WSVA  MEETING

9^th June 2025

Present at the meeting: Alex Waugh, Terry Wright, Helen Bell, Robert Grimmond, Janet Sutton, Ali Johnson, Louise McCann, Belinda Baker, Bob McShee, Honor and Philip Brooker, Susie Sherman and David Grey.

Apologies: Chris Webb, Caroline Mankelow, Keith Witham, Bilal Akhtar, Nicky and Martin Parsons, Nuala Crampin and Richard Trinick.

Alex welcomed Susie to the meeting as the representative of the Friends of Wood Street School.

The minutes of the last meeting were accepted by the meeting following a slight amendment submitted by Chris:

The owners of The White Hart are looking towards a short-term tenancy or a long-term free of tie tenancy where drink can be bought through the market and not just through Stonegate. In terms of selling the pub, it’s envisaged that they could look for something in the regions of £1.8- 2.0M but with the state of the business and property at the moment, it should be nearer to 1 million.  

MATTERS ARISING

There is an individual who has expressed interest in taking on a 20 or 30 year lease of The White Hart. A public meeting has been organised for Friday 11^th July in St. Alban’s Hall to see whether there is any interest in taking it on as a community pub. However, the meeting may not need to take place if a tenant has been found by that time. Chris continues to be in conversation with the owners of the pub.

CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT

Preparations continue for the Summer Show. Howard Smith, the Mayor of Guildford, will be opening the Show at 1pm. 35 stallholders have been booked. There will be plenty of entertainment on the day. The Dog Show will take bookings beforehand online and during the day itself. There are currently no plans for a tug-of-war.

The tea tent will be run by Louise Mandeville and the Church.

Susie asked about communication with the school on the Summer Show. Alex will put Susie in contact with Jo Ascione and Ali will give her Kate Overy’s contact details.

New banners will be going up to advertise the event at the end of this month.

Volunteers are needed to help collect donations for the tombola: Belinda, David and Alex offered to help with this. We also need people to man the stall on the day. Louise offered to help all afternoon if needed!

There will be a band playing in the evening. Key of Jay will start at 7.30pm.

Tickets for The Jazz Festival are up 50% from the same time last year, mainly due to the headline act: The Wonder of Stevie.

Tickets for the Jazz Festival are £25 and curries will be £12.

The litter pick was a great success with 25 adults and children. Refreshments were served in the Church Hall afterwards which worked very well and was a much cheaper option than drinks at the pub. The only difficulty going forward with this will be if the hall has been booked for a private function on that afternoon. The next litter pick will be on Saturday, 8^th November.

Richard wants any copy for the newsletter to be submitted by Friday, 20^th June so that he can get it to the printers by the 27^th June.

The completion of the footpath to Fairlands is still awaiting the necessary money from SCC. Alex will contact Keith for any update.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Terry reported that all was quiet at the moment apart from some money already coming in for the Dog Show at the Summer Show. £500 has been received from WPC for the VE Day Celebration. It was agreed that the £15 subscription to belong to the Guildford Residents Association should continue.

WOOD STREET SCHOOL

The wellness event planned for Wood Street by GBC for 20^th June has now been cancelled due to it clashing with the Wood Street School Summer Fair. It is hoped that the event can be held on an alternative date for the residents of Wood Street. It was agreed that the school will inform WPC and GBC of any future major events which should help the school with publicity and fundraising.

Wood Street School Summer Fair will be held on Friday, 20^th June from 3.10pm – 5pm.

Peter Sutton is co-ordinating with the school about setting up a gardening club for the pupils.

Susie asked if events planned by the WSVA or the Church could be given to the school so that they can encourage the children to get involved with local events.

SURREY COUNTY COUNCIL

Keith sent his apologies for the meeting but would like to draw members’ attention to his June email report.

Anyone who would like to receive Keith’s monthly emails can contact him at: keithwitham1@hotmail.co.uk or contact me and I will forward the newsletter.

GUILDFORD BOROUGH COUNCIL

Philip gave this report on behalf of GBC:

1. Regarding the HRA Fraud Investigation, the administration has now agreed to bring a proposal for consideration by the O&S committee on 8th July, for the inspection of some of the 8,000 or so “uninspected items of maintenance” carried out during the “huge overspending period”, currently being investigated. Whether this will assist the fraud enquiry will be their decision but as a minimum, it should establish a reasonable assessment of whether sufficient budgetary provision has been made for the future, and it will help in establishing a degree of transparency into what, essentially, has been until now, conducted in private.
2. The Unitary Process continues with all recommendations now into the minister for appraisal. It now seems that there is to be a further consultation in late June with unspecified stakeholders. After this is over, the government alone will make the final decision. This decision is expected Sept / Oct to enable elections to proceed in May 2026.
3. As reported last month, the Council has also committed itself to “Bringing a report to full Council for approval of terms of reference for a community governance review of the unparished town area of Guildford. Since then, we have received a letter from the secretary of state saying that “New Town and Parish Councils need to think carefully how they might be funded” The implication is clear that no new funding will be provided by Government. It is silent on existing parish councils but it’s likely that current precepts will continue, at least for the immediate future.
4. With regard to localism, Guildford has its existing Parish Councils already. (Except Wisley and the Town Centre). Community councils have been suggested by SCC but there is very little information on how these would differ from existing Parish arrangements or how they would be funded. Additionally, Guildford Conservative Association is proposing the formation of Charter Trustees for Guildford, which would preserve the civic heritage of Guildford. This would mean that the role of Mayor, Honorary Aldermen and the civic regalia held for centuries, will not be lost for Guildford. All in all, there is a long way to go before any of this gets finalised.

