Council Leader Snubs Local Campaign Efforts

9.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 30th May 2007

Local campaigner John Rigg, Cllr Mike Crocombe & Cllr Sarah Di Caprio at Tyting Farm

Liberal Democrat councillors in Guildford have criticised Conservative Council Leader Andrew Hodges for a "downright snub" of local people's efforts in securing the future of Tyting Farm.

The criticism came about at this week's meeting of the Environment and Housing Committee, when Cllr Hodges presented his Council Leader report 'Review of 2006-2007', making no mention of the role played by The Save Tyting Farm campaign. Instead, he referred to Conservative councillor Sarah Creedy who "convinced the Executive that the option of leasing the property to the Surrey Wildlife Trust would be preferable [to selling the property on the open market]."

Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson Cllr Sarah Di Caprio said she had been disturbed to read the paragraph in the leader's report, effectively sidelining the efforts of local people. "It's totally disingenuous to say the Executive was swayed by the actions of one councillor - and incredible not to acknowledge the role played by The Save Tyting Farm Campaign as well as significant local pressure.

"I was at the Executive meeting last year when the place was packed full of concerned residents, with contributions from The Save Tyting Farm Campaign and East Guildford Residents' Association to name but two. You couldn't fail but be impressed by the concern local residents had for the future of the farm. But obviously Cllr Hodges wasn't impressed - I did suggest that he might want to reword the statement to reflect this role but he refused to do so."

Liberal Democrat Cllr Mike Crocombe, who before being elected this month was a key member of The Save Tyting Farm Campaign, said the statement contained some further inaccuracies. "The farm was not vacated in 2006/2007 (the year being reported on) and there was no public consultation on this issue," he said. "Bids for the lease were requested in the normal way and the bid submitted by Surrey Wildlife Trust was selected on merit and in competition with other bids."

Notes:

The text in full from the Leader's report:

"2.20 During the year Tyting Farm, Guildford was vacated by its tenant. The Council had initially intended to sell the property on the open market. After a consultation with the public, Councillor Sarah Creedy convinced the Executive that the option of leasing the property to the Surrey Wildlife Trust would be preferable. It was therefore agreed to lease the farm to Surrey Wildlife Trust and the HALOW Project, a charity which provides training and support to people with learning disabilities."