Letter: Opposition Attendance at GBC’s Budget-setting Meeting Was Appalling

Published on: 14 Feb, 2026
Updated on: 19 Feb, 2026

GBC full council meeting Feb 11 2026. George Potter

From George Potter

Lib Dem borough councillor for Burpham

See: GBC’s Achievement of Sorting Out Its Finances Praised as ‘Amazing’ by Deputy Leader

Recent letters to the Dragon have featured opposition councillors complaining about the number of councillors who attended sessions about the process for creating a new Local Plan.

Personally I’m not sure the fuss is entirely necessary, given that there will be many more sessions in the future and given that every councillor on the Local Plan Panel attended, but I think what is of far more genuine concern is the appalling attendance by opposition councillors at Guildford’s budget-setting council meeting this week.

For the Conservatives, the official opposition, just six of their 10 councillors turned up for the meeting (not counting Cllr Furniss, whose lack of attendance is legendary), and attendance for R4GV was even worse, with just three of their seven turning up, which didn’t include their leader, Joss Bigmore. Labour did better, with two out of their three councillors in attendance, and GGG did best of all with all three of their councillors attending.

The sheer number of absences is best illustrated by the above photo I took of the opposition benches on the night, with multiple rows of empty seats.

By contrast, 24 out of 25 Lib Dem councillors managed to make it to the meeting, including some who have been suffering from health problems but who still made the effort to turn up to speak and vote on the single most important decision the council makes each year.

The lack of engagement by the opposition parties is best illustrated by the fact that not a single opposition councillor spoke in the debates about the council’s capital strategy or the housing revenue account budget.

And, although some opposition councillors did comment on the general fund budget (which sets the rate of council tax), not a single budget amendment was put forward by any of the opposition parties.

Furthermore, when we got to the agenda item explaining the council tax levels by band for the next financial year, there was even an embarrassing lack of understanding by multiple opposition councillors on what the papers actually meant.

However, I do commend those who did make the effort to turn up and to contribute, especially Cllr Young (R4GV, Clandon & Horsley) and Cllr Oven (GGG, Send & Lovelace) who both made thoughtful and balanced contributions in the budget debate, even though they were the only members of their groups to do so.

I do appreciate that sometimes absences are unavoidable, especially due to ill health or personal emergencies and diary clashes, but to have only half the councillors from the two main opposition parties show up for the budget meeting truly is shocking, especially when those absent included individuals who were just last week criticising poor attendance at the Local Plan sessions.

Equally, I similarly understand that being in opposition, and being faced with a budget that is almost certain to pass, is not exactly fun, but I and my Lib Dem colleagues are in exactly the same position at county hall, and yet we still managed high attendance at the county budget meeting to speak in the debate and to vote to represent the residents who elected us.

The two-year balanced budget that GBC set this week was the last budget the council will ever set before its abolition, and will bequeath a strong financial legacy to the new West Surrey Council.

I sincerely hope that the new West Surrey Council will attract councillors who will take doing their jobs more seriously than some of the current opposition councillors at Guildford.

Responses to Letter: Opposition Attendance at GBC’s Budget-setting Meeting Was Appalling

H Trevor Jones Reply

February 14, 2026 at 7:17 pm

It does sound a pity that so many elected councillors didn’t attend setting the budget, which I too would take to be the most important GBC meeting in the year.

In voluntary organisations, like those of which I’m a member, I can understand that when large sums of money are concerned, a lot of volunteers don’t feel up to querying actual and proposed figures, but you’d have thought that folk standing for election to GBC ought to be up to it.

However (as a non-party person), given that all councillors of any party should be working together for the best for Guildford, I ask: was the proposed budget open to amendment if some councillor (of any party) had a sensible amendment to put forward that the designers of the budget hadn’t thought of, or was it simply a take-it-or-leave it situation? If the latter, then absenteeism is more understandable.
- George Potter Reply
  
  February 16, 2026 at 3:39 pm
  
  Any and all motions and reports that go to full council are open to amendment by any councillor.
  
  In the case of budgets, there is a deadline about a week before the meeting for amendments, to give the finance team time to give feedback on the implications of any proposed changes, but any two councillors could have proposed a budget amendment by that deadline, and opposition groups have special access to officer support should they wish to propose budget amendments.
  
  George Potter is a Lib Dem borough and county councillor