Please find below details regarding revised plans that Aldi wish to see implemented to the original planning application. This information was sent to our secretary a few days ago. It has now appeared on the GBC web-site and the community have 3 weeks from today’s date to register any concerns that may arise from the proposed alteration to the planning conditions,  imposed when Aldi was given the go ahead last year.

The requested amendments are as follows: 

• 15/P/01371 - A change to permitted delivery times Monday-Saturday from 0930-2200 to 0600-2200
• 15/P/ 01366 - A change to permitted trading hours Monday-Saturday from 0800-2100 to 0800-2200
• 15/P/01363 - A change to permitted deliveries each day to remove the restriction of 2 per day, including 1 HGV.

 
From the attached correspondence it is suggested that the store needs to be well serviced at all times in order to meet 21st century needs of Burpham’s local community. Thus Burpham can expect 2-3 HGV deliveries a day (at the moment they are restricted to one) and at Christmas and other busy times this can rise to 5-6 deliveries a day. Most stores have 4 deliveries a day. These deliveries it is proposed could start at 0600 rather than the approved 0930 hours (when the initial morning rush hour has subsided). Also trading hours are proposed to be extended from 2100 to 2200 during week days to ensure no one can miss any of the bargains.

Perhaps the BCA are being cynical but it is interesting to note that these changes are being proposed when many of the community are taking annual leave. Aldi are smart operators and fully understand the conditions that lead to a successful retail outlet. When the original application was approved and Aldi accepted that  for example 1 HGV delivery would suffice for their needs, the real constraints that imposed must have been readily apparent to them. To come back at this stage and seek to remove various planning conditions imposed on them seems to the committee to be totally unacceptable. The impact of these changes on Burpham are self-evident. The BCA committee will be responding  to GBC outlining their concerns. However it does need a consolidated approach by individuals who likewise feel aggrieved. The store is not yet opened and already major changes are being proposed. 

Whatever your views on the merits of Aldi, it's important to make your feelings known.

For much of June the main task for me has been continuing cutting back the rapidly growing vegetation.  The first task was to re-cut the fishing swims ready for the start of the fishing season, along with gaps in the bankside vegetation for visiting boats to moor up.  After this it was the hard slog of hedge trimming the back edge of the towpath all the way along my length, can you imagine having a hedge to cut in your garden that’s more than three miles long?  Of course this is all done in between keeping on top of the grass mowing on the locksides and towpath, so never a quiet moment on the river.

Other jobs have involved sweeping and weeding the alleys and steps that lead onto the towpath in Guildford town centre to make them more inviting, replacing a broke signpost at Stoke Lock and dealing with more than one fallen tree in the river.  None of which compared to some of my call-outs this month which included trying to hunt down an unlicensed boat at 9pm, re-uniting a family of Swans separated by the Lock at Millmead, and searching for a man who had apparently fallen in the river but had actually decided to go for a swim fully clothed!!!

Finally, I’m not sure how many of you went to Armed Forces Day in Guildford on 27 June, but I did go with my family and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  What you may not have realised though is that Armed Forces week started with the Ceremonial Flag being delivered to Dapdune Wharf by the Army and then raced up the Navigation to the town centre by the Royal Marines.  A great spectacle, so well done to everyone who organised the event, and a big thank you for all the hard work of our Service men and women.

Richard Cant

As part of the AGM, the BCA has published the accounts for the association for the year 2014-2015. 

You can read the PDF of the report here.