Caroline Reid and Valerie White launched their election campaign for the forthcoming Bagshot By-Election with typical good humour this weekend posing in front of a sign advertising ‘Hot Tubs’ at Nottcutts Garden Centre.
Valerie White, who is hoping to be elected to Surrey Heath Borough Council, is a well known figure in Bagshot having been a parish councilor for over 4 years. She has been involved in many high-profile campaigns including the campaign to keep a post office in the village, that she led with local MP Michael Gove.
Caroline is hoping to be elected to the local Parish Council on By-Election day, Thursday 13th December. If elected, this will be Caroline’s first opportunity to be involved in local politics. She has long been an active member of the local community, having lived and worked in Bagshot for over 25 years and having been an active fund-raiser for the British Heart Foundation.
Both candidates are looking forward to a successful campaign which they hope will prompt a positive debate about the future of Bagshot village.
13 Comments
November 20, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Ha ha. I know Val White. She is indeed ‘Hot’ – always involved in all the local issues and constantly helping out local residents with all kinds of issues. I really wish her and Caroline the very best in the elections – they get my vote !
November 21, 2007 at 4:29 pm
What a self congratulatory piece. I have been more impressed by the Lib Dems who have constantly kept in touch with Villagers since 1995 when they first gained councillors in Bagshot.
Their current candidates Gret Woodason & Ruth Hutchinson have both been fully involved with the local community for many years — I would go for them!
November 26, 2007 at 8:49 am
Richard,
Your sense of humour seems to have failed – I thought it was quite a fun piece..
Actually the Lib Dems really haven’t done much in the last few years. Until this year they had complete control of Bagshot at Borough and Parish yet it was the Conservatives who were responsible for all the major campaigns – such as getting a replacement post office – despite the fact that it was the Lib Dems job to sort these things out.
I, like many others in Bagshot feel that the Lib Dems have totally let us down. They are very good at dropping leaflets through our doors complaining about things – but seem to forget that they were voted in to change things not moan about them.
All they ever do when challenged is moan and complain and say that they can’t get support from the Borough or County council – yet when you speak to the council they tell you that the Lib Dems just haven’t actually put together any coherent cases for the things they claim to be campaigning for..
I’m sure Gret and Ruth are very nice people and I hope they will go onto work with the local community in the future – I just hope they realise that the local Lib Dems spend a lot of time talking about things and very little time doing.
November 28, 2007 at 6:30 am
James,
I haven’t had the same experience as you.
I know that the Lib Dems have been putting on constant pressure to obtain the pedestian crossing for getting on for ten years,
I rememeber that the late Brian Ward,went round the village to shopkeepers when the post office was under threat to help find an alternative location.
During the campaign against the first Notcutts development it was the Conservatives that thought it was not worth fighting the development, as it was a lost cause and the Lib Dems that organised the village against it and eventually the developers lost at the planning appeal stage.
I think the LDs have offered egular leaflets to keep villagers informed PLUS action.
Richard
November 28, 2007 at 9:28 am
Richard,
I have seen the propaganda also and have taken a little time to investigate the real story.
I am sure Brian did make efforts to talk to shopkeepers when the post office closed – by all accounts he was a good man. My understanding is that it was our MP and prospective borough councillor Valerie White who actually did most of the work – and Valerie White was not even a Bagshot councillor at the time.
Your point about the zebra crossing rather supports my earlier point. The Lib Dems may claim to ‘campaign’ about things for years but really if they haven’t got something as simple as this sorted in 10 years then they must be doing something badly wrong. I see one of their new candidates is claiming on one of their latest leaflets to have ‘helped’ get a plant pot installed in the village ! – a bit sad if that is all they can come up with.
As far as Nottcutts is concerned.. To be fair I haven’t been aware of the Lib Dems trying to score cheap political points on this issue. Local Authorities are effectively being forced by the Labour government to build homes. This has been well publicised nationally.
Actually personally I think a Nottcutts development would help local businesses and make the village busier and more vibrant for everyone locally and it is a whole lot better than building ever more dense housing in the village on existing plots (i.e. building on gardens etc).. but I know my view is not shared by all councillors of every party..
