INDEPENDENT COUNCILLOR ADDRESS TO ELECTORS

This is a very important election for residents. The councillors elected on May 7th 2026 will serve one year as the shadow council to prepare for the transition into the Surrey West Unitary Council that will happen in May 2027. I am sure this election will be heavily dominated with national political party's that will be posting manifesto leaflets through your door, but the experience is that the claims are rarely lived up to. 

My advice when deciding where your vote goes is as follows:

Definately ensure the candidate lives in the Bisley, West End and Lightwater Ward they want to represent, and declares their home address on the leaflet or ballot paper. This is to ensure political party paper candidates from miles away are eliminated.

Look for how long they have lived in the community to have an in depth appreciation of the issues affecting your quality of life.

Don't be influenced by national political party policy statements, Local Government Councils are very different.

Political Party Councillors will be controlled by their party leaders and directed which way to vote, which means your elected councillors could be forced to vote for something that is damaging to your community.

Look for a candidates history and experience in Local Government.

Current serving Surrey Heath Borough and Surrey County councillors will be trying to get elected onto the Unitary Council. Look for their current attendance records, what they have done for your community, and how they worked and engaged with the Parish Councils by attending their meetings.

What are candidates promising as a service level, i.e. how quickly will they respond to your contact requests.

Do make sure the candidates have no other commitments or jobs that will prevent them giving time to work for you, very important. Unitary council will be a full time job.

In fairness I would say our current Divison County Councillor has done quite well, I wish I could say the same for the Surrey Heath Borough Ward Councillors where the performance is well below expectations as borne out by many residents.

Essentially this is a Local Government Election, so local issues should be the focus of your vote. If your conerns are the NHS, Wars, Fuel costs etc then see your Westminster MP. If your concerns are Highways, Refuse collections, Police, Planning etc then use your vote for the candidate that will commit to aligning with your views. The caveat is that Political Party Councillors will be told how to vote on decisions by their party leaders even if its bad for your locality. Independent Councillors are free to vote for whats the best decision for your locality.