Guildford

“Guildford District has the highest CPRE membership in Surrey with strong support in most Parish Councils and close links with many Residents Associations and Amenity Groups.

* CPRE has played an important leadership role in helping to defend the character of the town of Guildford with its historic heart, green approaches, and surrounding countryside of the highest quality. A key element in this ongoing battle is the maintenance of the Metropolitan Green Belt with its emphasis on openness and in the prevention of urban sprawl and ribbon development.
* CPRE is an active champion of the nationally important countryside that makes up the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and of Great Landscape Value. There is an advisory member from Guildford representing CPRE on the Surrey Hills Board which is fully committed to the protection and enhancement of beauty spots such as Newlands Corner, St Martha’s Hill, Chantry Woods and Pewley Down on the immediate borders of the county town.
* CPRE is a stakeholder in consultations on many planning issues including the development of an integrated traffic management plan for Guildford and the question as to where Park & Ride sites should be located in order to ensure that they operate effectively and without excessive cost or environmental damage. Our members have been heavily engaged with consultation on the draft South East Plan or Spatial Strategy for the next 20 years, and oppose the proposal, made in the Panel Report on the Examination in Public, for a 31% increase in house building in the District. We think that a development target of this scale will threaten the character and setting of Guildford and its surrounding villages with an outcome of Green Belt erosion, settlement coalescence and loss of community and rural identity. The failure of the government to allow for the adequate provision of infrastructure to support proposed economic growth plans for Guildford as a “Regional Hub” is in our opinion irresponsible and unsustainable.
* CPRE has also had a strong participatory role in consultations on the Surrey Minerals and Waste Plans mobilising strong arguments against proposals for both a quarry at Eashing and an incinerator at Wisley. We welcome inquiries from anyone who is interested in the voluntary work that we do, and the extent of our activity relates closely to the size of our membership, the generosity of our supporters and the dedication of our activists. We are determined that planning decisions should be reached through a democratic process and on a local basis with a major priority placed on quality of life and environmental sustainability. ”

Contact is Tim Harrold. Phone is 01483 451543