Your Guildford Liberal Democrat Candidate Team for May 2021 County Council Elections
Guildford Liberal Democrats are pleased to announce our Guildford Borough area candidates for the Surrey County Council Elections on 6th May.
We have been able to build a strong team of candidates for May, with some very talented and dedicated individuals putting their names forward.
Many of the candidates are experienced County and Borough Councillors, who want to continue working hard for their communities. The other candidates are experienced community activists keen to take their knowledge and experience to County Hall.
The Issues:
Our current team on Surrey County Council makes a real difference for their residents but we want to do more. Conservative leaders at Surrey County Council have spent the past decade failing local people. Here are some depressing examples:
- Children's Services in Surrey - Twice rated as inadequate by Ofsted after which the Conservatives promptly closed many children's centres across the county.
- Waste Disposal - Several useful recycling centres were closed by the Conservatives in Surrey in 2019
- Recreation - SCC managed to waste £300,000 by installing unpopular parking charges at Newlands corner, only to have to U-turn when the income raised was just £61,000, not the £200,000 the Conservatives at SCC had predicted.
- Social Services - the Conservative administration at Surrey has sold off all its care homes to developers meaning taxpayer cash now pays for shareholder dividends of private care home providers.
- Wage Bill at Surrey Council - the wage bill for senior officers has jumped by £10 million in the past 18 months alone and the Chief Executive on an eye-watering salary of over £220,000, the fourth highest of any council in the land.
- Cash for Consultants - Surrey spends millions of your council-tax pounds on consultants, including recently £500,000 in the middle of a pandemic to try and make a power grab to swallow all 11 borough and district councils in the county without once discussing their plans with residents nor with the leaders of the borough/district councils they wanted to dissolve.
- Property Portfolio - Surrey Tories invested £425 million of council tax funds into a risky retail property portfolio despite the warnings of opposition councillors at the time. With retail now moving largely online that investment is performing very badly for you and me whose council-tax money it is.
It's time for change - the people, charities and businesses of Guildford and Surrey deserve better.
All of our candidates are committed to serving local people and creating a more
- Community Focused council that will listen to local people's views and work with them to rebuild post-covid, tackle the climate crisis and ensure local services meet our communitys' needs.
- Caring council that will ensure that those in need get the care they need when they need it by ensuring more funding for mental health services.
- Competent council that will put the needs of local people and invest in local services rather than unnecessary schemes and purchasing property outside the county.
On 6th May you can demand better than Surrey Conservative's many failures.
You can vote for a County Council that really works for you.
You can vote Liberal Democrat.
Our Candidates:
Ash - Carla Morson
Ash Vale has been home for Carla since 1976 and as a result she has great knowledge about the local area and those who live there.
She shares the concerns of many local people about the numerous housing developments that are springing up with no supporting infrastructure and the loss of access to the Ash Ranges as well as many other issues.
In March 2020 Carla founded the Ash, Ash Vale & Ash Green Coronavirus Support Group to help and support the local community throughout the pandemic.
Her am is to assist in resolving and addressing people's concerns with the intention of making Ash an even better place to live.
Guildford NOrth - Julia MCSHANE
Julia lives in Guildford and is an experienced Borough Councillor in Westborough ward. She is also a GBC Executive member with responsibility for community services, and the leader of GBC Liberal Democrats.
This has allowed a unique insight into the needs of residents, meaning the work Julia does comes directly from the people whom it will benefit.
Julia wants to put local people right at the heart of her work as a councillor, with the council working for residents, not making decisions on their behalf without due consideration.
Guildford East - George Potter
George was elected to Guildford Borough Council in 2019 as the member for Burpham. Using his understanding of the local community, he has ensured that Burpham has strong representation at Borough Council level, something that is currently lacking at County, and now wants to do the same for Burpham & Merrow as a whole.
George has consistently stood up for his community, protecting local amenities and securing funding to improve safe, green travel routes.
Since his election in 2019, he has helped protect Burpham Bowling Club from an unaffordable rent hike and secured them a grant to help rebuild their clubhouse, challenged the introduction of unnecessary parking charges at Sutherland Memorial Park and helped secure funding for a new segregated cycle route to make cycling from Burpham to the town centre safer.
Guildford South East - Jan Harwood
Jan is the current Guildford Borough Council representative for Merrow. Since 2019 he has worked hard to represent his residents, as well as becoming the lead Councillor for the Environment.
Safeguarding Guildford and championing action on climate change is very close to Jan's heart. He recognises that more needs to be done at county level to ensure climate change is taken seriously and people have access to alternative means of transport and information about what we can all do to protect our community.
Jan will not only represent and fight for the residents of Guildford South East, he wants to help improve and protect the local environment for years to come.
Guildford South West - Angela Goodwin
Angela is one of our most experienced councillors, having served Friary & St Nicolas on the Borough Council and Guildford North at County.
Angela has always worked to ensure her community has access to the services they need, that infrastructure is maintained and that the local area is as safe as possible for residents.
Towards the end of last year, Angela took the lead on a '20s plenty' campaign, which aims to improve road safety and reduce the speed limit in residential areas. She is looking to bring her experience and dedication to Guildford South West in May, meaning she can represent the area at both County and Borough level.
Guildford West - Fiona White
Fiona is the current councillor for Guildford West on Surrey County Council and has served on Guildford Borough Council for many years.
She understands that there must be strong and capable representation across Guildford at both County and Borough level and she has provided this for 16 years.
Fiona has always fought for residents on the issues that matter to them and she plans to continue to do so, championing road safety, air quality improvement and properly funded health care.