Welcome to the Guildford Society
The Guildford Society has been an active voice, speaking up for the town and its surrounding countryside and villages, since 1896. As a Civic Society, we act as a focus for all who care about Guildford’s heritage and environment. While mindful of the past, we look firmly to the future.
We recognise that development must, and will, take place. However, we do not believe this should be at the expense of Guildford’s historic character and beauty, nor of the unspoilt countryside that surrounds it.
Hot Topics
We have selected our latest or most important news items for you below.
Please see topic areas for other news items.
Gordon Bridger View article
Gordon Bridger, a member of our executive, died peacefully at home 27th November 2020, he was 92.
Gordon Bridger was a member of The Guildford Society for 50 years, during that time he was an active and influential member of ... View article
National Infrastructure Strategy View article
New National Infrastructure Strategy
This was published alongside the Chancellors latest economic Statement (November 2020) (See link below)
It is a response by the government to the work done by the National Infrastructure Commission in a... View article
Guildford – Total Impact Visibility View article
A Smart Project
Ethos has announced it will partner with Guildford Borough Council and ecollective to design a new technology that will enable local authorities to support truly sustainable development. This initiative ha... View article
Debenhams is Closing View article
The Debenhams site is an opportunity for the Town -- we should not lose it.
Today 1-12-2020 the demise of Debenhams was annouced. This is obviously a major concern to the many Debenhams employees, particulalry as other retail jobs are not re... View article
Walnut Tree Close One Way Trial View article
Surrey County Council will be implementing a trial one-way system on the Walnut Tree Close between Topps Tiles on the right hand bend going north and near the postal sorting office from December 2020 to mid-February 2021. During the two-and... View article
Architecture - Queen’s Yard wins New London Architecture Award View article
Queen’s Yard, a mixed-use redevelopment of Hackney Wick, has picked up the New London Architecture Award for Best Mixing Project 2020; having been shortlisted in three categories mixing, placemaking and housing categories.. This proje... View article
Low and Zero Emission Buses £49million funding View article
To accelerate the introduction of ultra-low and zero emission buses in Surrey; Surrey County Council are backing a scheme to introduce up to 80 ultra-low or zero-emission buses and 50 community transport minibuses by 2025 with the aim that all buses ... View article
Intensive Investment Offered for Green Towns and Cities View article
Government Investment to become like Holland
Tucked away in the recent ‘Gear Change A bold vision for cycling and walking’ (See Below - Page 19) is a statement about the government wishing to ‘stimulate a large number of pro... View article
Nationwide initiative to restore nature in England View article
The Nature Recovery Network (NRN) Delivery Partnership, led by Natural England, brings together over 600 organisations to promote the restoration of protected sites and landscapes and help provide at least 500,000 hectares of new wildlife-rich ... View article
Progress Easier for Heathrow Southern Railway? View article
Heathrow Southern Railway (HSR) the organisation backing a new Rail Link into Heathrow from Basingstoke and Guildford via Woking has issued an update on its activities.
HSR has been very quiet on its plans of late. The news item makes a surp... View article
Help us make Guildford better
We want our town to be vibrant, attractive and liveable. We support development that brings a sense of place and enhances the best aspects of our town. If such aims can be embraced, we believe Guildford has the chance to lead the way in enabling sensitive and sustainable development.
Pressures for development are increasing. Planning rules are being eased. The Society’s commitment to standing up for Guildford is needed more than ever.
Topic Areas
The society has several work groups that look at the preservation and evolution of Guildford more details can be found in the appropriate section.
Other Organisations
The Society engages with a variety of other organisations who share our interests and we share their links for information. We are also include links to Guildford Borough Council and other Government bodies and Developers of key sites. Finally we include other links of interest that are related to the borough.