No Money, No Deal, GBC Tells County Council on Highways Maintenance

Published on: 28 Apr, 2022
Updated on: 29 Apr, 2022

Agenda front sheet from the Guildford Joint Committee Meeting of March 16

By Martin Giles

Guildford Borough Council is refusing to sign an agreement with Surrey County Council to take on responsibility for “certain aspects” of highways maintenance. SCC is currently responsible for the upkeep of highways, including pavements.

See also: Town Pavements Look ‘Unloved, Abandoned and Neglected’ But SCC Says ‘Major Repairs’ Planned

The subject has become an issue within the working of the SCC/GBC Guildford Joint Committee which deals with work requiring cross-council cooperation.

County Cllr Matt Furniss

Matt Furniss (Con, Shalford) the SCC cabinet member for Transport and Infrastructure was expecting GBC to sign a Town Centre Highway Management Agreement under which the borough council would take on some responsibility for the maintenance of highways within the town centre.

But GBC councillors are refusing to do so without an allocation of funds currently collected by SCC. GBC members of the joint committee are pointing to an example of an agreement between SCC and Woking Borough Council which, they say, gives WBC “40% of the surplus from on-street parking”.

When this was pointed out to Cllr Furniss by fellow members of the joint committee he responded: “Disappointing but not surprising that this administration [ie GBC] has walked back from yet another council commitment.

“It will be highly unlikely that we will do anything at risk in good faith from GBC anymore as it is clear partnership for GBC is one way. There will be no revised offer.”

Some Guildford councillors suspect his decision has been affected by the political profile of GBC. Since the 2019 election, in which Cllr Furniss lost his GBC seat, there has been a Lib Dem/R4GV administration.

The Guildford Dragon asked Cllr Furniss:

1. What commitment did GBC give to the proposed agreement and when?
2. What other commitments have GBC “walked back from”?
3. Why should GBC be treated differently to Woking Borough Council?
4. Isn’t your refusal to compromise also going to affect your own constituents in Shalford Division when they visit Guildford?

but he has failed to respond.

What is unclear from recent emails seen by The Dragon is whether the previous Conservative administration had agreed to take on responsibility for highways maintenance in Guildford, with or without any additional funding, before they lost the election.

In 2016, GBC contributed a third of the funds for the relaying of the granite setts in the High Street, after years of inaction. Another third came from SCC and the final third from the joint committee. The project cost was about £1 million.

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