Subscribe to this news page by clicking the follow email symbol on the top of our website. Ensure you click the link on the email you receive.
Hockey Pitch Back Board Noise
The pitch is now in use. Around the pitch there are timber sleepers. They have been part covered with an Astro turf to help stop the cracking...
Read More
And here’s the crux. . .
Urnfield, before and after Members of Merrow Downs Residents' Group (before we thought of ourselves as "a group") met the Tormead Head and his Urnfield Project Manager...
Read More
‘Twas the night before Christmas….
'Twas the night before Christmas and all round the downs the people of Guildford were walking their hounds Taking a break from the festivities Enjoying the quiet,...
Read More
Who’s to be trusted as stewards of the Surrey Hills?
This nationally important landscape deserves better
Read More
Why attention to detail helps protect our wildlife
Aerial view of the area excavated for the pitch and track, 16/8 Another summer, another LEMP. Version 5 (nearly lost count) of Tormead's Landscape and Ecological Management...
Read More
Disturbing badgers and a planning breach: Tormead’s summer of fun
A little posse gathered in the sunshine at the Urnfield one Monday morning towards the end of July: the Tormead Headteacher; Surrey Police; the West Surrey Badger...
Read More
It matters who speaks for you.
The arrival of badger exclusion gates on Merrow Downs and the Urnfield has generated significant public interest and concern on the Nextdoor social media site. It started...
Read More
Michelle Obama and the Urnfield
During the 2016 US election campaign FLOTUS famously coined a phrase, "When they go low, we go high", referring to bullying and aggressive communications tactics being employed...
Read More
Asbestos at the Urnfield?
- but we're not supposed to know about it
Read More
Whilst the site manager’s away the badgers will play
All quiet for now - time for other sorts of digging
Read More
Going round in circles . . . a tale of Guildford planning
Guest post: Merrow Downs Residents' Group We have to start somewhere, even if it's hard to know where the beginning might be. Perhaps we should begin with...
Read More
Can the Urnfield construction legally start?
Work started in the last week of March at the Urnfield site, beginning with tree felling and clearance of scrub. This was despite the plans submitted by...
Read More
What does Urnfield show about values of Tormead School?
It's hard to make a case for the Urnfield project being within the doughnut.
Read More
New season, new thinking?
The crocuses are punctuating the leaf litter in the woodland at the top of Merrow Downs, with bluebell shoots not far behind. Tormead has officially taken residence...
Read More
Dear Sir, it’s not my fault. The dog ate my homework.
With no construction yet, Tormead blames GBC for delays in the Urnfield development, ignoring its own failings.
Read More
What if…how better community engagement delivers better development
Last week Tormead's Head sent the first email update of the new school year to parents, lamenting the "increasingly frustrating process" of the Urnfield development. We agree...
Read More
Who’s looking out for Merrow’s badgers?
When you think of iconic British mammal species, you may well think of the badger. Distinctive, social animals with awesome digging capability, only the wild boar trumps...
Read More
Guildford’s planners agree to quash own decisions on Urnfield
Last night we received written confirmation that Guildford Borough Council agrees with our assessment that the "deemed discharge" certificates issued to Tormead to enable the Urnfield development...
Read More
Legal challenge of Urnfield decisions will hold planners and developers to account
The council's lack of transparency in its decision making on the Urnfield has resulted in what we believe are unlawful decisions that now need to be undone.
Read More
Load More
