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Paying the price for Merrow’s new white elephant

(Letter to the Surrey Advertiser)

J. Gysin rightly queries moving ahead with a Worplesdon Park and Ride when the Merrow site remains incomplete and empty (Surrey Advertiser, letters, 28 December).

Thanks to Surrey County Council wanting to spend its budget for the sake of spending its budget before year end, they have built a £1 million roundabout to nowhere – and created a municipal eyesore. Visitors to Guildford are today greeted with the delights of spray-painted signs and mounds of earth, rather than rolling Green Belt. Meanwhile, the site lies bare due to Lord Onslow’s developer failing to meet their planning obligations.

A further £1.6 million of taxpayers’ capital will still be needed to pay for the neon-lit, concrete car park. If the site is ever operational, Merrow will cost the public purse a net £400,000 a year to run. This compares with the extended Artington Park & Ride costing a net £200,000 and Spectrum just £130,000. Even without any Worplesdon site, this is not financially sustainable, as there are insufficient funds in the parking reserve to sustain this long-term drain.

The only way that Merrow and any additional Park and Ride sites can then be financed is through further increases in parking charges. Town centre shoppers will face the brunt, as hiking Park and Ride charges on the poorly-chosen Merrow site would make it even more undesirable to its potential users from the Horsleys, Dorking or Leatherhead. I fear everyone in Guildford will end up paying the price for Merrow’s new white elephant.

Cllr Sheridan Westlake

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