Residents in Bookham have expressed concern and outrage around the proposed Bookham Masterplan which could see the high street pedestrianised and higher parking charges against residents' wishes.
Bookham Residents' Association published a report yesterday (Saturday 12 April) calling the Liberal Democrat District Council's proposal a "potentially wasted opportunity that misrepresents residents' views".
In a community with over 11,400 residents, less than 250 (2% of the population) responded to the District Council's online survey. Many complained on community forums that they found it difficult to complete, which meant that some views on the proposed Masterplan weren't heard by the District Council.
Furthermore, the District Council's data suggests that there is support for pedestrianising Bookham's High Street. This is in spite of 1% of the population supporting it, and no surveying of the local businesses to assess their views on the impact or benefits. When we launched our petition to stop Dorking's West Street being pedestrianised, we found there to be widespread opposition to the proposal. And the objections in Dorking are similar to those in Bookham.
First of all, business owners fear that it will cost them customers as residents may be put off from driving to the shops. With buses in Bookham being not frequent and the station being a 15 minute walk from the shops, it's possible that residents may not wish to visit the centre of Bookham at all, preferring to travel to neighbouring areas instead.
There are also concerns around the cost of parking, with shoppers having to pay £1.40 per hour long visit. If they visit Bookham's high street three days a week, this will cost residents over £200 a year more as a result of the Lib Dem plan to charge more for parking. The Bookham Residents' Association have proposed having two hours of free parking in Mole Valley's car parks, a policy we support as it will help the local high street not just in Bookham, but across Mole Valley more widely.
The Masterplan also includes a proposed cycle path along the A246 Guildford Road. It will however disappear in places and change sides of the A246. We don't believe it's a safe proposal for anyone, especially the children cycling from Bookham to the Howard of Effingham School.
We share residents' concerns around the Bookham Masterplan and we are calling on the Liberal Democrat administration of Mole Valley to pause the Bookham Masterplan and reconsider residents' views. It's important that any plan that affects residents and local businesses is driven by residents' feedback. Regrettably, this plan seems to be driven by nothing more than ideology and raising the profile of councillors with ambitions for higher office.
Marisa Heath, Conservative Parliamentary Spokesperson for Dorking & Horley says, "Quite simply high streets need to be easy to access, easy to park and to look attractive. I often stop my car on the high street as I pass to jump out and buy a coffee or cake quickly and removing access as well as bringing in parking charges will stop people like me doing this. Businesses will suffer.
The Lib Dem run council has done little to nothing to help business across Mole Valley and once again councillors are failing to work effectively with the community and local business to get the right plan of action in place for Bookham."
