Cranleigh High Street Improvements works update

The sorry saga of Cranleigh High Street improvements rumbles slowly on.

Cranleigh High Street has needed improvements for years – why are the pavements full of unattractive trip hazards? why does it flood at the crossings? why are people able to park illegally? If we are all meant to walk more why are there so few places to stop and rest. What has happened and why is there some money for Surrey CC to spend on the High Street?

Who is responsible?

Surrey County Council is responsible for Cranleigh High Street – roads and parts of the pavements.  Waverley Borough Council is responsible for some land management such as the commons.  The pavements directly outside shops and offices are owned and managed by the shops and businesses. Surrey cannot require them to maintain them well.  The services – water, electricity, gas, broadband, telephone lines – all dig up various parts of Surrey’s roads and pavements, plus areas owned by shops and businesses.  These are some of the reasons for the unpleasant and dangerous surfaces we experience.

Where will the money come from?

The tale of funding is a conundrum. There are so many red tape rules about developers’ levies – S106 and CIL money – that makes the practicality very challenging. The Developers get to choose what ‘their’ contribution is spent on after elected councillors have asked citizens and developed a menu to offer them. Does that sound daft? Surely, in future, Planning applications agreements for CIL funded projects should be easily found and understood and agreed to by the public, especially businesses? and particularly the time line!

Consultation Results

The latest ‘consultation’ produced no very clear result.

Out of a population of around16,000 just 482 responses were registered. Of these the majority by far were over the age of 55, with very few younger respondents. If you look at the overall pattern there was no stand-out majority in favour of any of the solutions offered. Why could that be? Could it be apathy? Could it be poor publicity for the public engagement? Could it be no-one likes the solutions?

Fix the flood areas?

One of the proposed solutions needed is to fix the propensity to flood at the Post Office lights crossing and by the Village Hall. They say they will raise the crossings – presumably the water has to go somewhere? Surely the answer is fix the drainage? It has been declared ‘too difficult’! Really? Are we stuck with that for eternity? Does someone need to rethink that?

People park badly – for ‘just a minute’

A walk along the High Street with your eyes open will of course reveal a whole plethora of behaviours, from parking outside the very excellent Cornwells Bakers ‘just for a moment’ to Cook deliveries, not to mention Kerbside Tyres parking. And, of course those people who park on the yellow lines outside Amarone and prevent buses and trucks getting through.

What about pedestrians?

In Cranleigh High Street the way people cross the road on foot is also wide and varied. Even when traffic is busy, people often ignore the island refuges and simply stroll between cars, often with small children in tow, not setting a great example.

Who is making suggestions?

When the first public consultation took place in the lobby of Cranleigh Library, some time ago, the ‘consultant’ from Atkins was heard to say that she had never walked the High Street, and declined to accept our generous offer to see what people really did, away from the computer modelling. https://www.atkinsrealis.com/en/media/trade-releases/2022/2022-11-07

So, without us offering any particular solutions, here are the findings of the consultation. Or click here

Proposed works

Surrey County Council have reported the feedback from public consultations in Autumn/winter 2024.  They will engage a design team and a contractor and hope to minimise disruption when carrying out the works.

There were engagement events that around 465 Cranleigh residents and business owners attended. 

482 comments were received. There were 5 themes:

1. Improved pedestrian crossing points
2. Improvements to Knowle Lane junction
3. Post Office entrance and pedestrian crossing
4. Pavements and on-street parking
5. Public transport and supporting walking and cycling

You can read the website results here https://cranleighhighstreet.commonplace.is/en-GB/proposals/cranleigh-high-street-improvements-engagement-summary-and-results/step1

Based on feedback the proposals have been kept, changed or abandoned.

• The mini roundabout beside Cranleigh Village Hall will remain in place. 
• The pedestrian refuges along the High street will remain. A majority of respondents favour a raised zebra crossing outside Marks & Spencer; a raised crossing point outside Cranleigh Pharmacy;
• Knowle Lane Junction will be improved. A majority of respondents favour widening the pavement slightly at the junction making visibility safer.
• The post office area – majority of respondents are in favour of improved vehicle access, raised crossing points, raised footway alongside the main road.
• A new bus shelter is wanted outside the library. The existing bus laybys are not to be reduced.
• Timed loading bays are favoured outside the Fish and Chip shop and Marks and Spencer, whereas a peak times no loading zone from Village Way to Marks and Spencer is favoured. 

What problems are they solving for us?

• Speed reduction measures [includes traffic flow] A few car, van and motor bike drivers are downright selfish, driving quickly through the village and making a lot of noise too. 
• Knowle Lane junction – crowded for pedestrians, difficult to turn into and out of, cars park for a few minutes on double yellow lines causing problems
• Pedestrian crossing points – need to be safer for those with wheels, and mobility issues – retain Pedestrian islands at Marks & Spencer, Cranleigh Pharmacy
• Post Office entrance – High Street traffic lights crossing floods, plants are overgrown
• Footpaths and on-street parking [to include disabled parking and loading bay]
• Public transport and active travel [this would include pavement works]
• Loading bays to remove delivery lorries from the road – butcher, Cook, newsagent
• Fountain Square pedestrianisation – weekends
• Heritage Trail
• Wayfinding signs
• Pedestrians’ behaviours – The pedestrian count at busy times is quite high, and the pavements in some places quite narrow and unpleasant.   People gather and chat which is great but causes crowds.  Some people prefer to cross the roads wherever they would like, rather than walk to a crossing, and this is seen as quite worrying for drivers. 
• Climate change and the increase in the population make it necessary to find ways to discourage car use.  It is not viable to keep increasing the traffic.  Already it takes about 20 minutes to drive through Cranleigh village at several times of the days. 

The High Street scheme is based on all these factors and our volunteer and paid councillors have worked hard to make sense of what they can and can’t achieve for the public.  The County Council staff have the knowledge and expertise and they explain things to the councillors.  Their titles include Planning and Placemaking Director, Placemaking specialist, Placemaking Officer and Senior Placemaking Officer.  The Officers suggest companies for the council to engage to carry out the work required to make the scheme happen.  The councillors had voted for Atkins and now have Munro. 

What a complex scheme. Let’s hope some good comes of it all now and in a tidy fashion so that public and businesses thrive and don’t die.