GGG were in favour of more in-depth analysis of both Councils’ finances prior to any merger of senior management.
James Whiteman had 32 years' experience of Guildford and this will be a big loss to the Borough in addition to the financial considerations. There will be a large redundancy and pension payout to such a long-standing employee.
GGG however appreciate that Tom Horwood has the experience of working for a combined authority - East Hampshire District and Havant Borough Councils. GGG's Ramsey Nagaty was on the panel for the final interview of Tom and has had a one-to-one, face-to-face meeting so as to lay out GGG’ s priority issues and concerns. It is to be hoped that Tom will bring dynamism and his strong experience in change management to the role. Guildford has substantial capital assets and investments. However, Government rules prohibit payment for service delivery out of Capital. Council tax rises are capped by Government, so savings must be made. Having recently gone through the stresses of the Future Guildford cost cutting and staff reorganisation process with many redundancies, Guildford Borough now has further uncertainty for staff and residents. GGG hope that any changes can be implemented as quickly as possible so as to reduce uncertainties for staff and to enable us to move forward leaner and fitter for the challenges ahead.
25 October 2021