Letter: Let’s Hope the Executive Listens to the Scrutiny Committee Regarding ‘The Village’

Published on: 18 Nov, 2017
Updated on: 18 Nov, 2017

From B Matthews

“Absolutely packed” says Paul Bishop in his comment on The Village. But the saying “one swallow doesn’t not a summer make” springs to mind.

It had “live music, hot food, the ice rink and winter warmer drinks”. But they are all readily available at other Guildford venues and I find it rather insulting to suggest that Guildford does not have a community spirit, when it is clear that Guildford has thriving community spirit already. If anything, this ‘Village’ vanity project is having a disruptive influence on community spirit with many of our traders left unhappy.

Thank goodness for Clr Rooth, in particular, who was the only one that questioned the viability of this from the start, but also Cllrs Wicks, Holliday, Christiansen and Walsh for properly scrutinising these figures. The GVA [Gross Value Added] report, in particular, is not worth the paper on which it is written.

What concerns me the most is that the three men trying to defend this total failure of a project are in lead finance positions within the council: Cllr Bilbe – lead councillor for economic development, Cllr Illman – lead councillor for finance and asset management and Steve White – director of resources. None of them seems to realise that this is bringing no real value to the Town whatsoever.

Let’s hope that the Executive (of which Bilbe and Illman are members) listen to the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee, and close The Village down for good after the Christmas break.

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