I WILL START by agreeing with you. Farnham is one of the most beautiful towns in the South East. But like many towns, and not just in the South East, but all over the country, it suffers from significant traffic problems and consequently – air quality issues.

The cross-party administration that took control of Waverley Borough Council last May has recognised the seriousness of those air quality issues (in several places in Waverley) through its declaration of climate emergency.

You highlight in your article in last week’s Herald (reinforcing statements you made at several hustings during the recent general election) that you struggled to get any concrete action under the previous local Conservative administration. I sympathise with that problem too.

Farnham has seen decades of inaction and empty words on this matter with only sporadic and inconclusive input during that time (and with a curiously positive correlation between discussion on this subject and general election dates).

I also do not want a ‘woolly’ vision for Farnham. But for daring even to suggest pausing the study commissioned by the previous Waverley leadership – to check its cost, to give it proper oversight, scrutiny and to confirm the general direction it was going – I was accused, by you, of ‘blocking’ the process. A euphemism used these days for anyone wanting to think about the consequences of serious policy decisions.

However, we have learnt a critical lesson from our Conservative predecessors about such choices in Farnham, and we learnt it through delving more deeply into Brightwells: check twice, be sure, act once.

Some of this would have been a great deal easier to discuss had there been at least one meeting between the cross-party Waverley leadership and yourself since we took over last May. We do (at last) have one now scheduled in for late February, which I hope we will all attend. Come rain or shine (or reshuffle?).

At the ‘air quality summit,’ I also challenged you, Jeremy, on two points.

Firstly, I asked if you could make it clear when local authorities (at all levels) will start to receive the necessary funding to undertake our vital role in this area?

Secondly, I asked you when the Conservative government intends to act upon its national climate emergency and its stated commitment to improving air quality.

You repeated, magnified and made further promises during the general election (I look forward to seeing you in personal, vocal opposition to drilling in Dunsfold by the way!).

Political parties in Farnham have already come together – and I cannot sit idly by while an under-funded, under-resourced local government establishment is set up for a fall by the national politicians that are ultimately responsible for the situation in which we find ourselves.

Studies and traffic modelling are not free. Surveying the public is not free. Formulating viable plans suitable for public view and proper costing is not free. They are not free for Waverley. They are not free for Surrey.

However, when I say something on the record, I mean it. Senior councillors and officers from Surrey County Council, Waverley Borough Council and Farnham Town Council have met in January and will release the outcome of our discussions in due course.

But Jeremy – it is time to lead, to work together and to finally get something done here. It should not be a time to try to tee-up the blame (for the first council in a decade taking the matter seriously) and doing so via the Farnham Herald.