Sue Doughty slams Council crime record

10.54.05am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 17th Aug 2007

Sue Doughty has slammed the crime record of Conservative-run Guildford Borough Council following yet another reported attack at the Tesco underpass.

The Liberal Democrats have been leading a long campaign for CCTV at the site, but Conservative-run Guildford Borough Council has so far refused to install a much-needed camera in the underpass.

There have been five attacks in the last few weeks alone.

Sue and local Lib Dem councillors Steve Freeman, Tony Phillips and Chris Ward have been campaigning for years for a camera at the site.

Sue said, "It is disgraceful that the Conservatives are still failing to act despite repeated attacks at this site. How many serious attacks do there need to be before they install a camera?"

Cllr Chris Ward added, "The Conservatives wanted to spend £1.5million last year refurbishing the reception area of the Council Offices, but they can't even find £25,000 for a much-needed CCTV camera. They should stop wasting our money and start taking public safety seriously."

A campaign group set up by Chris on the popular social networking website Facebook has attracted over 1,000 members in support of the campaign, mainly from the University of Surrey.

Chris said, "Support for the campaign is overwhelming yet still the Council ignore local residents. On the doorsteps in the recent elections, many local people told us how concerned they were about this blackspot. Even a defeat at the ballot box in Onslow does not seem to have made the Conservatives listen, but perhaps this growing online campaign will. They need to act before there is an incident even worse than the ones already suffered."

The Facebook group can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2254178662