided that they did not and closed the beds in Cranleigh and focused on Milford Hospital.
The revised plan was to acquire land and build a new hospital AND health centre, funded by mortgages that the GPs would help with.
The field behind Marks and Spencers – known as the Paddock – was owned by Cranleigh Parish Council and had fallen into disrepair as a sports field. The person who owned the land on the other side of Knowle Lane suggested the Paddock could be used to build a new medical centre and hospital and that some of his land could be used to make better sports facilities. This was legally agreed. The sports provision has been made and is used successfully.
This got planning permission and support from the community, but then it was changed when the financial burden on the GPs became untenable and they obtained a government grant to quickly build a new medical centre only, the one we have today.
This meant the finances for a new hospital alone, without the GPs, was unviable and the alternative plan was devised – to build a care home with hospital grade beds, along with accommodation for care workers. This, however, involved partnering with a care home business to get sufficient finance – planning permission was turned down and the community felt let down all round.
Most of the money donated and raised at the shop was used in pursuit of these ideas, professional fees cost a lot of money.
Now you can understand that CVHT state that they want to find a way to get income from the Paddock to give back to the community for health purposes. The Parish council may agree. Do let your elected representatives – Parish and Borough councillors – know your opinions.
Meeting of Parish Councillors tonight – you can attend and make a statement when invited to. You can write in with your views. You can wait for the survey to be officially published.
THE FOLLOWING IS THE FIRST DRAFT THAT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED – it is not the actual survey
Your Opinion Counts: Help Us Reimagine The Knowle Lane Site!
Dear Cranfold Resident,
The Cranleigh Village Health Trust (CVHT) needs your help! We are considering the future use of our land in Knowle Lane (known locally as ‘The Paddock’) and would like your views.
Originally, we planned to develop the field into a health facility. However, our proposal was rejected. Now, we are exploring other uses, but any changes must meet certain criteria.
We would need approval from Waverley Borough Council Planning Department, and support from Cranleigh Parish Council, with whom we are sharing this survey. Also, a third-party developer would be required to help develop the site.
The land is a potentially valuable asset, and its development could raise a significant amount of money to fund healthcare and wellbeing services in the village.
Any proposal must be in accordance with our charitable objectives, which mean that the land can only be used or sold for “the protection of public health in Cranleigh and the surrounding areas”. Proceeds from a sale would fund local healthcare and wellbeing provision.
Please share your preferences and ideas with us for its future use.
Possible Options:
Following discussions with Cranleigh Parish Council, we would welcome your views on other possible uses of the land.
-Selling the field for commercial development.
-Selling for developing a community facility possibly connected to a new leisure centre.
-Selling for developing affordable housing, potentially for healthcare workers.
We would welcome your thoughts on other suggestions that would be consistent with the criteria set out in this letter.
Share your thoughts by:
-Completing our online survey at www.cvhtsurvey.co.uk
-Sending an email to response@cvhtsurvey.co.uk
-Mailing your response to [PO Box, TBCJ Please respond by 30th September 2023
Your responses will be discussed with local stakeholders to guide our next steps. We appreciate your help.
Cranleigh Village Health Trust Company No: 04253074
Registered charity number: 1089861
Registered address: Bourne House, Queen Street, Gomshall, GUS 9LY
Cranleigh Village HEALTH TRUST
can you press our Councils to make use of the CVHT land for temporary parking when the new leisure centre starts to be built. The parking will provide easier access than Stocklund Square for the Medical Centre. All parking bays in Village Way car park will be severely curtailed including disabled bays, inevitably. I believe that much of the parking will return after the new leisure centre is built but the inconvenience for folk trying to reach their doctor will be enormous. It would only be for the length of the build, is it two years? Rosemary
We certainly do not need any more of the cheap nasty affordable housing in this area, nor do we need anymore people being brought in from other boroughs to fill them.
Local residents taking on the new builds made up a very small amount and we seemed to inherit lots of new people from other areas, this is not an issue if they are hard working and contribute to the community, but unfortunately we seem to have inherited some problem people from other boroughs, this is becoming more obvious as time goes on with the reports from the police and updates on social media.
The field in question should remain a field, it should be left to nature to take it over and encourage more wildlife, this would be very beneficial for people to have a calming environment to wander in and would certainly help with mental well being.
And yes we do have a nice posh new park opposite, but the more land that remains natural and unmolested the better, certainly given the amount of houses we already have, which was way more than the residents originally wanted this should be the case.
The funds acquired for the original hospital regeneration/expansion have obviously been used to “help” with getting certain things done legally and put and place, but using the field development which will make millions for certain people as a guise for recouping the funds donated is fairly laughable.
I would be happier if we donated a large chunk of what remained to fund the rebuild of the Shalford war memorial, and also to fund more smaller community projects for the future to ensure our village remains as a bright affluent place.
I think the CVHT needs to be renamed appropriately to be a community funds pot to be used by the community, and Not the self appointed unelected village leaders.