| Esher || Hersham || Hinchley Wood || Molesey || St George's Hill || Thames Ditton and Weston Green || Walton | ||||
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About the Residents GroupThroughout what is now Elmbridge, residents associations have long been in existence - some since the 1930s - to protect local amenities and foster their good use for the community. In many cases they were originally formed by local residents in response to some significant threat to the vicinity, often some proposal for highly detrimental development. It usually became evident that the local manifestations of the national political parties were of little help in representing the views of residents, particularly concerning major development plans where the interests and ideologies of parties often favoured the developers. So from their inception, residents' associations sought and won election to office to gain effectiveness. Elmbridge is one of the very few administrative areas of the country where residents' representatives have been elected in numbers significant enough to form and run an administration, and to show that they can do so very effectively over a protracted period. The political parties view the success of residents' associations as a threat to their ambitions and seek to belittle them. The associations have noteworthy strengths. They have grown from the grassroots and have not been imposed by some national party structure. They represent all residents in their areas and not just one sector limited by politics or creed. They actively consult with those who live and work in the area and keep them informed throughout the year: unlike the political parties, they do not ignore these vital aspects of representation until canvassing before elections. From among residents who are deeply embedded in the locality they choose the best qualified candidates regardless of politics, and those candidates are not driven by wider political ambition. Once they are elected, the pluralist structure of the Residents' Group offers flexibility for each association to represent their local interests strongly and effectively while allowing for co-ordination on Borough-wide policies and action: unlike the political parties who rely on the party Whip to impose voting en bloc. The Residents' Group does not depend on, nor take instructions from, any national Central Office nor do we have to adhere to a party ideology. We are entirely free to represent the interests of the local electorate, and to address issues on their merits, independently. This, we suggest, is true democracy. |
Who's who
Councillors who co-ordinate within the Elmbridge Residents' Group:
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