WAVERLEY Borough Council has been forced into an embarrassing admission that it did indeed breach its own planning controls by building new changing rooms at the Memorial Ground on West Street in Farnham without the necessary planning permission.

Responding to a complaint by Rowledge architect Mark Westcott, the council’s executive director, Paul Wenham, backtracked on an earlier statement that the new changing rooms were lawfully constructed under permitted development rights, adding that a planning application will be submitted “as quickly as possible”.

Mr Wenham said the changing rooms were initially considered temporary to provide replacement facilities for Farnham Town Football Club during the building works on the adjacent Farnham Memorial Hall, and therefore qualified as permitted development.

But on July 13, just days after the official opening of the changing rooms, Waverley’s executive committee agreed to relocate Waverley Training Services to the hall, displacing the football club permanently.

As a result, the new buildings built on the Memorial Ground could no longer be regarded as permitted development and the executive’s decision should, therefore, have been preceded with a planning application for the changing rooms.

A Waverley spokesman said: “When the temporary changing rooms were agreed they were covered by permitted development rights.

However, when the executive agreed on [July 13] to relocate Waverley Training Services to the Memorial Hall it was accepted that, as the changing rooms were not going back, planning permission would be required.

“A report will be going to the next executive meeting to seek approval to submit a retrospective planning application.”

Mr Westcott has again challenged Waverley’s stance, however, expressing his belief that it was never Waverley’s intention to return the changing rooms after the refurbishment of the Memorial Hall.

Key to the council’s decision to relocate Waverley Training Services, he said, is the fact it allows Waverley to sell the old Pump House on Kimber’s Lane “to help out the shortfall of the refurbishment works at the Memorial Hall”.

“It seems to me that Waverley Borough Council has been totally high-handed in their actions and responses over the unlawful temporary changing rooms at the Memorial sports ground and that it has ridden roughshod over Farnham in an unacceptably detrimental fashion,” he continued.

“A council should always lead by good example and, sadly, this is not the first occasion they have let us down in such a fashion.

“We should be able to have total confidence in our local council and have the right to expect far better standards. In this, I believe that Waverley Borough Council and our elected members have failed us abysmally.

“I hope it serves as a wake-up call to all concerned and helps to encourage and establish approaches in future that ensure that such experiences are not repeated.”

It seems the new changing rooms have also proven a bad omen for Combined Counties League side Farnham Town, who have played seven games so far this season and won only once.