Notcutts development gets go ahead

4.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 8th Sep 2007

Lib Dem campaigner Cllr Meurig Williams is expressing residents' concerns

Finally the decision has been made. The land around Notcutts Garden Centre on the A30 in Bagshot is to become the site of a new estate of 182 houses built by Charles Church. Unnoticed by many, the Planning Committee met on the day after the August bank holiday and the application went through.

The Committee brushed aside the fears of many Bagshot residents that the plans may not allow enough capacity for run-off water in heavy rain. On 20th July many areas of Bagshot saw the worst flooding in recent years. Guildford Road was closed and a number of businesses along the High Street were flooded out - several for the third time in 3 years. The ditch along the railway embankment overflowed and part of the

Notcutts site became a muddy pool, the waters reaching up into the gardens of houses on Chapel Lane and totally filling the central area of St Mary's Gardens.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Meurig Williams attended the committee meeting to speak up for Bagshot people. He fought to have the drainage plan brought back for detailed discussion by the Committee, but this was refused. He did succeed in getting agreement that all the Bagshot Councillors will be included in the discussions when this comes to be signed off.

Cllr Williams said: "Issues of such importance must be looked at in the open. Public scrutiny is essential if local people are to feel confident their interests are being safe-guarded. The Labour Government is trying to tell us more houses will have to be built in flood plains. How many of those MPs would be happy for their own families to live there?"