Resignation calls after Surrey borough leader recorded asking for reports to be ‘skewed’
Opposition members have called on the leader of Waverley Borough Council to resign after he was overheard calling for devolution reports to be “skewed” to “actively promote” carving Surrey into three rather than two new authorities.
Surrey is currently composed of a county council and 11 boroughs and districts. The Government wants to reorganise this and create a single elected mayor with either two, or three unitary authorities in their responsibility.
The county and boroughs are divided on how to go forward, with Surrey in favour of two – and the ‘vast majority’ of the boroughs in favour of three.
This division was at the heart of calls for Councillor Paul Follows to step down after he was recorded saying reports published last week should have their “tone slightly” changed “to be a bit more skewed to actively promoting three”.
The opposition has said the comments, which have since been edited out of a publicly-available recording, were “inappropriate and outrageous” and “offered the public yet another opportunity to lose faith in politics, in the democratic process, and sadly even potentially our hard-working officers.”
Cllr Follows said the reports were the result of “months of rigorous and detailed evidence gathering and analysis”, and that its conclusions were fully supported.
He said he was asking for the commentary included “to be explicit that of the two options, we preferred three unitaries covering Surrey, and the evidence clearly supports this.”
The exchange between Cllr Follows and chief executive officer Pedro Wrobel was broadcast before the start of the Tuesday, March 11, executive meeting before the sound was suddenly switched off.
Cllr Follows was heard saying: “The changing of the tone slightly of the districts and boroughs reports to be a bit more skewed to actively promoting three.”
Mr Wrobel replied: “Oh no, we’re doing that. We ‘ve done that anyway”, to which Cllr Follows said: “You’ve done that anyway, fine.”
Mr Wrobel continued: “The only question mark we have is, I was going to drop a line to Surrey leaders after this meeting to say that we’re unlikely to finalised…” The sound then sound cuts off.
The clip has caused “dismay” among the Waverley and Guildford Conservative group, which has published an open letter calling on the Liberal Democrat group leader to step down.
The letter read: “Viewers of the YouTube recording witness, in a private moment captured prior to the start, your brazen request to the joint chief executive to ‘skew’ officer reports in the favour of three unitary authorities.
“In the video, the joint CEO of Waverley and Guildford confirms that ‘he is doing that anyway’. Clearly this was not meant to be caught on mic as the next portion of video is muted until the meeting proper commences.
“We are concerned both at your request and that presumably in response to similar prior requests, that it was ‘being done anyway’.
“Your inappropriate and outrageous request comes in the context of our joint council officers preparing reports for councillors ahead of the full Council meetings to be held by all 11 District and Borough Councils, and Surrey County Council, next week on local government reorganisation.
“At these meetings councillors across Surrey will be asked, using the reports provided, to vote on a preference – for two or three unitaries.
“As the Leader of Waverley Borough Council and the Leader of the Opposition at Surrey County Council you should surely be advocating for fairness and transparency, not conspiring with your fellow executive members to contrive and ‘skew’ the information councillors receive in arriving at a decision on such an important issue.
“The repercussions of your actions reach across Surrey because the wording of reports are replicated to all of the 11 District and Borough Councils.
“Councillors across Surrey will now be rightly concerned that the information they will receive is inappropriately ‘skewed’.”
It finishes: “On behalf of residents of our joint councils of Waverley and Guildford, you have failed in your duty and in the office of Leader of Waverley Borough Council.
“We request you resign your post, and that those other councillors who witnessed this but remained silent, cc’d into this letter, also consider their position.”
Responding, Cllr Fellows said that the conversation was an informal exchange before the start of the meeting and was held in public – and therefore there was “nothing secretive about it.” He added all of the data and underlying assumptions in the reports have also been scrutinised by all the borough and district chief finance officers.
He said: “It is a discussion about an early draft of our proposal for Local Government Reform, which all 11 District and Borough Councils in Surrey are due to agree next week.
“The proposal is the result of two months of rigorous and detailed evidence gathering and analysis, and our conclusions are fully supported by the evidence.
“All of the data and underlying assumptions have been scrutinised by all 11 Chief Finance Officers across the county.
“The proposal analyses in detail options for two or three unitary councils covering Surrey.
“I was simply asking for the commentary included in the proposal to be explicit that of the two options, we preferred three unitaries covering Surrey, and the evidence clearly supports this.
“I have made no secret of the fact that I believe the interests of Surrey residents would best be served if the new councils cover consistent geographic and economic areas.
“I simply do not believe that a unitary council that stretches from Staines to Haslemere and another covering the whole of the East of the county could possibly do that or that they would be responsive to local needs or accountable to local people.
“But it’s not just my view that matters – the proposal will need to be agreed across all 11 district and borough councils in Surrey.
“The report will be published (on Friday, March 14), and people will be able to judge for themselves the merits of the proposals.”