Master Vision for Guildford

The Master Vision document – commissioned from planners Allies & Morrison – has now been published and you can read it here:

Click to access Guildford_Town_Centre_Vision_2014.pdf

This sets out a number of issues including proposing housing in the Walnut Tree Close area, protecting the green surroundings of the town, and some issues concerning road traffic, the planning of the Gyratory in Guildford Town Centre etc.

The vision for increased residential housing on brownfield in the town centre is excellent and warmly welcomed.  This document was approved as a draft by the Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday 11 June, so this document will go to consultation to be included within the Local Plan, and it is of course possible to comment on this separately too.

There were 7 public speakers at the Scrutiny Committee.  All but one thought that the Walnut Tree Close area should be used for primarily residential development and was a potentially very sustainable site for medium density housing, which could present a very exciting opportunity for  Guildford both as a town (more cohesive, less poor quality land in the centre of town) and as a borough (the potential use of previously developed land in the town centre could allow protection of the Green Belt).  Even the spokesman for the business community, who wanted office usage near the station, agreed that it was a poor site for industrial units and that there should be HGVs going along Walnut Tree Close, and that those existing industrial units could constructively be moved. So the public response was unanimous in agreeing that industrial units should be moved from Walnut Tree Close.