Poor Councillor Attendance at Local Plan Workshop Was A ‘Kick in the Teeth’ for the Organisers

Published on: 11 Feb, 2026
Updated on: 12 Feb, 2026

By Martin Giles

The leader of the Guildford Greenbelt Group has added his support to a complaint by a Residents for Guildford & Villages councillor that the level of attendance at a recent GBC Local Plan workshop was poor.

He said it was a “kick in the teeth” to council officers who had spent time preparing and organising the meeting.

Only eight of the council’s 48 councillors attended the workshop: four out of 25 Lib Dems; two out of seven R4GV; one out of three Labour and one out of three GGG. None of the ten Conservative councillors attended. Cllr George Potter (Lib Dem, Burpham) sent apologies and attended one of the parish council workshops instead.

The list of councillors who attended the Local Plan workshop, as provided by GBC:

Cllr Catherine-Anne Young [R4GV, Clandon & Horley]
Cllr Dominique Williams [LD, Shalford]
Cllr Howard Smith [Lab, Westborough]
Cllr Maddy Redpath [R4GV, Castle]
Cllr Patrick Oven [GGG, Send & Lovelace]
Cllr Stephen Hives [LD, Stoke]
Cllr Vanessa King [LD, Stoke]
Cllr Joanne Shaw [LD, Burpham]

Cllr Pat Oven

Cllr Pat Oven said: “I am entirely in agreement with the sentiments expressed by Cllr Maddy Redpath in her letter of February 6 (Great Local Plan Meeting – But Where Were My Fellow Councillors?).

“This was an opportunity to not only help create a direction of travel for the updated Local Plan, but for those councillors who are not fully au fait with the changes in planning rules introduced last year to update themselves.

“Even non-members of the Planning Committee potentially have to sit as substitutes for their party colleagues when they are unavailable, and all councillors have to deal with queries from residents about planning issues.

“Suffice to say, I agree with every word of Cllr Redpath’s excellent and thoughtful letter. A lot of work had clearly gone into preparing this workshop. The officers and facilitators did a superb job in the presentation, which was instructive and thought-provoking.

“It was frankly a kick in the teeth for them that so few turned out. 6pm may have been difficult for some – but for so many?”

The following Guildford Borough Councillors attended the Local Plan workshop. Please note, Cllr George Potter couldn’t make the councillor workshop, and attended one of the parish council workshops instead.

Cllr Catherine-Anne Young (R4GV, Clandon & Horley)
Cllr Dominique Williams (LD, Shalford)
Cllr Howard Smith (L, Westborough)
Cllr Maddy Redpath (R4GV, Castle)
Cllr Patrick Oven (GGG, Send & Lovelace)
Cllr Stephen Hives (LD, Stoke)
Cllr Vanessa King (LD, Stoke)
Cllr Joanne Shaw (LD, Burpham)
Cllr George Potter (LD, Burpham)

The leader of the ten-councillor Conservative group gave no reason for his party’s non-attendance but defended his group’s work record on local planning. Philip Brooker (Con, Worplesdon) said: “The Conservative Group has been actively involved in the evolution of the planning process in Guildford, not least the tireless work of our Shadow Member on Planning for his work to restrict the height of tall buildings in the town centre to five- storeys.

Cllr Philip Brooker

“It should be remembered that the Conservatives bequeathed the current administration, a five-year land supply for future development, meaning that our Borough has significant influence over the acceptance or otherwise of proposed schemes.

“Through failure to maintain this five-year land supply, the Lib Dem administration has opened the door for developers to propose effectively whatever they want, taking the decision out of local control, and effectively handing it to Central Government to approve on appeal.

“The Conservatives are acutely aware that good planning goes very close to the hearts of local residents and are actively campaigning on this for the Unitary Elections to be held in May. Residents will then be able to express their views on the track record of this administration.”

Cllr James Walsh

James Walsh (Stoke), leader of the three-councillor Labour Group explained personal reasons for his non-attendance but not that of his fellow councillors. He said: “Regarding the workshop on the 28th, I unfortunately could not attend due to unavoidable family commitments.”

The leaders of the Lib Dem and R&GV groups, Julia McShane and Joss Bigmore, did not respond to The Dragon’s invitation to comment.

Responses to Poor Councillor Attendance at Local Plan Workshop Was A ‘Kick in the Teeth’ for the Organisers

Jim Allen Reply

February 11, 2026 at 1:31 pm

It is crucial to acknowledge the significance of data. I would like to draw your readers attention to the approximate figure of 80,000, representing the number of silent rejections by planning officers to objections to planning proposals between 2014 and 2019. This raises a pertinent question: why would any individual, elected or otherwise, engage with council officers who appear to disregard logical local reasoning, suggestions, and ideas aimed at community improvement, rather than community destruction?

Instead, they seem to passively adhere to central government directives. What recourse would a government department have if local planning authorities were to deem their demands not only unreasonable but also impractical and refuse to cooperate?

Consider the scenario where a Local Plan is superseded, only to reveal that the actions it directs are irrational and unfeasible. As with the current plan, this could lead to the selection of sites lacking essential infrastructure such as water, electricity, or sewage facilities. An infinite spiral of irrational planning.

Therefore, it is imperative that Guildford planners reject the proposal for 1,000+ houses per annum and stand for local residents not central government. Only then will the “Local” Plan truly reflect its designation.

Until such a stance is adopted, further engagement appears futile, except to unequivocally oppose every proposed site with every rational planning objection available.