A FARNHAM Residents councillor has called for an immediate halt on construction of the Brightwells scheme until its impact on Farnham’s congested road system has been assessed “satisfactory”.

Waverley leader Julia Potts told The Herald in July that work on the East Street redevelopment would likely commence “later in the summer” - subject to the finalising of legal agreements with partners Crest Nicholson and Surrey County Council, and the completion of several pre-commencement tasks.

The main construction phase of the long-delayed scheme is yet to commence, however, and according to Farnham Residents’ town councillor Mike Hyman, Waverley must still overcome three major hurdles before the development can proceed.

Asking a question at a Farnham Town Council meeting, the councillor for Hale and Heath End said: “Approval for the development was granted on the basis that the Transport Assessment of the design was agreed as satisfactory by the Surrey Highway Authority.

“But three aspects relative to this have since arisen which give particular cause for concern by the people of Farnham, and need to be resolved before work commences.

“First. There has still been no proper modelling [of how the reconfigured Royal Deer crossroads would operate], and the lack of evidence to show how this crucial junction would work may explain why there has been no progress in providing the demonstration promised in response to the question posed at both the 2016 and 2017 town electors’ meetings.

“Second. The current approval is in conjunction with the approval to build a construction access bridge connecting the site to the A31 bypass. This has since been changed to the use of a bailey bridge, for which there has been no approval and no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or Transport Assessment. Also, as far as can be ascertained, the public open space in Borelli Walk has not been appropriated for this purpose.

“Third. Due to a fundamental oversight in the design, which the contractor [Crest Nicholson] has been aware of for at least nine years, there is a significant ground level difference between the proposed new car park entrance off Dogflud Way and land adjacent to the leisure centre, a consequence of which being that there would be no practical access for emergency vehicles to building D4B - a block of 50 flats. This situation is surely unacceptable, even without the Grenfell effect?”

As a result, Mr Hyman added the current Transport Assessment for the Brightwells Scheme “can no longer be considered an acceptable basis on which to proceed with this £108 million project”, and called for the planning approvals based upon it to be revoked until the design has been rectified and its EIA reassessed.

His request for Farnham Town Council to send a “strongly worded letter” to Waverley Borough Council, requiring them to take whatever action is necessary to ensure that work on the development does not commence, was referred to the council’s strategy and finance working group.

A Waverley spokesman told The Herald: “The scheme has planning permission which has been implemented and is extant. The developer needs to comply with all the outstanding conditions and the requirements of the S.106 legal agreement and S.278 highway works.

“This includes the modelling of The Royal Deer junction, which will need to be completed to the satisfaction of the county Highway Authority. The highway works to this junction have already been approved. Once these works have been implemented, the works will progress to the detailed design of the junction, including any reconfiguration to traffic signals to meet the requirements of the Highway Authority.

“Any subsequent stages of the development requiring approval would be subject to screening for any likely significant effect, requiring an assessment against the EIA regulations.

“Any changes or amendments to the scheme will need to be approved by the council. This includes any changes to the construction access and the bridge which are subject to separate planning permission.”

• Waverley also applied for planning permission (to itself) last week for the resurfacing of the Riverside 2 car park as well as the relocation of posts, gates and lighting.

Riverside 2, on Mike Hawthorn Drive, has already been extended by Waverley to compensate for a loss of parking facilities during the construction of Brightwells, but the council says the latest application is unrelated to the wider redevelopment scheme.

“The works to Riverside 2 car park are part of the council’s ongoing programme of works to improve council owned car parks,” the spokesman added. “These works can only benefit car park users in Farnham.”