Sir, – It is with considerable joy that I read the news that Friends Provident, the owners of the much-unloved Woolmead shopping and office complex and perhaps one of the most inappropriately designed buildings in the town centre – not forgetting the exterior of the Redgrave – has purchased the car park / the old cinema site.
This is exciting news indeed which implies that the whole of that area of the town defined as an "Area of Opportunity" from Woolmead Road down to the river, can be developed as a whole, the proposals for which have yet to be submitted by the eight short-listed developers.
This Woolmead complex is of such a size that it dominates this part of the town centre and hopefully it will be completely replaced so that this whole area can become a shining example of the very best of British architecture and town planning. What an opportunity. We might even see the 'Hanging Gardens of Farnham' from the top of a new Woolmead complex.
Every time I pass by the 'backside' of the Woolmead I find it difficult to understand how such a monstrosity could ever have had planning approval. But it happened and this time there must be much more imagination. Many may not walk along Woolmead but the drivers passing by who have yet to see our new Farnham will be encouraged to stop off for a visit.
Of course we have yet to see what will be proposed for this new part of the town centre, which must not be purely commercially driven. It must include leisure facilities, particularly for young people, and for other community activities.
Let us hope that when
completed the present levels of loutishness and vandalism will have been overcome, and indeed much sooner.
The development brief, as opposed to the planning brief, will soon be available for public scrutiny when it is hoped that comment will be constructive and not based on pure vested interests; some compromise may be the order of the day.
What exciting days these are for Farnham when there is the opportunity to combine the old with the new and for it to become one of the most
interesting small towns in the country.
Bryan Sell
The Hart, Farnham