WAVERLEY Council looks set to take the next step towards a scaled-down East Street redevelopment next Tuesday by granting the landlord's consent needed for Crest Nicholson Sainsbury's to submit a planning application. The council's ruling executive gave its unanimous approval on Monday, in the light of the public response to the brochure posted to each Farnham home, outlining how the project would be modified. Of the 17,000-plus households contacted, only 1,197 returned the form to make their feelings known. And of those, 123 made comments but chose not to answer the question about whether the council was on the right track with a scheme promising fresh architecture, a smaller cinema, multi-decked rather than underground parking and around 230 homes instead of the 294 previously proposed. But 754 responded "yes", compared with the 320 who said "no" - around 70 per cent and a clear mandate, in the view of the executive, for the granting of landlord's consent. Of the "yes" voters, there were those who picked holes in the scheme but still gave their approval, right through to those who made such comments as "Just cut the red tape and get on with it, now you have it right for Farnham." "No" voters ranged from those who roundly condemned every aspect of the proposals, to those who regarded them as a great improvement, but still felt too much development was envisaged. "The quality of the returns was incredible. A great deal of thought went into it, they were very sincere," said Farnham councillor Roger Steel. Mr Steel, a prominent member of pressure groups opposing the previous Crest Nicholson proposals before he was elected a Conservative councillor in May, said he did not think he was changing sides in voting for the next step to be taken. "It is quite different when one has the privilege of seeing the financial information and is sitting here with responsibilities," he said. "I genuinely believe that this is the best that we can negotiate and I think the speed that it has been done to fulfil the manifesto promises that were made was remarkable. "I get the impression that, for the first time in four- and-a-half years, we have been in control." David Munro's verdict was that "it ticks all the boxes" and in this he included those requieremnts relating to financial issues, set out in the confidential papers considered by councillors. "Above 70 per cent in Farnham is astonishingly high approval of something. I have no doubt, based on these responses, that we can say people in Farnham approve of what we are doing," Mr Munro added. "I firmly believe I personally now have the mandate to go ahead." Other councillors termed the proposals "excellent', "a breath of fresh air" and spoke of their negotiators having achieved more in four months than the previous Lib Dem administration did in four years. "Sometimes as councillors you have to be brave," said Pat Frost. "We are in the right ballpark, we are going in the right direction. Let's try and please most of the people." She observed that if the council could get on and achieve something for East Street, rather than letting it drag on for another six or seven years, it could then concentrate on other parts of the borough where projects were being kept on the backburner. Council leader Richard Gates stressed that full consultations would take place on any planning application submitted. He acknowledged that, in terms of the number of homes proposed, the scheme was still larger than some of his colleagues would wish. He suggested the signal should go out to the developer: "Do not come back with a bigger scheme!"
