Guildford Examiner

02/05/2023

Why Residents for Guildford and Villages (R4GV) Approach Creates EVEN MORE Housing Demand in our Villages.

01/05/2023

Who Would Buy These 473 Flats in the Guildford North Street Scheme if it were Built?

01/05/2023

INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED ARCHITECT SLAMS GUILDFORD NORTH STREET SCHEME!

29/04/2023

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The Law on Tower Blocks is changing post Grenfell Towers - We need to stop this single-stairwell scheme from being pushed through by Residents for Guildford & Villages (R4GV)!

27/04/2023

Please see message below! Thanks so much to all! R

To All The Battle for Guildford Supporters - Supporters Party Please Save the Date!

A massive thank you to all those who volunteered to deliver leaflets across the borough!

I had no idea that the ‘citizen army’ would come out in such force.

And also many thanks to those who have and are engaging with the debate and supporting my efforts on-line with your positive reactions, messages, emails and by sharing the content that I have produced on social media channels, via Whatsapp and other methods.

And particularly those who helped counter the constant personal attacks on me - it happens in politics I am afraid. People get carried away with their party loyalties sometimes.

Battle of Guildford - Supporters Party!
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Obviously I don’t know who you all are. Because not everyone who I have seen being active on social media has necessarily provided their contact details at GuildfordExaminer.com.

But if you are one of those people regardless, please save the date of: Saturday 20th May 2023 - evening.

And please just reply to this message/post or drop me an email to confirm if you can attend. It will be great for everyone to meet - venue details and timings later! So I will need numbers!

[email protected]

Just 1 Week to Go!
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We have just one week now until people can vote at polling stations on Thursday 4th May.

I have only a small quantity of leaflets left but if you can spare some time in the next week, to deliver a few more in your local area, please send me your address by emailing me at:

[email protected]

And I will get some out to you asap. If you have local shops, cafes and other community places nearby you will probably find as I have that people will happily take a stack of leaflets to give out.

Its going to be very interesting to see the results next week. Postal votes were sent out just a week after candidates were announced (not a good thing) so many people will have voted without understanding what is at stake here.

So its vital that we encourage as many people as possible to get out and vote next Thursday.

Thanks again, so much for all of your help and thanks so much for all the smiles in the street, handshakes and words of encouragement.

Robin

Robin Horsley.

P.S. Please do forward this email post via Text/Whatsapp/Messenger etc to friends etc.

Promoted by Robin Horsley, a non-party campaigner, of Merrow, Guildford, Surrey.

26/04/2023

James brings you the perfect start to your day in Surrey.

25/04/2023

The BBC on the Battle for Guildford - Watch the Full Report from Guildford.

Last week Tim Donovan from the BBC came down to Guildford to find out about the Battle for Guildford.

He talked to a portly chap in a blue shirt for a while and then had a walk around the town and talked to some others.

Residents for Guildford and Villages (R4GV)’s Political Party Leader explained the scheme includes 473 flats (in the tower blocks). And then claimed it includes a medical centre and would support the high-street.

However, in fact, back in mid December the NHS had not agreed to put in a medical centre and the developer correctly acknowledged ‘it is not guaranteed’. (Letter on GBC Planning Portal - 15th Dec).

When I asked the Council in January, under Freedom of Information, for details of the impact assessment that had been conducted to establish the impact on local businesses of more retail space (and housing), they were very vague and just directed me to their website where I was unable to find any such assessment at all…

Clearly if the additional retail space were to satisfy, or more than satisfy, the demands of the new housing occupants, then there would be no ‘support’ for the high street - it would not benefit or would suffer. And without any impact assessment I don’t see how it can be claimed it would support it.

A big question that needs to be answered about this scheme is who would buy it?

In December, R4GV’s Councillor for ‘Regeneration’ claimed that the flats were to be family homes. But over 200 units are bedsits or 1 bed flats. (Most of the rest are 2 beds - only 56 are 3 bedroomed). This seemed an absurd claim at the time.

But. Speaking to experienced building contractors and developers some weeks ago about this question they explained that increasingly large parts, or all of high density schemes like this are typically purchased by an investment bank or other funder who then rent units to housing benefits claimants and so families are indeed often crammed into small units.

They explained that for the investor it makes sense because the rental payments are largely paid by the Government - so its guaranteed money.

But. A friend in social care explained that in fact the rents are often so high that housing benefit recipients can’t cover the full payments with housing benefit and therefore have to use some of their other benefits to pay the rent.

So. They would be unlikely to be spending weekends at the Yvonne Arnaud or the cafe’s and restaurants. They would likely be people struggling to make ends meet.

This could explain why there is so little affordable housing in the scheme. Only approx 4.5% vs the Council’s own policy of 40%. Affordable housing is of course a less attractive investment from a funder’s point of view.

‘I don’t know why we would want it either,’ Bigmore says… What?

