THE level of council tax concerns more Farnham people than any other issue relating to their town, according to a survey of 1,140 households conducted by the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for SW Suurey, Jeremy Hunt. The survey, called "Farnham's Future" was posted to households in Farnham last autumn. Residents were asked their views on a wide range of areas. "The scale of the response demonstrated how much people care about the town, with people especially valuing the friendly community, access to London, Farnham's historic character and Georgian architecture and good schools," said Mr Hunt. One resident said: "Living in Farnham is great, who could wish for more? The beautiful countryside, the meadows, the animals, the grass and much more." Another said Farnham was "small enough to walk around, but large enough to offer a variety of shops and services". However, said Mr Hunt, there were a large number of concerns about the future direction of the town. The level of council tax concerned 72 per cent of those who responded and inadequate provision of facilities for young people was cited by 35 per cent. Many people (34 per cent) were also worried about the number of new houses being built, the high cost of living (30 per cent), difficulty parking (26 per cent), availability of affordable houses (23 per cent), public transport (22 per cent) and local health provision (15 per cent). Mr Hunt said: "Following Waverley's announcement of a 4.9 per cent council tax increase, there is a clear message that any increases in spending should be funded by efficiency savings (79 per cent) as opposed to those who consider it acceptable to increase the tax further (only 18 per cent). "Council tax has gone up by 88 per cent in Waverley since 1997 and for the last two years the rise has been nearly double that of Guildford. This is a clear message that people find rises of this level unacceptable." Unsurprisingly levels of traffic were cited as the biggest worry about Farnham town centre, with 66 per cent of people registering concern. It was considered by 58 per cent of people that East Street needs redevelopment and by 43 per cent that more shop variety is needed. Thirty-four per cent expressed themselves as generally happy, but 30 per cent felt there was too much litter and 17 per cent complained of access difficulties. Jeremy Hunt said that following disappointments over the cancellation of the Hickley's Corner project and the ongoing battle for a Wrecclesham relief road, he has been campaigning for a strategic approach to Farnham's traffic crisis. "I am very concerned at the impact new quarry development could have on the traffic situation, with any new quarries generating potentially 350 truck movements per day. Add this to the traffic caused by East Street and you can see why it is a worry to two-thirds of Farnham residents," he commented." The other major area of concern was overdevelopment. Seventy per cent of residents felt simply building new houses was not the answer to the affordable housing problem, and 65 per cent felt the proposed number of houses in the East Street development was not acceptable and should be reduced. Mr Hunt added: "I have always supported more affordable housing, but never believed the answer is untrammelled development. Traffic is one of the biggest problems we have in Farnham, and endless new housing developments will only make things worse."
