TWO weeks ago the former Mayor of Farnham, Bryan Sell, invited representatives of local interest groups to a meeting.

The aim - to ask developers Crest Nicholson and Chris Mansell, the Waverley councillor at the helm of the project, some key questions about ongoing negotiations.

After the meeting, hosted by Herald proprietor Sir Ray Tindle, many of the invited guests felt no clearer about many of the key issues.

Current town mayor Carole Cockburn appealed for more information, so this week The Herald put 10 key questions to Crest Nicholson.

We asked:

1) At the meeting, there was some concern that the public's only meaningful input is likely to be the chance to make representations about an outline planning application for the whole scheme. It was suggested that once at this stage it would be too late to make any major changes. Is this fair?

2) In its second newsletter, Crest Nicholson has released a flavour of people's views following the public exhibitions in February and March. Will any hard data, giving numbers or percentages of how many people said what, be released?

3) Can you name the key players involved in ongoing discussions between Crest Nicholson, Sainsbury's and Waverley council and specify each of their mandates?

4) What specific changes have been made and which ones in response to public opinion?

5) Has the number of flats been reduced from 338? If not, is it likely to be?

6) Will a smaller scheme mean Crest and Sainsbury's will pay a smaller down payment to Waverley? And, as asked at the meeting, is there a bottom line/balance between the scale of the development (particularly the number of flats) and the financial return?

7) Can you elaborate on the "radical road scheme" mentioned in the agenda for the September 12 meeting? (Is it a pedestrianised East Street with two-way traffic behind the Woolmead?)

8) Many people fear that the redevelopment will worsen Farnham's traffic congestion. Do you expect the final scheme to increase traffic? Can you say what effect construction work will have on traffic?

9) When will the next public exhibition unveiling the second master plan be?

10) Does Crest or Sainsbury's anticipate any land negotiations falling through?

The developers spokesman said they could not respond to each question directly, and instead issued this response:

"We have been releasing information about East Street as the project unfolds, and we will be continuing to do so as significant steps forward are made on the scheme.

"As we have discussed before, Crest Nicholson and Sainsbury's are working with WBC (Waverley Borough Council) using the information gathered throughout the five months of public consultation to amend and refine the scheme before a second public exhibition takes place and a planning application is made.

"I'm sure you will appreciate that we cannot go into detail on any specific element at this stage or announce any part of it ahead of time.

"The development team and the council are working hard to provide a solution that meets Farnham's needs, but bearing in mind the size of the scheme, the different integrated elements involved and the volume of responses to be considered this is not an instantaneous process.

"We have every intention of keeping you informed and will do so as soon as we can.

"In the meantime, the first East Street forum (an invitation-only discussion group) will be held on Tuesday night (September 30) at the Maltings.

It will be the introductory session to an ongoing forum which will meet throughout the consultation, planning and further stages of the development process.

This forum will be an opportunity for the development team to talk directly to a range of public representatives to obtain their feedback on the development.

It will also be the team's opportunity to update representatives on the scheme's progress and maintain an open dialogue as we go forward with the scheme.

"People attending the forum are those who attended our two workshops and volunteers following a request for participants in the first newsletter.

"As well as a generally introductory session at the first meeting, Jonathan Hill, of Scott Brownrigg, will be talking about what he and his team have been doing since the public exhibition and the direction they are taking with the work."