FARNHAM MP Jeremy Hunt has joined councillors in hitting out at the “disgraceful” decision by a Surrey County Council committee to delay a promised consultation on a new road scheme in Farnham town centre.

Mr Hunt, the MP for South West Surrey, has long proposed a pedestrianisation scheme to tackle Farnham’s traffic and air pollution problems, and after a successful referendum in 2014 pledged in the build-up to June’s general election to hold a consultation on his advanced proposals this autumn.

However, at the last meeting of Surrey County Council’s Waverley Local Committee, councillors “tossed aside” the scheme - much to the disgust of Farnham members - and this week Mr Hunt also took aim at that decision.

The town MP said: “This is a disgraceful move by Surrey’s local committee, completely ignoring the clear wishes of the majority of people in Farnham and their own responsibility to deal with the town’s traffic and pollution issues.

“What is really galling is the clear refusal to listen to Farnham councillors from different political parties who are united on the need for action.

“We have always said we would help fundraise for the costs of any scheme so it is totally premature - and frankly a slap in the face to Farnham - to cancel the consultation at such short notice.

“I will be writing to David Hodge, Surrey County Council leader, to ask for an immediate rethink. David visited Farnham to see the issue for himself and was very supportive of the need for change so I very much hope the situation can be resolved.”

A consultation on the Farnham scheme, which proposes re-modelling much of the town centre incorporating Mr Hunt’s part-pedestrianisation scheme in Downing Street and The Borough, has formed part of the local committee’s forward programme for over a year.

Surrey’s highways team has worked alongside Farnham councillors and Mr Hunt to develop the proposals, and £25,000 had been allocated - generated by on-street parking fines in Farnham - for the consultation to go ahead later this year.

However, citing a 90 per cent cut to the council’s highways budget, the local committee - now led by Waverley Eastern Villagers councillor Victoria Young - agreed that this funding should be shared more evenly across the borough.

This decision was also slammed at last Thursday’s Farnham Town Council meeting by town council leader, and a member of the Waverley Local Committee, Carole Cockburn.

Mrs Cockburn said: “We were led to believe at previous local committees that there would be a consultation this autumn on the scheme to ease the traffic pollution and congestion in Farnham, and it was really just tossed aside by the chairman who said it wouldn’t be happening.

“Fellow Farnham councillor Pat Frost and I both said at the time it was disgraceful, and I believe we should write to the chairman of the committee to ask what is going on and are we going to have any improvement at all in the road system within Farnham town centre to help us in our fight against air pollution?”

Town councillors unanimously agreed with Mrs Cockburn’s recommendation to write to Mrs Young, who only took over as committee chairman in June after her predecessor Mrs Frost lost her county seat at the May 4 local elections.

Mrs Frost, who still retains a ‘backbench’ seat on the local committee as a borough councillor, added: “To say I was not very pleased is an understatement. I was very angry.

“The plan has been instigated by Surrey County Council and is fully costed, with the funds for the consultation to be taken out of Farnham’s on-street parking revenue, which has been set aside for the past three years specifically for this purpose.

“The intention was that it would go back to the local committee for a final decision in September, with the consultation to follow in October. So you can imagine my surprise and anger to be told in a very dismissive way that we’re not going to get it after all.

“It’s disgraceful. We all know Surrey is short of money, but this funding was to come from on-street parking and enforcement in Farnham and go towards a scheme to improve the flow of traffic through the town and reduce air pollution.

“We were almost there, and I’ve asked for it to go back to the next committee [on September 22] chapter and verse.”

Defending the decision to delay the consultation, committee chairman Mrs Young told The Herald: “I salute the enthusiasm of veteran Farnham town councillors Frost and Cockburn in their wish to shut the roads in central Farnham and turn them over to pedestrians.

“However, before spending Surrey taxpayers’ money consulting the people of Farnham on these ideas, I want to make sure there are sufficient funds to implement these proposals should Farnham residents wish to see these go ahead. 

“I do not believe that it would be a prudent use of public money to consult on a scheme until we know that the funds will be available to implement it and this is what I wish to investigate with my colleagues during the autumn.

“I do not believe it would be fair to raise the hopes of the people of Farnham about any highways schemes in the town without being clear that the necessary funds are available to deliver on what may be proposed.

“We are living in a time of unparalleled public austerity during which the council’s slender resources have rightly to be focused on providing services for the elderly and vulnerable in our society, as well as much needed school places for our children.

A spokesman for Waverley Borough Council, which has placed Surrey’s scheme at the centre of its plans to tackle Farnham’s air pollution, said: “Waverley Borough Council has not been made aware of the delay, however Surrey County Council representatives are attending the Air Quality Steering Group later this week which will explore ways of improving the air quality in the borough, including Farnham.”