Meet Richard Morris - Lib Dem candidate for the Tillingbourne by-election

Shere resident Richard Morris will stand up for our villages

A by-election is being held in Tillingbourne ward on 20th October following the sad death of the incumbent councillor. The Liberal Democrat candidate is Richard Morris, a former chief police officer who lives in Shere and is passionate about preserving our local environment in the Tillingbourne villages and across the Surrey Hills.

He is an active litter picker with Shere's 'Garbage Gang' and recently restarted their Community Speed Watch.

Richard says: "Having lived in and around Surrey for the past thirty years, my wife and I decided to settle in the beautiful village of Shere, where I have thrown myself into being an active member of the community.

"As a former police officer I've always loved working with communities to try to make a better life for people and address the challenges they face. I am keen to to do more to support our local communities which is why I am standing to be the new Borough Councillor for our area.

"Whilst I've not been an overtly political animal for much of my adult life, I've always felt that the Liberal Democrat focus on local issues and solving local problems is second to none, and I'm proud to be standing for the Liberal Democrats in Tillingbourne ward."

The Tillingbourne ward includes the villages of Abinger, Albury, Chilworth, Gomshall, Holmbury St Mary, Peaslake and Shere.

Speaking up for local people on the issues that matter

Action on Noise and Litter

Richard Morris is a strong campaigner against all forms of pollution, including noise pollution on our roads.

He is campaigning to introduce noise detection equipment on the A25, to detect cars or motorbikes with illegal exhausts which cause increased noise and emissions.

He is also often to be found in his yellow safety jacket picking up litter around Shere.

Action on Water Leaks

Richard Morris is demanding action from Thames Water after a summer of water supply problems for local residents. One water outage saw residents of Shere without water for 4 days, and Richard is regularly hearing about new water leaks.

Meanwhile Thames Water have implemented a hosepipe ban, poured sewage into our rivers and given bosses huge bonuses. Enough is enough. The Liberal Democrats want Thames Water to clean up their act and compensate local residents and businesses for the outages.

Action on Speeding

Richard Morris is deeply concerned about the number of vehicles speeding through our villages. Richard has already helped restart the community speedwatch scheme in Shere and is campaigning for safer speed limits in our villages, including 20 mph zones where communities want them.

However, Richard and the Lib Dems are opposing suggestions for a blanket 20 mph speed limit along the entire A25.

Opposing Fracking

The decision by new Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss to scrap the ban on new licences to frack/drill for oil and gas has come as a blow to everyone who cares about our beautiful Surrey Hills, including local residents, given their experience with Island Oil & Gas Ltd's existing site at Albury Heath.

Liberal Democrat by-election candidate, Richard Morris, is concerned and frustated that the Conservatives are willing to ignore local people's strong views against fracking and the clear evidence on how damaging it is to the environment. Richard says "We must be clear that fracking will not bring down spiralling energy prices, but will rip up our beautiful hills and green spaces and waste an enormous amount of water, a resource we really need to be using carefully given the climate change challenges we face. We should be investing in renewable energy solutions that provide long term answers and be taking real action to bring prices down, not the current Conservative sticking plaster solution."

Sign our petition against fracking: guildford.lib.dm/say-no

Action on the Cost of Living

Richard Morris is deeply aware that village residents already often face higher living costs due to poor public transport connections and lack of access to local amenities. And now matters are being made worse going into winter by the Conservative government's decision to allow energy prices to rise to almost double this winter compared to last year, with the new price cap being set at £2,500, in contrast to the £1,277 price cap from last October.

Richard and the Lib Dems are calling for energy bills to be properly frozen by keeping the previous price cap in place, funded by a tougher windfall tax on the record profits of oil, gas and energy companies. Richard also wants to see better public transport options for our villages, with better and more affordable connections to key amenities.

Vote for Richard morris on thursday 20th october!