I guess I am a bit of a nimby like everyone – but at least Nottcutts is not ‘in my back yard’ – it’s up the road a bit and I think we all have to accept that unless we are advocating throwing immigrants out of the country, and are prepared to deny people the chance to own a home and build a family, we have to build houses somewhere.
November 28, 2007 at 2:36 pm
I think most people in Bagshot are concerned about the Notcutts development. When I first heard about it my initial reaction was concern about the increased traffic on the A30.
However, I am also well aware of the pressure being put on local authorities especially in the south east by the Labour government to increase the number of new dwellings. From what I understand the Notcutts development will be for fewer dwellings than initially proposed and at least is a mix of houses and apartments, bucking what would seem to be the current trend for executive apartment blocks that can be seen in Camberley and up the road in Sunningdale.
Like James, I hope the development has a positivie impact on the village in that it will encourage a wider mix of businesses and hopefully secure the Post Office’s longer term future after Valerie and colleagues fought to so hard to get re-opened!
November 28, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Thanks James for speaking for some common sense about the Notcutts development. Yes we could all do without the extra traffic but I dare say there were plenty of people in the mid 70s who campaigned against the Yaverland Drive development, where I now live. As you say, we have to build houses somewhere if owning a home is to be remain a viable option for more than the very privileged few.
A new estate in the village may even help to give some vibrance back to the village which seems to have gone downhill in the seven years I’ve lived here. I don’t suppose there’s a chance of some better public transport as well??
December 1, 2007 at 8:53 pm
I have just seen James’s posting.
My comments were about the first Nottcuts proposal, not the current application. It was opposed by the community and the development was turned down at a public enquiry. I don’t undersatnd the comment about ‘cheap political points’.
In respect of the pedestrian crossing the LDs took such a long time to get it approved as it failed to get funding from the Conservative controlled county council.
Richard
December 2, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Actually my understanding is that the crossing did get funding from Surrey County Council following the presentation of a case by Valerie White to them.
Again, if the local Councillors (all Liberal Democrats for the last 12 years until May) had made a better case for it in the last 10 years or so that they claim to be have been ‘campaigning’ for it then perhaps it would have happened earlier and made our streets safer for everyone.
My point about Nottcutts was that I don’t think the Liberal Democrats have tried to make cheap political points about Notcutts. I think everyone understands there are pro’s and con’s to local development. I hope all local councillors will just work to make the best of things for everyone.
December 4, 2007 at 7:03 am
James,
Your last comment is totally misleading.
The reason we finally have the crossing because of the continuous campaigning by the Lib Dems. The County keeps a priority list of highways projects and it was gradually pushed up the list. It did not happen because of Valerie’s recent interest when she turned up at one public meeting!
December 4, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Richard it’s getting boring now. Valerie White put in a lot of effort to get this done and succeeded where the LDs claim to have failed for 10 years. This is a spurious claim on their part anyway seeing as the site for the crossing is opposite the new post-office which has only been there for a few months ! (Again following Valerie’s efforts I might add !)
I think it really is a bit sad that you try and claim credit for the LDs for someone else’s efforts and even sadder when you try and belittle the efforts of someone who has put in a tremendous amount of work for local people in areas that go way, way, way beyond her duties as a Windlesham parish councillor. I hope other local people know how enormously valuable Valerie White is to Bagshot and recognise that by electing her to be their Borough Councillor on Thursday 13th. It’s not just the high profile work that she has done (such as the Post Office) but it’s the sheer volume of work she does helping local people with all kinds of problems such as housing, domestic violence, anti-social behaviour and all the banal, boring things that she deals with such as street lighting, graffiti etc etc.. I really don’t know why she is prepared to do all this for absolutely nothing, but I’m extremely glad that she does and will support her efforts as much as I possibly can – particularly against those who just moan and complain rather than graciously thank her for all the work she does.
December 4, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Please save us from another Lib Dem councillor on Thursday 13th !
December 7, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Everyone – please keep all future comments positive and productive. I have had some appalling comments from someone purporting to be a Liberal Democrat making completely unsubstantiated and possibly libellous personal comments and as a result have turned on moderation. Please don’t abuse the blog ! – We will not publish comments like this.