WORPLESDON PARISH COUNCIL

Bob gave the report from WPC:

1.Graffiti  – Broad Street bus shelter – Our Groundstaff continue to remove graffiti from this bus shelter as and when an incident occurs.

2.Maintenance of the Community Car Park – Our Groundstaff have been undertaking weed removal.  Now that no mow May has finished, our staff will strim the banks.

3.Anticipated heavy rainfall – Our Groundstaff continue to monitor the pond and grilles in Wood Street Village taking preventative action in a bid to reduce the risk of flooding during heavy rainfall.

4.St Mary’s, Worplesdon – A large funeral is taking place at Worplesdon St Mary’s at 1pm on Tuesday 10 June.  There may be possible traffic disruption.

Some concern has been expressed about a van on the corner of Broadacres. Bob will investigate this.

CHURCH NEWS

The Rev Dawn Lucas-Brown, who has been appointed as Rector of Worplesdon, will be moving to the vicarage with her husband, Stuart and her sons Roman and Cody, on 30th June. Her induction will take place at St Mary’s Worplesdon on Wednesday, 16^th July at 7.30pm, followed by a reception at St. Alban’s. Invitations will be sent out shortly.

The Double Flush Appeal for St Mary’s Church has now reached the total needed of £160,000 and the work has been put out to tender. The planning application is still awaiting approval by GBC.

The Church Youth Group, which meets on the first Friday of the month, continues to flourish and there were 22 young people at the last session. Next month’s session will include someone demonstrating how cricket bats are made.

AOB

David reported that the Colts is a growing section of the club with over 80 youngsters. The Sunday team of the Cricket Club are doing well. During the first weekend of September, the committee is hoping to organise a Cricket Club knockout competition.

Bob gave an update on Vivien and Nick Leslie who were involved in a traffic accident a few weeks ago. Vivien was on the committee of the WSVA for many years and Ali will send a get well card to them on behalf of the Association.

The residents’ letter, compiled by Ali and listing all the organisations and clubs in the village, will be going out to two new families who have moved into the village. The postman has proved to be a valuable source of information and Ali has also contacted two estate agents who were interested in giving the letter to any new residents. It was suggested that she could also contact Curchods, Bournes and Savills estate agents. The school would also like a copy to give out to parents of children starting in September.

Concern was expressed about a willow and sycamore tree at Hillplace Farm. The willow has been savagely pollarded and the sycamore tree has been removed when it should not have been. Honor offered to investigate the communication between GBC and the new owner to see how this could have happened.

Following Monday’s meeting, Philip contacted the Arboricultural Officer at GBC who sent this reply:

Afternoon Philp,

All the details in regard application 25/T/00050 are in the public domain and you will see a detailed tree assessment schedule,  including photographs showing clearly the work that were proposed within the application. I have had no contact with the agent or landowner either prior or after the submission of the 211 notification for tree works within a Conservation Area. A site visit was conducted in early April without contact with the agent/landowner.

If additional tree works are under consideration, there are currently no live applications with the LPA  for works in the Wood Street Village locality.

Hill Place Farm is with the Wood Street Village Conservation Area. Any tree 75mm or greater in stem diameter  within the CA, is automatically afforded protection (same level as a TPO) and cannot be felled or worked on without LPA approval. An application, referred to as a 211 notice has to be submitted to the LPA and the LPA then have six weeks to decide if the works are arboriculturally acceptable. If the works proposed are not acceptable and would result in a significant reduction of amenity within the CA, a Tree Preservation Order may be made.

Do you know the location of the Willow tree? I assume they are referring to the Willow on the frontage of Hill Place Farm which I have approved a reduction to previous pruning points to ensure the long term viability of the tree.

Hope this helps.

Tim

Tim Holman

Arboricultural Officer

Development Management (Applications), Place Services

Guildford Borough Council 

 From: Philip Brooker <Philip.Brooker@guildford.gov.uk>
Sent: 10 June 2025 13:57
To: Tim Holman <Tim.Holman@guildford.gov.uk>; Justin Williams <Justin.Williams@guildford.gov.uk>
Cc: Bilal Akhtar <Bilal.Akhtar@guildford.gov.uk>; Honor Brooker <honor.brooker@guildford.gov.uk>
Subject: Hill Place Farm, Wood Street Village

Tim / Justin

Last night I attended a meeting of Wood St Village Association at which the above came up. They referred to the recent planning consent 25/T/00050 regarding certain tree works.

Although accepting that nothing improper has occurred, there is concern that there are additional tree works under consideration that, if permitted, would impair the beauty of this unique village.  I understand that this area is protected by a conservation area which gives a measure of protection to trees but nothing as robust as a TPO.

It would be helpful if you could let me have a summary of these protections particularly relating to what and how, and the timescales needed, and any other local consultation process required before further works can proceed. There was also the issue of a 50year old willow, apparently in perfect health which some villagers thought merited a TPO, might become a candidate for felling which would much distress the community.

It would also be helpful if you have any information on informal discussions that have taken place between you and the owner / agent as to their further intentions, accepting that confidentiality cannot be breached.

With many thanks

Cllr Philip Brooker

The new owners of Hillplace Farm are intending to submit a planning application for the building of up to 25 houses on the site.

The meeting finished at 9.21pm.

The next meeting of the WSVA will be held on Monday, 14^th July at St. Alban’s Church.