John Gaskell selected (again) for Farnham Castle by-election

John Gaskell has been selected by the Labour Party to be its candidate in the Farnham Castle by-election on Thursday 18 April.

John, who has been a long-standing campaigner for the area, will contest the same Waverley Borough Council seat that he stood for last May. In that poll he was just 7 per cent behind the Residents’ Party candidates and received twice as many votes as the Tory Party candidates combined.

John says that he is standing again because, as a long-time resident, he believes it’s time to challenge the years of lack of leadership from first the Conservatives and now the Farnham Residents Party who are preparing to blight the town centre with controversial and uninspiring road plans.

“The Tory and Residents Parties have worked together to foist a controversial roads plan on Farnham that will neither reduce traffic and rat-running, nor cut pollution or noise. It will have a disastrous effect on town centre trade and on our quality of life.

“While wider pavements are welcome, there’s little else to commend it,” he said. “And, since the Residents Party and Tories have completely failed to either enforce the HGV ban or 20mph restrictions in the town centre, it is difficult to have any confidence that this scheme won’t simply inconvenience local people for years to come at massive public expense.”

John also decries the lack of vision shown by the current councillors, citing their failure to integrate Brightwells and the Woolmead into the fabric of the town as a ‘lack of imagination’.

“Like it or loathe it, Brightwells presented an opportunity to rejuvenate the town and to generate jobs and prosperity,” says John. “Instead of squabbling with the developers, it’s time to think creatively about how to use the empty shops to draw more people to Farnham and to provide creative spaces for our incredibly talented community.”

“Similarly, the current administration has failed to get a grip on planning to either deliver genuinely affordable homes for local young people or to resist unsympathetic overdevelopment,” he adds.  “It’s time for change.”

Castle ward residents will have the chance to vote for John on 18 April.