Which outcome has the better odds?

Last week I asked if the proposed £100m spending plan to revive the town centre would truly be a "New Dawn" for Leatherhead or more of the same "the councils know best" blunders of the past 30 years. I was, therefore, not surprised to read on page 9 of yesterday's Leatherhead Advertiser that the proposals have "met with hopeful sceptism." Of course, we must hope that there will be positive results this time, but the experience of planning blunder after blunder by our two councils over the past 30 years cannot but make us sceptical.

It is, therefore, no surprise that the three local people quoted in the article all show varying degrees of scepticism. Two specifically make the point that the problems facing the town are not new. Indeed, they are not. As one interviewee replied: "What we really need is revolution; no more tinkering." To which I give a resounding "AMEN!"

But in view of the track record of Surrey County Council and Mole Valley District Council regarding our town, its parking and traffic problems, the gyratory system, the persistent tinkering to the High Street, with usually poor results, and so on, can we trust them to mend their ways and deliver this time?

We are told that the Councils will be consulting us, the ordinary people. We are told that MVDC will be engaging a consultant to examine the problems and advice them. This time it will be different.

But will it? The majority of people in Leatherhead expressed opposition to the construction of a water feature at the west end of the High Street. But the council knew best and went ahead - though in the end we got the "waterless feature"! More recently when Longshot applied to MVDC for the construction of a golf-course with a luxury hotel and spa on the North Downs at Cherkley, two thirds of the hundreds of letters sent to the council opposed this. Were the ordinary people listened to? The clear recommendation of the council officers to reject planning permission, and robust opposition from CPRE Surrey, The National Trust, the Surrey Hills AONB Board, and the Surrey Botanical Society, amongst many others, were ignored by the majority of councillors. So why should we believe ordinary people will be listened to this time? Why should we believe the council will do more than pay lip service to any consultant?Why should we believe it will not be yet more of "the council knows best"?

I would love to be proved wrong. I would like to think that at the end of the 25 years there will have been a revolution and the town will be vibrant, flourishing and a place that people from around want to come to. If I'm spared another 25 years, I'll be a centenarian. I wonder for which outcome the bookies would give the better odds.