WAVERLEY Council has landed itself in controversy over its latest East Street public consultation, after some views and votes, claimed to have been submitted on time, were not included in the final figures. The published figures indicated that around 70 per cent of those who voted felt the new scaled-down East Street scheme was on the right lines. But a number of prominent campaigners have complained to Waverley chief executive Mary Orton that their views and votes have gone uncounted. Among them was theatre supporter John Price, who had driven over to Waverley's Godalming offices on the closing date of September 28, handed in his submission at the front counter and seen it date- stamped. A search of what Waverley claimed were all the comments submitted, published on the council's website, showed that Mr Price's views were absent. So, too, were those of campaigners Jeremy Hyman, Bryan Sell and various others who claim to have handed their forms in directly in advance of the deadline, rather than posting them. "Of those people I know, twice as many say their views are not listed as those that say they are. And these are only the people who have been able to check, who knows how many are involved?" complained Mr Hyman. An unrepentant Waverley Council on Monday declared that council leader Richard Gates had requested that Waverley's Audit section count "the late arrivals". A statement referred to 219 cards "which did not meet the clear deadline". Of these, 115 voted "yes", 75 voted "no" and 29 did not vote, leading Waverley to revise the overall percentage of "yes" voters to 68.75 per cent. Mr Gates observed: "I hope the implied suggestion that Waverley has been holding something back has now been comprehensively refuted. "There has been no material change to the outcome, with more than two-thirds of those who voted believing that Waverley is on the right lines. "I hope we can now all devote our effort to ensuring that the detailed scheme that is to be submitted as a planning application, and on which there will be the full public consultation that any planning application requires, is a really excellent outcome of this lengthy process." Speaking to The Herald, however, Mr Gates was prepared to accept that the problem might have laid within Waverley's own offices, with submissions received on the final day not being forwarded to the relevant department on time. "I do accept and apologise if there may have been some submissions somewhere in the Waverley system that hadn't got to the proper point. We should perhaps have been more alert on that final day. "I am hoping that we have show our good faith by counting all late ones now," he added.
