Council Leader Should Resign – Says Effingham Residents Association

Published on: 11 Sep, 2014
Updated on: 11 Sep, 2014

Chris Dick, chairman of the Effingham Residents Association, with the press release which calls for the council leader’s resignation.

A residents association in Effingham has called on the Guildford Borough Council (GBC) leader Stephen Mansbridge (Con, Ash South & Tongham) to resign.

The call comes in a press release from Effingham Residents Association (EFFRA) issued in the wake of a survey conducted among Effingham residents on the Local Plan.

In the release it is stated: “The planning department has now lost Carol Humphrey, head of planning services, Cllr Juneja lead councillor for planning and the deputy leader James Palmer. Cllr Mansbridge must take responsibility for this and his inappropriate press release [a reference to a statement issued by Cllr Mansbridge – see Council Leader Asks Cllr Monika Juneja To Step Down].

“We were particularly concerned about his ethical position regarding his comment: “why complain if you are not a victim?” And his comment that: “The complainants hide behind a charge for better public probity; whilst they mask behind computers with insults, rhetoric, disdain and disorder. They have spent a year hounding this councillor.”

“These are insulting comments and denigrate the efforts of residents who are concerned about the future of the Borough.

“We consider that Cllr Mansbridge is the wrong person to be leading the council and should now resign for the sake of the whole borough.”

A later press release from Effingham Parish Council claimed that letters to Cllr Mansbridge from its chairman, Arnold Pindar, remained unanswered and quoted the chairman saying he had lost trust in the council leader .

In the EFFRA survey, conducted in July this year, the association says that it circulated a questionnaire to all households in Effingham to discover their views on the draft Guildford Local Plan and the Berkeley Homes joint venture with the Howard of Effingham School to build a new, larger school and 310 homes on green belt land.

According to EFFRA the Draft Local Plan proposes to approximately double the size of the “Settlement Area” in Effingham and take it out of the green belt.

The association reports that the 350 questionnaires showed:

97 per cent want Effingham to remain in the green belt
89 per cent want the Settlement Area to remain unchanged
97 per cent are against GBC building a car park on Effingham Common which would make it a larger SANG (Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace) and therefore enable high levels of development around it including Wisley

And regarding the school/Berkeley Homes Joint Venture:

93 per cent are against the proposals to build a replacement school on Effingham Lodge Farm with enabling development of 310 new houses
71 per cent would prefer the school to be rebuilt/refurbished on its existing site
67 per cent are against the size of the school being increased

Cllr Liz Hogger

Cllr Liz Hogger (Lib Dem, Effingham) said: “EFFRA have done us a service by circulating this questionnaire and giving residents the chance to make their views known.

“It’s clear that Effingham residents value our green belt and want to protect our village from over-development. While many support the principle of improvements to the Howard of Effingham School, the idea of a 31 per cent increase in the size of the village to pay for the whole cost of a rebuilt school is unacceptable to a majority .

“In my view the Howard proposal should be considered through the normal planning application procedure, which would test whether there are sufficient special educational circumstances to justify the loss of green belt land. It should not be set in stone by being included in the Local Plan.”

Cllr Mansbridge and the leader of the Labour group at Millmead were also invited to comment.

Responses to Council Leader Should Resign – Says Effingham Residents Association

Anna-Marie Davis Reply

September 12, 2014 at 12:39 pm

If the council leader refuses to answer letters and refuses to comment on calls for his resignation then, in my opinion, he is failing to abide by the Council’s Code of Conduct, which reiterates the Nolan Principles and codifies the need for all councillors to be open and transparent with the electorate.

Such a failure would justify a complaint, or perhaps very many complaints, to the Council’s Monitoring Officer, Satish Mistry. Many people are still outraged by his comment ‘why complain if you are not a victim’.

Perhaps that outrage should now be directed through the official channels for complaint, somewhat ironically. Whilst I agree wholeheartedly with the EFFRA, previous experience must demonstrate that, frankly, the Conservatives don’t give a hoot what any of us think.

If this is ignored, as I feel it may well be, then I urge all residents to complain that his silence is contrary to the Code of Conduct that he and some other councillors seem to think they have a running exemption from.
Jules Cranwell Reply

September 14, 2014 at 9:36 am

Given his supreme lack of judgement he should have resigned already.
Roland McKinney Reply

September 15, 2014 at 1:19 pm

I’d suggest other residents associations and Parish Councils conduct a survey to establish their residents’ views. Guildford Borough Council constantly talked about the need to contact the “silent majority” to get their views.

Effingham Residents Association did a great job in reaching their “silent majority” so if others were to do the same it would help to prevent GBC claiming they have communicated with the “silent majority” and that they were in favour of the draft Local Plan.

Do a survey even though it is too late to include it in a formal response: it is likely to be useful in the future.