Lib Dems respond to MP's attack on local services
Lib Dem councillors have responded to an attack on local council services by Guildford's current Conservative MP. In their response to a critical letter from the MP, Cllr Catherine Houston and Cllr George Potter (the portfolio holders for leisure and park services respectively) highlight the ongoing investment being made by the Liberal Democrat-run council in providing high quality parks and leisure facilities despite the immense financal pressures caused by cuts to local government funding by the Conservative government.
Read the letter to Angela Richardson MP in full below.
3rd November 2023
Dear Ms Richardson,
Thank you for your letter dated 31st October.
We are very fortunate in Guildford to have wonderful parks and sports facilities which are provided for the use of all our residents. The astro-courts in Sutherland Memorial Park are for dual-use by both tennis and football. The current booking system, which has been in place for multiple years, involves users emailing the parks team in advance, though it is possible to make block and recurring bookings. Recently, in March 2023, we revised the timetable to dedicate one court exclusively for tennis every day of the week from 1 April to 30 September and at weekends during March and October. When we made this change all tennis contacts were emailed with details and asked for feedback but none was received.
We recognise that the current booking system is less flexible than we would ideally wish to provide and because of this we are currently out to procurement for an online booking system for the astro-courts at Sutherland Memorial Park, following a successful trial of such a system at the Stoke Park tennis courts.
Guildford Lido is much loved, well used and recently celebrated 90 years of providing swimming fun and happy memories for families across the decades, borough and beyond. Residents were able to enjoy the newly refurbished facilities this year following investment by Liberal Democrat-led Guildford Borough Council. We recently demonstrated our commitment to the Lido by providing the funding for new changing rooms, toilets, café and replacing the original drainage system that previous Conservative administrations had failed to do.
The Lido opened on time in April to allow Freedom Leisure, who manage the facility, to meet their contractual obligation to open for a minimum of 20 weeks each year. It is worth noting that Freedom Leisure are under no obligation to operate the Lido beyond the 20 weeks annually guaranteed as part of their contract.
The current repairs are to leaks, which were identified during the summer, and need to take place now to ensure that the Lido will be able to reopen in April 2024, for the busiest time of the year. The progress of the works are being published monthly on Freedom Leisure’s website and the first update can be found here: www.freedom-leisure.co.uk/centres/guildford-lido/latest-news/winter-works
Spectrum Leisure Centre is another facility managed by Freedom Leisure and we are pleased to have recently extended their management contract for another two years until September 2025. We are also just about to start the procurement process for a new long-term management contract across our leisure provision and are grateful to those councillors who are taking an interest in the future of our leisure services by joining the Spectrum/Lido contract working group. It is very disappointing that Conservative councillors chose not to participate in this group.
We are very pleased that significant investment is being made in the maintenance of the Spectrum by Freedom Leisure. This investment is currently funding work which includes a new sound and lighting system for the ice rink, works to the pools, pool features and the pool changing areas this winter, a new wall feature in the leisure pool, complete re-decoration throughout the building and improvements to the bowling facilities. Council officers work closely with Freedom to ensure the asset continues to be maintained and invested in. Needless to say, there are no plans to close the Spectrum.
Our many local parks and green spaces are exceedingly well maintained by the council for the enjoyment of all communities across the borough. We know how much our residents value these parks and green spaces as they tell us so and frequently share wonderful photographs of them on social media. We can assure you and our residents that we will continue to manage our parks to the high standards we require, and which residents expect and deserve.
Residents across the borough will be fully aware of the Conservative government’s deep cuts to local council funding and their irresponsible mismanagement of the economy that has led to rampant inflation, high interest rates and a cost-of-living crisis which is crucifying local authorities across the country. Indeed, Tim Oliver, the Conservative leader of Surrey County Council warned only this week that 1 in 10 councils face bankruptcy, demonstrating that this is a national crisis for local government.
Applying for Green Flag status for multiple sites across the borough costs thousands of pounds of public money. Green Flag status simply means that an external organisation has reviewed our maintenance plans for the parks and has officially confirmed that they are worthy of the council being entitled to fly a Green Flag. Our maintenance plans for our parks will not be changing. Instead, we will only be applying for Green Flag status for our flagship locations of Stoke Park and the Castle Grounds. This is a sensible and responsible decision to ensure value for money for our residents who will still be able to enjoy the same beautifully maintained parks as always.
In May this year people across Guildford borough elected the first Liberal Democrat majority administration at Guildford Borough Council for 28 years with a mandate to stabilise the council’s finances and to make our borough a greener, fairer and thriving place to live. We will continue to make difficult decisions to protect public services for our residents - decisions that have been forced on us by years of Conservative mismanagement of local and national government. We remain accountable to the residents of Guildford who elected us.
As Guildford’s current MP, we ask that you start fighting for constituents in Westminster and pressing for adequate funding for local government after 13 years of cuts by Conservative chancellors. This is the only way to protect our valued local services, and the people of Guildford deserve nothing less.
Yours sincerely
Cllr Catherine Houston, Lead Cllr Commercial Services (Guildford Borough Council)
and
Cllr George Potter, Lead Cllr Planning, Environment & Climate Change (Guildford Borough Council)