Post Referendum, The Council Will Still Follow The Mansbridge/Juneja ‘Trajectory’

Published on: 15 Oct, 2016
Updated on: 17 Oct, 2016

From Ben Paton

Mr Mansbridge and Ms Juneja’s refrain when they were in charge of the Local Plan was that they were speaking for the “silent majority”.
Many will consider that this referendum has adequately tested their hypothesis and found it to be false. Most of us did not need to run this expensive public experiment to reach that conclusion.

The proposition that there was ever support for their deeply unpopular and undemocratic policies from the general public as opposed to vested interests in the building industry and in Conservative Central Office was always highly unlikely to be true.

The idea that still faster economic development in an area where the infrastructure is already at capacity and which is already one of the most prosperous in the country was always more to do with promoting the ambitions of these individuals rather than the interests of residents.

Let’s not forget the provenance of the promoters. They were the former leader and deputy leader of the Conservative group at Guildford Borough Council. The Conservative party put them in power. The other political parties did not provide meaningful opposition.

The council did not oppose or expose Ms Juneja. It supported them and subsequently has refused to state that either of them broke the council’s code of conduct. It was left to local residents to expose Ms Juneja. If residents had not acted then Mansbridge and Juneja might still be running the council.

The current Conservative Executive is still promoting the failed Mansbridge/Juneja local plan. National parties have failed to deliver at the local level.

Councillors who get elected on the coat tails of a national party brand and pursue a party agenda, concocted by remote think-tank-policy-jocks, prefer to toe the party line than speak up for the people who elect them.

Guildford needs to be represented by local residents’ associations who will stand up for local quality of life and the local environment.

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