Letter: County Council Vote is Worthless

Published on: 11 Jul, 2019
Updated on: 11 Jul, 2019

From Ben Paton

In response to: County Council Finally Declares Climate Change Emergency

So they had a vote. If the county council did what it promised a vote might be significant. But since it does not, the vote is worthless.

Remember this vote in March 2013? Passed unanimously.

“Council believes:
Surrey’s Green Belt, Countryside Estate, SSSIs and other green spaces are vital, not only for the county’s environment but also for maintaining a ‘green lung’ around London.
Council resolves:
1 To do everything in its power to protect Surrey’s Green Belt;
2. To oppose any moves by government to weaken Green Belt legislation;
3 To make Surrey’s MPs and the County’s Districts and Boroughs aware of this resolution; and
4. That any Green Belt development in the County is in line with the needs and wishes of Surrey residents.”

Great stuff.

But when in 2018 Paul Spooner, then GBC Tory Leader, asked the leader of SCC to write a letter in support of building on the green belt in Ockham for GBC’s “garden village bid”, he just copied out and signed the letter drafted for GBC by Savills. No concern was shown for the green belt or the SPA or the SSSI or traffic or anything else.

And when GBC asked the ecology officer at SCC to concur with changing the boundaries of Wisley Field SNCI to comply with the Inspector’s wishes he just rolled over.

SCC is hardly a reliable defender of the green belt or Nature or residents’ interests. Developers, on the other hand, seem able to count on it.