Guildford News

Friday, July 21, 2006

RESIDENTS SEEK CHANGE IN PLANNING LAW

RESIDENTS SEEK CHANGE IN PLANNING LAW
(Press Release from the “Stop the Stadium Campaign”)

Following the successful campaign by Guildford residents to stop the planning application for a multi-purpose 8,000-capacity stadium on local parkland, known as Stoke Park, they now seek to change planning law so as to forbid planning applications on land an applicant does not own and where he does not have the owner’s permission. Over 1000 residents personally wrote to the Council to protest the Stadium application.

At present anyone with sufficient money not to be concerned about legal costs can make an application involving another person’s land without even informing them. No socially responsible person or business would undertake such an initiative without consulting the owner who could well be inconvenienced by such an action. However not all applicants behave so responsibly.

This is what has happened here in Guildford where the applicant, Mr. Michel Harper, a wealthy local businessman, applied to build a Stadium on land owned by the Council and without any prior consultation with them. The application and subsequent Appeal have cost the Council tens of thousands of pounds in barristers’ costs and officers’ time. However the damage to lives of Guildford residents does not stop here. For two years since the application was made in February 2004 and until it was rejected on Appeal in June this year, residents, some old and in poor health, have been living with worry because of concern that this area of Guildford could be damaged by a developer who took no account of their wishes or those of their elected representatives. The application was unanimously rejected by the Council in January 2005 and, in June 2006, the Inspector agreed with the Council’s decision by rejecting the Appeal on six out of seven counts (see http://planning.guildford.gov.uk/data/AcollateImages/2004/04P00857/Appeal%20Decision.pdf)
Mr Harper took the process all the way to Appeal despite the Council having consistently confirmed that they had no intention of selling the land.

This example is but one of many where Mr Harper’s planning actions have cost Guildford residents dear. So far the Council estimate that he and his companies have cost Guildford tax payers approaching one million pounds through his 25 Appeals and other challenges. Mr Harper recently appeared in the national press, as Waverly Borough Council, where he lives, successfully prosecuted him for not complying with planning law. Mr Harper’s reaction to this was quoted (Surrey Advertiser 7 July 2006) as: “For me, the case revolves around human rights legislation, which dictates that you should be able to enjoy your home and your possessions, free from government interference. I have been denied that.”

The Guildford residents of the “Stop the Stadium” campaign ask for similar freedom from interference by wealthy businessmen seeking to build their businesses, without thought for the quality of life in Guildford and without consulting the elected authorities in the town. They compare Mr Harper’s Stadium application to a story from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll was also a Guildford resident) in that it was pure fantasy, divorced from the reality of the true issues in Guildford and with no support from residents visible at the Inquiry. They believe that to recompense Guildford residents for the disquiet he has caused, Mr Harper should make a donation to charity comparable to the costs the Council has incurred.

The Stadium fiasco could not have happened if current planning law did not allow such rogue applications. Guildford residents have been the victims of harassment by a businessman wanting to boost his bottom line. This abuse of the current system must be stopped or further council tax and time will be wasted and, when further unnecessary appeals are lodged, so will national taxation.

Dr. Graham Hibbert & Dylan White

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