Much to the disgust of the rump that remains of the Conservative Group – Waverley Council is re-aligning its working practices with Guildford Borough Council.
This week’s full council meeting agreed upon a raft of policy documents and procedures. All are designed to make the collaboration between the two authorities more efficient and cost-effective.
These included:
OFFICER SCHEME OF DELEGATION AND PROPER OFFICER SCHEME
REVISED FINANCIAL PROCEDURE RULES
REVISED CONTRACT PROCEDURE RULES
REVISED JOINT COUNCILLOR / OFFICER RELATIONSHIP PROTOCOL
PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE INTER AUTHORITY AGREEMENT
All resolutions were unanimously supported – except for one Abstention.
Former Tory Group Leader Peter Martin claimed:
None of this would be necessary if we were not in this collaboration which I call a merger with Guildford.”
However, the repeated references to Tory’s claims of a MERGER of the two authorities have incensed the Waverley Administration. Cllr Martin’s claims brought this swinging response from Waverley Executive Member and Planning Portfolio Holder Cllr Liz Townsend.
Perhaps Cllr Martin and his cronies should re-read the posts below to remind themselves why collaboration between councils around the country was deemed necessary.
Surrey County Council’s head honcho, Cllrr Tim Oliver, saw himself as the head of every district and borough council in Surrey.
Could we all soon be saying – Bye, bye to ‘ Your Waverley?
Is Surrey’s Leaders bid for a Unitary Authority crashing and burning.
What a condescending and arrogant attitude from Cllr Liz Townsend (in the second part of the video) to suggest that Councillors don’t have the expertise or knowledge to be able to consult (offering local advice) with Waverley’s planning experts.
The developers of both Coxbridge Farm and now the proposed Centrum Business Park in Farnham have escaped the need to provide an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) You may ask why they’ve been let off the hook? but you would have to ask Waverley’s planners, most of whom are now agency workers, many of whom have no local knowledge.