Letter: There Will Be Other Budgetary Matters for the New Council to Address

Published on: 2 May, 2026
Updated on: 1 May, 2026

From Tom Wolfenden

Independent candidate for Guildford South East in the forthcoming West Surrey Council Election

In response to: Holding the 2025 SCC Elections Would Have Allowed the Debt Issue To Have Been Properly Debated

I don’t believe I am alone in wishing that Cllr George Potter [Lib Dem] and other councillors, rather than spending time on petty party-political point scoring, invested their efforts in ensuring that the new unitary authority is structured so as to best meet the needs of our community, including ensuring that Guildford retains its unique identity within the wider authority.

That is why I am standing as an Independent candidate in Guildford South East. The unitary authority is happening whether we like it or not, and the responsibility of the new unitary councillors in their first year is explicitly to shape the authority, working together with existing borough and county councillors.

Shaping the unitary must ensure existing legacy issues from one area are handled in a way that doesn’t materially disadvantage others.

We shouldn’t forget, however, that Guildford is itself not perfect – this may be a surprise to many, but hidden in the depths of its most recent medium-term plans is a forecast deficit to be handed over to the new unitary, building to £6 million by 2028/9; we also have considerable uncertainty over how much money Guildford holds – its external auditors have declined to sign off on its accounts since 2021, and recently confirmed that the uncertainty in the underlying position had increased further over the past year.

Perhaps on a more positive note, Guildford is still sitting on some £7 million of developers’ Section 106 contributions for education. Much of it has sat unised for over five years and some more than ten. While this is a scandal which current councillors have failed to act, on despite pressure from myself and others, I look forward to the new council resolving this and pupils (in particular those with SEND eg autistic spectrum needs), and their families, benefitting.