No. A huge amount of time, money and resources are currently wasted in trying to balance out the disparate priorities of three quite different villages. 

Our neighbours in Bisley,  Chobham and West End are great examples that clearly show how village-specific Parish Councils can function perfectly well within the current level of Council Tax. 

Yes. By long-standing agreement, any sale proceeds of the old depot  were to be split equally across the three villages. 

But Lightwater councillors decided they want to be able to have all 100% of any proceeds to fund projects in Lightwater and, as the largest group, they just voted it through.

Quite possibly. The developer of Heath Park Woods will have to make a CIL payment of around £200k. CIL receipts are “ring-fenced” to be spent in the village where the development took place.

But there is nothing to prevent Lightwater councillors putting forward a motion that Heath Park Woods CIL proceeds should be taken and spent in Lightwater. They have previous form.

These CIL funds need to be invested in Windlesham and the only way to ensure that is the case is for Windlesham to have its own Parish Council.

Property developers have to make a “Construction Industry Levy”  (CIL) payment to fund infrastructure required to mitigate for new homes they build. 

Part of that payment is paid to the affected area's Parish Council - all the time we remain "bound" with Bagshot and Lightwater, then can just choose to grab that money. 

In Windlesham, those CIL receipts could fund things like pedestrian crossings and other road safety projects.

The only way to ensure these funds stay in Windlesham is to have our own Parish Council.

The community in Windlesham fund-raised and secured grant support to replace the old pavilion at the Field of Remembrance with the fantastic Community Hub back in 2020.

Lightwater’s councillors want to re-build their derelict pavilion. Rather than fund-raise from the Lightwater community, they want Bagshot and Windlesham tax-payers to fund over 50% of the £1m+ cost. 

It's one of the main reasons why Lightwater councillors are fighting so hard to keep things as they are.

Because it is wasteful and self-serving. 

At a time when every other organisation is trying to operate more efficiently, the existing Parish Council is doing the opposite. They have more than doubled the number of staff and now plan to spend up to  £50,000 of our money renovating an old meeting room in Lightwater.

Other parish councils locally do the same job with much lower overheads.

Yes. In practical terms, that means that residents from all across the village will be able to vote for the same set of candidates.

Windlesham Parish Council has existed in its current form since 1974 - a time when Bagshot and Lightwater were much smaller settlements. The populations of both villages expanded dramatically through the 1970’s and 1980’s following the building of the M3 motorway to the extent that both now have much larger populations than the original ‘primary’ village of Windlesham. As such, they now dominate the 'Windlesham' Parish Council to the extent that Windlesham now only has 5 councillors out of 18.