As the newly-elected Farnham Residents councillors for the three Surrey County Council (SCC) divisions in Farnham, we wish to thank all the residents who voted for us on May 6.

Winning all three divisions in Farnham is a very welcome endorsement for our group of the work that our Surrey councillors have done over the past four years and the approach the Farnham Residents group has taken to running the town council and jointly running Waverley Borough Council with the Lib Dem, Green and Labour parties over the past two years.

We are pleased to report we contributed to the success of the Residents and Independents group at SCC, which won 16 seats, an increase of seven since the last election in 2017.

In addition, the other opposition parties all increased their representation to 18 seats in total, up by seven since 2017.

The ruling Conservative group lost 14 seats, against the national trend of Conservative gains elsewhere, and their vote share has declined from 49 per cent to 42 per cent since 2017.

They retain a majority with 47 seats but their loss of public support and weakened position will, in our view, make it all but impossible for the Conservatives to credibly continue to pursue their ambition to create a single Surrey unitary council.

As we campaigned to strongly oppose a single Surrey unitary, we are pleased with this likely outcome.

Farnham Residents will continue to support our local communities in opposing cuts to key public services by SCC.

We were successful in 2019 in resisting a proposal to close the Farnham community recycling centre. We still have concerns about the possible effects of budget cuts to the library services.

We will be asking SCC to justify the closing of one of the two children’s centres in Farnham, which they stated would result in more effective support for families and children requiring support from SCC.

However, where it is in the interests of our residents, we will continue to facilitate cross-party working on key local projects. The Farnham Infrastructure Programme is the most important example. Delivering a successful outcome will not be easy, but it will be a major focus of the Farnham Residents group over the next four years.

Catherine Powell

Councillor for

Farnham North

Michaela Martin

Councillor for

Farnham South

Andy Macleod

Councillor for

Farnham Central