Opinion: Guildford Needs a Town Council

Published on: 21 Mar, 2026
Updated on: 24 Mar, 2026

Cllr George Potter

By George Potter

Lib Dem county and borough councillor

The numbers at the borough council meeting on Monday spoke for themselves.

After a long and thoughtful debate, 24 councillors from multiple parties were in favour of establishing a town council and just nine were against.

This was not an issue where councillors split along party lines, or where there was an obvious pre-determined outcome. This was an issue where there were genuine, good-faith arguments to be made on both sides, especially on an issue where the consultation had found no clear majority one way or the other (46.5 per cent in favour, 47.1 per cent against, and 6.4 per cent don’t knows).

But part of our job as elected representatives is to consider issues in much more depth, and much more detail, than the typical resident has time to do. And the more detail this issue is considered in, then the more convincing the argument for having a town council becomes.

First is a matter of simple equality of representation. Every other part of Guildford borough has a parish council, but the town of Guildford remains a gap.

The existing parishes of Guildford Borough. Outside of the town, all have parish councils other than Wisley.

We don’t suffer from that gap now, because the town makes up half the borough’s population and representation. But that will change drastically in April next year when we become part of the West Surrey Council.

In a council of almost 700,000 people, how well would Guildford’s needs be represented when places like Farnham and Godalming and Ash had town or parish councils to advocate on their behalf, and our town did not?

Ancient buildings such as the Guildhall are precious to the town but require considerable maintenance.

Second is the issue of preserving our heritage and local assets. Why would taxpayers, and their elected representatives, in Woking, Camberley and Staines wish to pay for maintaining the Guildhall, or the castle, or the Stoke Park paddling pool, when they don’t have equivalents in their own towns?

Why would a councillor from Windlesham care about the medieval mayoralty of Guildford?

Only through a town council can we guarantee that there will be a local body with any interest in these things.

Third, and most importantly, is the issue of cost and of value for money. It was quite clear from the consultation that the main reason cited by those against having a town council was that they felt that a precept of £60 to £100 a year would be excessive and unaffordable when the only thing the new council was guaranteed to do was preserve the mayoralty and run the allotments.

The current Mayor of Guildford, Howard Smith, and The High Sheriff of Surrey, Peter Cluff, entering the Guildhall after the annual Civic Service, The Mayor of Guildford is a civic position with a history spanning over 650 years, dating back to at least 1362.

Many respondents incorrectly assumed that the rest of the money would go on paying salaries for 24 town councillors, even though those would be unpaid roles.

And I agree with that objection. £60+ a year would absolutely be excessive if all it paid for was the allotments and an annual civic procession.

However, what councillors had at the meeting, which had previously been unavailable, was an indicative first year budget for the town council.

This showed  that a precept of that level would provide a budget to run multiple buildings and provide multiple discretionary services and community grants. These would provide real value in exchange for the cost of the precept, and especially to those most in need, who are the ones who invariably benefit the most from public services.

And that’s before we get onto other issues, such as the ability to write a Guildford Neighbourhood Plan, and to access sources of funding (like the Community Infrastructure Levy on developers) that Guildford would otherwise miss out on.

It was for all of these reasons that councillors like myself felt that the long-term best interests of Guildford were best served by the creation of a democratic, local, town council, made up of unpaid elected councillors and a tiny number of staff, to represent and work for our town’s needs as we get swallowed up into the West Surrey super-council.

How Surrey is to be divided into two unitary authorities. SHBC

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