The Herald loves publishing your letters on an array of subjects – and this week, two correspondents responded to Waverley Borough Council’s admission that it can do nothing to prevent Brightwells Yard construction workers taking up spaces in the Farnham Leisure Centre car park...

Parking for four hours is enough – by Norman and Sue Ware, Wrecclesham

On entering Farnham Leisure Centre, there is a Waverley Borough Council sign stating the car park is for leisure centre users only, and advising of the alternative parking at Riverview.

If there is nothing the council can do to enforce it, then the solution – as Vic Cracknell states – is to increase the charge for parking for the longer periods.

How many leisure centre users are there for ten hours? I would suggest that two, maybe three hours would be the most any user would normally spend there.

Anything over and above that should result in a charge greater than the 50p per hour it currently is for ten hours, much less than the 80p it is to park there for an hour.

I had thought the council were proposing to do this some months ago, so if, as stated, it would take around four to six months to implement, they should be ready for that now.

Since the charges were increased so dramatically last November, we have reduced the amount of time we spend swimming, so we park only for an hour – something we have continued to do even after the reduction in February.

If we have to park at Riverview then we get to spend even less time in the pool.

Is there anywhere within the Brightwells development where contractors could park? Is there an area in the new Brightwells car park that is ready for them to use? I suspect site safety regulations may prevent this, but maybe worth asking the question.

It should be noted it’s not just a problem with work vans, but cars as well, used by the contractors.

So Waverley should either increase the charges for longer stays and get some more money in their coffers from those parking all day, or introduce a maximum stay time of perhaps four hours.

Times change – by Brian Edmonds, Waverly borough councillor for Farnham Wrecclesham and Rowledge ward, Quennells Hill, Farnham

It was very helpful to learn of the concern arising from the Brightwells Yard parking concerns in the Herald.

In 1988 Waverley Borough Council, acting as the local planning authority, required that space shall be provided on a construction site for all construction activity.

This was to ensure development should not prejudice the free flow of traffic, highway safety nor cause inconvenience to other highway users.

These obligations included the provision of on-site parking for site personnel, visitors, the loading and unloading of plant and materials and their storage.

This policy when secured in practice obtained the added benefit of preventing over-development.

How times have changed. It would be helpful to learn more of Farnham residents’ approval or disapproval of making development construction easier at the inconvenience of others.

The obligations under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 “that the construction work can be carried out, so far as is reasonably practicable, without risks to the health or safety of any person affected by the project” is too often absent.

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