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To approve the freehold transfer of the of the
Lammas Lands at Charterhouse Green, Borough Road, Godalming, to
Godalming Town Council (GTC).
If you have any queries, then please contact cat@waverely.gov.uk
and the Asset’s team will be happy to provide further
information.

Reasons for the decision

- To meet the aims and objectives set out in
the Council’s Community Asset Transfer Policy, which is in
line with the Council’s strategic priorities detailed in the
Corporate Strategy 2024 - 2028.
- The transfer would enable community empowerment to generate
social, economic, and environmental benefit for local residents
which would in turn improve the health and wellbeing of
residents.
- GTC have demonstrated a clear ability to be able to run and
maintain the Open Space for the benefit of the local
community.
- The impact of this individual asset transfer would have some
negative impact on the operations of the Greenspaces Team and
Grounds Maintenance contract, in isolation these would not be
considered problematic. The cumulative impact of a series of
Greenspaces asset transfers to Town and Parish councils, and other
VCO’s within the Borough would have an increased negative
impact on the Parks & Countryside and Grounds Maintenance
services. With a cumulative reduction in the number of
Greenspaces’ Assets under Council freehold management there
will be impacts on the staffing and resourcing within the service.
A further Executive report on the cumulative impact is due in
February 2026.
- The recommendation to transfer the freehold interest rather than
the granting of a long lease has been reviewed and is considered
beneficial to both parties. It removes the need to establish a
Landlord & Tenant relationship between the parties which would
add an additional layer of work and costs to both parties and
restrict the GTC in its ability to fulfil its aims and obligations
for the site.

Alternative options considered

The recommended option is to transfer the
freehold interest of the site to GTC based on the terms set out in
Appendix 1. This option would allow the Council to meet its core
corporate strategy objectives, whilst allowing the site to benefit
from localised management. Furthermore, the terms include a
provision for first refusal should GTC wish to offload the freehold
interest in the future. This would allow the Council to protect its
interest, without undue financial and additional resource demands
and it would remove future liabilities of the site from the
Council.
An alternative option would be to grant the GTC a leasehold
interest in the application site. Whilst this would allow for the
benefits of localised management, the introduction of a Landlord
and Tenant relationship between the Council and GTC would add an
additional layer of administrative burden for both parties.
Although this would allow the borough to retain more control of the
site, the resources required to properly fulfil the Landlord
obligations would not be in line with any potential rental income
that could reasonably be derived from the site. Therefore, the
Council would be responsible for the site in a financially negative
situation. Further, as a freeholder and landlord the Council would
still assume liabilities for the site.
A final option considered would be to continue for the Council to
continue to own and manage the application site. However, with
wider borough priorities the full potential of the site for the
benefit of residents would be unlikely to be met and the future
financial demands of the site to meet its full potential are likely
to be unsustainable. The Council would therefore face the potential
of high resource demands and continued potential freehold
liabilities.