In his interview, he claimed that he has restricted amounts of spending. In fact he can legally spend something approaching £35k on his campaign - way more than I can possibly afford to make people aware of the issues.

One thing that is crystal clear from the BBC’s coverage is that far from listening to people’s deep concerns about the impact that the tower-block scheme would have on Guildford, R4GV are still strongly advocating it.

Therefore it would be a mistake to assume that they would do anything different than they tried to do before - they would push it through after the elections - if elected.

The threat to Guildford is very real and if people don’t go out and vote for other parties next Thursday then the future of the town looks bleak.

Rain or shine, we all need to get to the polling station next Thursday (4th May). Many people have already voted by post before understanding what was at stake.

If folks just sit at home on their hands and hope.. all may be lost. We have the power once every four years - we have to use it now.

For Guildford it really is - now or never.

The Full BBC Clips is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001lfcm/bbc-london-lunchtime-news-25042023

Robin

Robin Horsley.

Promoted by Robin Horsley, a non-party campaigner as defined and regulated by the Electoral Commission, of Merrow, Guildford, Surrey.

24/04/2023

The Battle for Guildford - This is About Ethics and Lack of Public Consultation.

You may have seen various copy-and-paste versions of this post, and variations on it, posted on Facebook and other channels.

I have responded to it below:

The only person headlining social media posts asking if Residents for Guildford and Villages (R4GV) is corrupt is you David - a known Guildford Greenbelt Group supporter - not a floating voter as you suggest (see all your content on Guildford Dragon). I have been very clear that my questions regarding R4GV are regarding ethics and potential conflicts-of-interest.

In most Councils I have encountered, it is not considered ethical to put Councillors in positions in planning, regeneration, planning policy or other related areas when those Councillors have historic or current interests in these areas except in very exceptional circumstances and only then under close supervision. Yet R4GV has.

It is vitally important that where huge sums of public money are being spent that Councillors make, and are seen to make, objective decisions without ‘fear of favour’ for the benefit of residents. This a question of ethics. I understand that the value of GBC’s housing assets exceeds £1Billion. (From GBC’s CEO Tom Horwood).

In the 4 months since I first became aware of this whole issue regarding the North Street development, no-one has come forward with any evidence of corruption.

You mention a previous Conservative GBC Councillor back in 2015 who the media report was convicted of an offence involving her pretending to be a barrister when in fact she was not fully qualified. This followed her being asked to step down from her role at GBC by the Conservative Party leader the previous year.

Your odd insinuations about my father are wide of the mark. He has stepped down from R4GV (not running again) and has been very supportive of my campaign - I don’t mean financially supportive before you start-off down that road again…

I am putting my own time and money in to this campaign because I have taken time to understand this proposal in detail and can see the devastation it would cause if it were to be pushed through - which is inevitable if R4GV win control of the council on May 4th in the local elections.

My campaign is about North Street and the failure of R4GV’s leaders who were the main proponents of the scheme to widely and properly consult with residents on a proposal which affects the entire borough - The town centre is the economic hub of our borough. It provides employment and generates local taxes which support the entire borough.

If Councillors fail to do what their own Council website promises to do (‘We will consult you’) it is hardly surprising when such poor and harmful proposals are able to be brought forward and pushed through without public awareness.

Sadly your own favoured party Guildford Greenbelt Group voted for the proposal as did Labour who still are in support today (see Guildford Dragon Interview with their spokesperson).

All 5 Liberal Democrat Cllrs on the Council voted against. As did both of the Conservatives and they, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, worked hard into the night of January 11th to attach 8 solid reasons for the refusal of the application.

This effort makes the chances of a successful appeal against the application very difficult for the applicant - Savills. N.B. R4GV’s Councillor for Regeneration is an ex-Director of Savills.

However, as you may be aware, all the developer need do is wait and see how people vote on Thursday 4th May.

If sufficient numbers do not come out and vote for political parties or independent candidates who oppose this scheme, and R4GV and their allies on the scheme win a majority, then the proposal can simply be re-presented with only a minor amendment and be pushed through.

The North Street site represents a great opportunity for Guildford and as R4GV’s Councillor for Regeneration pointed out before being elected in 2019, there is no reason for Guildford to accept a harmful development - GBC own a significant proportion of the land and therefore have the necessary leverage.

Why on earth R4GV and others are so keen on a scheme that fails in so many regards including the failure to address the housing need - only roughly 4.5% of the proposed scheme is loosely defined as ‘Affordable Housing’ vs Council policy of 40% for such schemes - I do not know.

But to suggest it may be due to corruption is your suggestion not mine.

You can see the original film (10mins long) that prompted this exchange at GuildfordExaminer dot com.

Robin Horsley. GuildfordExaminer dot com.

07/04/2023

A look at changing scenes around Guildford, Surrey back through the years! to the Image Owners Featured.Feel fr...