Tag: Godalming Town Council

Ding, Dong the fight’s begun to win Godalming’s By-Election. Part 1.Lib Dems.

The emergency, emergency at Godawfulming is over? Isn’t it?

If you have been on holiday – or have been busy rummaging in the loft looking for the Christmas decorations, you may have missed the fact that a By-Election is about to take place in Godalming during the busiest week of the year. 

This was prompted by the sudden resignation of Godalming Town Council Mayor, and Tory Waverley Borough Councillor Simon Thornton for/ undisclosed ‘personal reasons’. Reasons, that the whole town is talking about!

As you will see from this link:  The emergency, emergency at Godawfulming is over? Isn’t it? Godalming Town Councillor Anne Bott has taken over the Mayoral role, but it would appear that despite wishing to join the chain-gang she’s not quite so eager to jump into the local butcher’s boots at ‘Your Waverley’! Wonder why?

Here at the Waverley Web we are  keen to inform Godalming residents of  the reasons why the men and women  want to represent them in the Central & Ockford seat for the remaining two years left of the life of both councils. Although we have managed to contact some prospective candidates – who replied moments after receiving our requests – others have not been quite so forthcoming! No prizes for guessing who!

So over the coming days we will give you a brief run down of those who have thrown their hats into the Waverley/Godalming  rings.
Waverleyweb_election.jpgIn no particular order – as they say on Strictly Come Dancing – we have  Paul Follows the Liberal Democrat candidate who is standing for both the Godalming Town council and Waverley Borough Council seats.image1.jpeg This Godalming man’s   main motivation for standing is quite simple:

 ‘The utter lack of opposition to the Tories in Godalming’.

The 31  year-old former university of Surrey student  now works for BAe Systems Applied Intelligence. He and his Lib Dem colleagues have wasted no time in speaking to as many people as they possibly can before the election on  December 13. They say they want to fully understand residents’ concerns. 

Paul has lived in Godalming for several years and  commutes to Guildford for work at the Surrey Research Park where his work covers standards, legal compliance and ethical conduct. He enjoys cricket and ice hockey and is a tenor in the Guildford Choral Society.

He says, ‘another motivation for my getting into politics has been my parents. My father is a retired soldier and my mother is an HLTA at a school in Guildford. Both have had cancer in the last 5 years and survived – largely due to fantastic staff – and so access to these services and providing for health services locally is a big deal for me personally. Equally an affinity for the teaching and defence professions is something built into me.’

‘Over the past few weeks we have been all over the ward canvassing, handing out leaflets and talking people. I just wanted to use this opportunity to feedback on some of the issues people have raised with me time and again on the doorstep’.

  •  Affordable housing which is balanced with the needs of the people living within their communities. People are really concerned that new houses without new infrastructure to support  them will cause big problems;
  • The speed and weight of traffic through residential areas (particularly near schools);
  • The total absence of any other voice at Waverley borough council, other than that of Farnham residents and the Tories. The impact of austerity measures and the frustration with  an unchallenged council  that  repeatedly fails to deliver.

Asked by the Waverley Web, what he seeks to achieve between now and 2019?

 ‘To me that is clear. Local residents have given me a list of issues they would like  investigated,  and, if electors give me the mandate,  I  hope to make progress on those. In addition I want to be that voice of opposition and scrutiny (hopefully the first of many) and essentially be the conscience that our Tory dominated councils desperately need when it comes to further austerity measures.

I want everyone to know I will be accessible during the campaign –  on a stall next Saturday (9th) in the heart of the town if anyone wants to come and have a chat.

Many thanks and I hope to see many of you on polling day. Paul.

https://m.facebook.com/paulfollowsGodalming/

Does ‘Godawfulming’ have its own Bermuda Triangle?

Could it be that the town dubbed ‘Godawfulming,’ due to shop and business  closures, may have its very own Bermuda Triangle?

If you sneeze there’s sleaze all around us at present!  So the resignation of the Town Clerk in April, the decision not to hold  planning meetings and now the sudden resignation of Godalming’s  Mayor, and Waverley Borough Councillor, Simon Thornton has everyone wondering WHAT’S GOING ON?

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Going Going Godalming

Build more homes say The Conservatives! Build more homes on Brownfield land says the Government! Convert empty offices into flats without planning permission says the Government! Brilliant – instant housing numbers say the Conservatives!

The unintended consequences of converting town centre offices to flats means naturally – there are no places to work in our towns. And to afford a town centre flat (starting at £350k), you’ll naturally need to commute to London. And you’ll be so busy working, you’ll need to rely on Amazon Prime and Ocado online to deliver your internet shopping. Visit the high street? Don’t have time – except for maybe a cheeky Saturday stroll around a Farmers Market.

The consequences of all this are there are no office workers to buy sandwiches and eat out during the day, and everybody is so tired or poor, they can’t afford to eat out in the evening. Hence Godalming’s failing high street:

 

Photos from Huw Price on the Community Board.
In addition the franchisee of Subway has handed back the lease, and independent Bar Coretto have shut down completely. Alan Paine Knitwear has gone, and next door to them the Scats/Mole Countryside store has shuttered. Opposite them the English Chain company are rumoured to be developing their offices works for flats too.
You can’t even spend a penny in Godalming High Street, since Waverley shut the toilets in Crown Court – although we understand the local councillors are so fed up of being pissed upon by Waverley that the Town Council will be investing in new bog roll very soon.

OH DEAR! What can the matter be?

Sing-along…

‘Three of our towns won’t have any lavatories, they’ll have nothing from Monday till Saturday, nobody knows to pee where..?

Haslemere,  Godalming and Farncombe won’t have a pot to pi** in thanks to ‘Your Waverley.’

In other words the borough has, literally Gone to Potts!

gonetopotts
Let’s all pee in Julia’s Potty!

How about this for a sorry tale of woe if ever there was one. Spending a penny, just became a whole lot more difficult for the folk in three  of our beleaguered towns.

In its bid to save pounds, spending a penny in the three town’s public conveniences is about to become a Hurculean task. Because they are about to: Close; shut; taet; dicht; fermer; preto; in der Nahe; chiudere; közel; preto; a prop; gar….

Get the picture? SHUT.

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WW found the bit about the “Acting Town Clerk” Andy Jeffery interesting! In fact we could find the reason for the sudden departure of The Town Clerk … very interesting. WWethinks we need to start spinning that web!

Here’s Haslemere’s WC which is about to be slashed to make for more parking spaces! It tells the WW…

Haslemere Town Council is very concerned that Waverley Borough Council is intending to close the public toilets in the High St carpark to make way for more parking spaces.

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We are currently making representations to WBC to try and keep this well used facility open on behalf of local residents but we need your help. Although we know they are well used and vital to many residents, by signing this petition you give further weight to our fight by clicking on the link at the bottom of the post.

Thankfully over there in the East of the borough all the developers over there are flushed with their own success. They are busy building their very own poo pits now the Grampian Conditions drafted by ‘Your Waverley’ aren’t worth the toilet paper they were written on and the sewage treatment works cannot cope! 

Sign Haslemere’s petition to stop the slashing of services! https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-haslemeres-public-toilets