SWAG Chair Andy Caulfield to run for Council

Andy Caulfield, who was elected Chair of the South Woking Action Group shortly after its formation by residents in the summer of 2019, has announced he will be running to be a Lib Dem Councillor for the Hoe Valley in May's local elections.

After plans were launched to build a 10,000 seater stadium and over 1,000 flats around Woking Football Club's Ground, as well as relocating David Lloyd to Egley Road in Mayford, local people set up the South Woking Action Group to oppose the plans.

These plans were widely seen as completely inappropriate for the Kingfield and Westfield area. The development would have resulted in 5 blocks of flats, up to 11 storeys high, being built around the football ground. However, after a strong campaign by SWAG, the plans were overwhelmingly rejected by the public, the Council's Planning Committee and more recently by the Government Planning Inspector and Secretary of State.

Following his success with SWAG, Andy Caulfield now wants to get more involved and is running to be Hoe Valley ward's next Councillor.

Andy Caulfield said, "The effectiveness of SWAG lay in our Hoe Valley community coming together to fight the ridiculous Goldev plans initially supported by the Council and the Club. However, our relentless factual campaigning caused many to understand the fallacies of the PR spin by the developers, the misleading of fans and the Club and the shambolic pursuit of this project by the failed ex-Council leadership."

"The more SWAG has become immersed in local politics over the last 2 years, the clearer it is that residents need a strong voice on the Council, as it is harder to influence Woking Council from the outside. I therefore am delighted to stand as Councillor for Hoe Valley to continue holding the Council to account, to further push for greater democracy, openness, transparency and modernisation of all Council practices and processes putting residents first at every stage."