Our November and December issue includes a bi-monthly update from local councillors Katie Steel and Masuk Miah for Stoughton South and Gillian Harwood and Lizzie Griffiths for Stoughton North. Their goal is to keep the Stoughton community informed about their actions as representatives of both wards and how the Guildford Borough Council is supporting our local area.

Local councillors Katie Steel, Masuk Miah, Gillian Harwood and Lizzie Griffiths write:

Getting in touch with us

If there are any particular issues you’d like to discuss with us then please email us at katie.steel@guildford.gov.uk and masuk.miah@guildford.gov.uk for Stoughton South, and gillian.harwood@guildford.gov.uk and lizzie.griffiths@guildford.gov.uk for Stoughton North and we will be happy to do all we can to help.

Stoughton South will also be running monthly drop-in sessions so residents can come to speak to us in person on the first Wednesday of every month from 10.00am to 12.00pm at Emmanuel Church Café. Stoughton North will be running drop-in sessions as well, date to be confirmed.

Council Finances

In July the council passed a special budget in order to deal with financial difficulties caused by high inflation and rising interest rates on the council’s borrowing. The result of these financial pressures is that the council will have to make £18 million of savings over the next three years to balance the books, or else face having to effectively declare itself bankrupt.

The biggest cause of the problem is high interest rates, as previous administrations committed to borrowing large amounts of money to fund major capital projects, and the cost of repaying these loans accounts for around 80% of our budget gap. The situation has been made worse by years of government funding cuts.

We are pleased to say that after much hard work from the officers and the Liberal Democrat team at Guildford Borough Council (GBC), the threat of a section 114 notice has been avoided for the current financial year.

We are pleased to say that after much hard work from the officers and the Liberal Democrat team at Guildford Borough Council (GBC), the threat of a section 114 notice has been avoided for the current financial year. A section 114 notice is the local government equivalent to declaring bankruptcy. You would’ve seen in the news that Woking and Birmingham councils have declared this notice in recent months.

With this good news, it means that decisions around Guildford Borough Council (GBC) spending can be kept inside Guildford, and we will be able to provide discretionary services that many residents rely on, e.g. Meals on Wheels.

Big thank you to the compliance team

We would like to point out the excellent work the compliance team have done around Stoughton in recent weeks. First, we were able to work with the team to get the old NatWest Bank on Worplesdon Road secured safely after the building was broken into earlier this year. Secondly, we were able to work with the team to remove the traveller’s encampment that was set up on Stoughton Rec over the Summer. We will be working with the parks team as well to see what can be done about making the park more secure and provide a deterrent.

Stoughton North roadside repairs

Over the past couple of months two roadside areas have been repaired. The first involved QE Park where we were able to work with Thames Water to get the drains repaired along the roadside and ensure clear drainage of rainwater along the road. The second was the bollard on Johnston Walk whereby we worked with Surrey Highways to get the damaged bollard removed and a replacement one installed to ensure pedestrian safety in the area.

North Street application

A new planning application for the North Street re-development scheme has been received by the council and is now open for public comment. We don’t have the space here to give a proper update on it, so we have written a Frequently Asked Questions about the scheme on our website instead: GuildfordLibDems.org.uk/NorthStreetFAQs