THE United Voice of Farnham has spoken out loud and clear, with a call for the scale of the East Street redevelopment, and in particular the housing element, to be reduced as far as viably possible. The pressure group was formed last October in a bid to achieve a consensus about what the town - not noted for its unity on important issues - considers acceptable on the controversial site. In that aim it has succeeded, with representatives of around 26 organisations delivered their combined verdict at a meeting last Wednesday. After some tweaking and a degree of compromise, a wish list of goals was approved by representatives of Farnham Chamber of Commerce, Independent Retailers, the Farnham Society, Visitors' Council, Building Preservation Trust, Brightwell Bowling Club, Gostrey Centre, Farnham Theatre Association, New Farnham Repertory Actors Company, 40Degreez, Farnham Traffic SIG, East Street Action, the Swimming Baths Trust (Victoria Garden), five residents' associations and Major Bryan Sell, the former town mayor, who was among those calling for regeneration 10 years ago. The group was hopeful that its views would deliver a cautious approach by Waverley Council, which was meeting as The Herald went to press, to decide whether to grant landowner sanction to the new masterplan put forward by Crest Nicholson Sainsbury's (CNS). The United Voice expressed its strong support for the regeneration of East Street and the neglected buildings in Brightwell Gardens, but did not give its stamp of approval to the scale of the scheme. In calling for a reduction, however, the group paid heed to the urging of Gary Mejyes, for the Chamber of Commerce, that the development must work commercially for the town. Mr Mejyes was anxious that decreases in the scale must not be at the expense of the viability of the scheme and the inclusion of element such as the anchor store and a town square. Ken Kent, developer of the Borelli and St George's Yard schemes and a Visitors' Council representative, appreciated his concern, but stressed that a viable and balanced scheme did not require all the 293 homes proposed by CNS. "I think it could be even more," he added, suggesting that Vue could pull out of the eight-screen cinema development, leaving the developers to propose more homes in its place. "What have we now got other than the housing and shops? We have got a cinema - perhaps! They are not increasing the Gostrey Club, not replacing the CAB because that's moved anyway. "They are not actually giving anything that is identifiable as the balance that we would have for agreeing to this overdevelopment of housing.We have been conned, well and truly conned right down the river." Architect Max Lyons agreed that the cinema could easily fall through. "Crest Nicholson's attitude to this scheme is to landbank housing consents," he said. "What we all want is East Street regenerated and this scheme isn't doing it at all." Roger Steel, chairing the meeting, pointed out that despite the fact that the geographical area of the site was smaller, because of the removal of the Sainsbury's store site, CNS was still proposing the same number of homes. He claimed that 1.7 per cent of Farnham's population would end up living in Brightwell Gardens and the development would meet 1.6 years' worth of Waverley's new homes traffic. Traffic and parking concerns as ever loomed large, with the United Voice insisting that extra provision must be found for residents, retail customers and particularly visitors to the 1,200-seat cinema. Independent trader Mike Martin pointed out that no mention at all was being made of the problems during the construction period. "It will be a case of 'last person in Farnham please switch the light off'." The United Voice went on to call for a reduction to be made in the size of the proposed cinema, while still keeping it viable. And there was a new fear over the future of Brightwell Bowling Club. It seemed that not only would the green be overshadowed by tall housing, the green itself would have to be dug up to construct the underground car park entrance, and then relaid. "It will be the end of the bowling club, it will not restart," said the captain, Richard Jessop. The group's submission to Waverley has called for the bowls club to be protected, the Gostrey Club to be improved and enlarged to meet increasing demand on its services and for The Marlborough Head to be retained. Finally, the United Voice will be urging that the Redgrave Theatre building should not be demolished until Farnham has the guarantee of another theatre. "The Farnham Society position is that that is a listed building, end of message," said Gordon Harris, referring to the fact that the Redgrave is attached to the listed Brightwell House. Mr Harris said that if it comes to a public inquiry, the Farnham Society will be fighting the demolition until there has been much more investigation carried out.
