Delays and missed opportunities to redevelop the Fairgrounds site in Haslemere has led to accusations that Waverley Borough Council is “incompetent” and has turned its back on the community.

In 2024, the council agreed to borrow £21 million to with visions of turning the  busy free car park and youth club into a supermarket with housing.

It has since emerged that, despite three retailers making early inquiries into the site, none have decided to move forward leaving the council, and more importantly the community, back at square one.

Councillor Jerome Davidson (Liberal Democrat: Hindhead and Beacon Hill) told Waverley Borough Council’s  September 14 overview and scrutiny commitee said: “The project is stick in the mud, slow steaming. 

“One wonders whether Haslemere, sitting there at the bottom end of the borough, and the bottom end of the new unitary authority, is not really on the high priority in terms of getting action done in order to progress an investment which is desperately needed.

“Our town’s youth hub is falling down. It’s owned by the council. The options are repair it, replace it, replacement is really the only viable option. It’s got to be dealt with.”

He said Haslemere, particularly the town centre, was desperately short of affordable social housing and questioned why it was so difficult to resolve the problem when neighbouring town Godalming was having millions of pounds poured into it for a project that would deliver fewer homes.

He said: “This project just drifts along, and instead we spend vast sums of money and human resources on 69 the High Street.

“One really wonders what the focus of the attention is?”

The Fairground site is a free to use, public car park in Haslemere, also known as Wey Hill Car Park.

It also hosts Haslemere Youth Hub services, considered an equal priority, strategically, for the council and community.

Updating this is also considered a benefit of the scheme, one that the community continues to miss out on.

In April 2024, full Council approved the business case to deliver a mixed-use development scheme at the Fairground Car Park and a budget of £21,408,334 was  signed for its redevelopment

Cllr Jane Austin, leader of the Conservative group said: “It was previously agreed that this was to be a 100 affordable housing scheme.

“In 2024 the executive instead proposed and backed this £21.4m borrowing led proposal splitting it out into a supermarket and 32 homes.

“We questioned whether there was actually demand from supermarket operators for a site of this size or indeed whether that was what residents wanted and the report tells us now that supermarket operates require a minimum site of around three to four hectares, and those requirements can not be met on the Fairground site.

“Procurement has now been paused, so we’re basically back to the drawing board here.

“I’m not allowed to state how much because its exempt but we know that very substantial sums have already been spent on this project.

“In part because of the flip-flop nature of the decision making on this site.

“I believe it’s in the public interest that those cots are known to the public and I want them disclosed.

“There is now a very real risk, in fact it may even be imposed on them, (that the  site is sold) to realise cash.

“The would be a terrible outcome for Haslemere and it would have been totally avoidable of we had just proceeded at the time with the original plan for 100 per cent affordable.

“We could have had it built by now.”

The committee noted its regret over the two and a half year delay since Waverley Borough Council approved the buiness case and urged the executive to reject any moves to dispose of the site.

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It also called for the matter to come back to full council for reappraisal with a focus on delivering housing, a youth provision and car parking.