Guildford & villages MP Angie Richardson has never been accused of being a shrinking violet and shying away from a good picture opportunity.
You can see from the picture below who was concentrating on the flood issues which have dogged the town of Cranleigh for more years than residents care to remember, and who was concentrating on the bigger issue – smiling for the camera and her ever-present PR.
Needless to say, Waverley & Surrey County Councillor Liz Townsend, who has battled tirelessly for years to rid Cranleigh of the scourge of flooding, and burst pipe issues with the statutory authorities, looks decidedly unimpressed. Perhaps even angry?
Why? Because the meeting was hijacked by Angie’s PR stunt?
Or that the Flood Forum held in public, when chaired so successfully by former MP Anne Milton since its inception, was attended by a huge crowd of villagers is now held in private for a chosen few?
No surprises there then??
No surprise there. The Flood Forum has done much excellent work only to be manacled. Possibly because of the more pressing issue of one or two people making a lot of money out of housing development without having to consider the bigger issues. “Somebody else can pick that up. Nothing to do with me pal!” As merely an observer the need to change flows and invest in proper infrastructure is primary. Here I must declare an interest. The Wey and Arun Canal could play a vital part in this. Frankly the W&A was built on the cheap without reservoirs. It needs every bit of water it can find for the future as does the land around it. Moving water via s canal makes sense. Even if you have to pump it there. That goes for rivers and stream and catchments. If you can stop a flood it’s money we’ll spent. Of course it would help if the canal was not blocked at ever turn in its aim to connect water from the Wey to the Arun. An argument that is relevant with an MP that cannot make her mind up whether she is pro rail on a canal bed or not depending on what she’s told to do by her Minister of State the noble Vere.
I half expected to see the shy and retiring Matt Furniss somewhere in the background with his hi viz jacket on
Yes, Dave we too wondered where he was? Though perhaps he is shying away from social media, or any media at the moment now he has fallen out with the Guildford Dragon, has thrown his toys out of the pram and isn’t going to play anymore even with Aunty Angie’s PR stunts?