Borough to honour local regiment this summer

News arrives that the council will formally grant the Freedom of the Borough to the Princess of Wales's Regiment in June.

The decision to grant this honour was made at the beginning of last year, but has not been capable of being bestowed because of the regiment's operational duties.

The ceremony will be all the more satisfying because the fight to hold it was hard won. It was myself and Conservative colleagues who proposed the motion to grant this honour. RA and Liberal Democrat councillors initially opposed us until there was a local and national outcry. This u-turn was somewhat begrudging with RA councillors describing the award as "inappropriate" and suggesting that those who supported it were behaving like the BNP!

I very much hope that come June Epsom & Ewell's residents will show just how out of touch their RA and Lib Dem councillors were by giving our local regiment the warm welcome they so richly deserve.

How they voted on Freedom for PWRR

At yesterday evening's Full Council we debated giving the Freedom of the Borough to our local regiment the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment. We were debating whether we should send the matter to a Special Council meeting (the only place where the decision to confer the Freedom can be made). Quite brilliantly we won the vote by 16 to 13. I commend the Liberals and rebel members of the RA group who made that possible. I list how everyone voted below. Those who voted against being against granting the Freedom.

For:

Bradley (RA, Ewell), Buxton (Lib, Court), Carlson (Lab, Court), Jones (Lib, College), Keen (Con, Ruxley), Kelly (Lib, Town), Lees (Lib, Stamford), Morgan (Lib, Court), Morris (Lib, College), Pavey (Lib, Stamford), Petrie (Con, Nonsuch), Pontin (Con, Ruxley), Sanger (RA, Stoneleigh), Sullivan (Con, Woodcote), Taylor (Lib, Stamford) and C. Wood (Lib, Town).

Against:

Arthur (RA, Ewell), Dallen (RA, Town), Dudley (RA, Cuddington), Jay (RA, West Ewell), Leach (RA, Auriol), Long (RA, Auriol), Mann (RA, Cuddington), Reed (RA, Ewell Court), Richardson (RA, Woodcote), J. Smith (RA, Ewell Court), Smitheram (RA, West Ewell), Steer (RA, West Ewell), Woodbridge (RA, Ewell)

Abstain:

Foote (RA, Cuddington), Howells (RA, Nonsuch), R.Smith (RA, Stoneleigh), Winkworth (RA, Stoneleigh), D. Wood (RA, Nonsuch)

Not present:

Cass (RA, Woodcote), Key (Lib, College), Kington (RA, Ewell Court)

The Mayor Cllr Jan Mason (RA, Ruxley) excused herself from chairing the meeting as she considered herself to have a personal and prejudicial interest in that her son-in-law is a member of the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment.

Why should Epsom be the odd one out?

What do all the following places have in common?

Arundel, Ashford, Barnet, Basingstoke & Dean, Belfast, Brighton & Hove, Bournemouth, Canterbury, Chichester, Crowborough, Eastbourne, Eastleigh, Folkestone, Guildford, Jersey, Kingston, Hastings, Lewes, Maidstone, Portsmouth, Ramsgate, Reigate & Banstead, Romsey, Rushmore, Southampton, Test Valley, Tonbridge & Malling, Winchester and Worthing.

All have granted their "Freedoms" to the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment. No quibbles at any of these about our local regiment not being local enough.

Why are residents of Epsom & Ewell going to be the odd ones odd in marking the service of our troops?

Petition to honour our troops

Hundreds of signatures were collected in Epsom yesterday in support of granting our local regiment the Freedom of our Borough. There was very real anger at the council for snubbing our troops by saying they are not "local" enough to receive this honour and to allow them to march through our town centre.

We will continue to collect signatures on the streets of the Borough over the weeks to come before the final decision is made at the Special Council meeting on 15th December. However you can also show your support online: click here to support our troops.

Support our Troops!

On Tuesday, the day before Armistice Day, the council's Strategy & Resources committee met to consider my motion to grant the Freedom of our Borough to our local regiment, the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment.

Frankly it is something the Borough should have done years ago and I very much hoped the motion could be agreed unanimously particularly as our troops are giving such brave and valued service at present.

Maybe I was naive, but I was shocked to discover that the committee was against me. Both Residents' Association and Liberal Democrat councillors opposed the motion saying that the Regiment is not "local" enough. Forget that they are our local regiment and that the Regiment is an almagamation of historic regiments including the East Surrey Regiment. Forget that they recruit from our area.

Anyway this petty, small-minded nonsense from these councillors means Epsom & Ewell is denying our troops the right to march through our town centre on their return from service overseas. Guildford so honours them, as does Reigate & Banstead but Epsom & Ewell seems intent to snub them.

The committee vote now goes to a Special Council meeting on 15th December. We will be campaigning hard to win that vote, and overturn this shameful decision in the weeks to come.