We already know that Council Leader Sexton likes to write to the Minister.

You can read her various missives here.

On 11 December her tone changed when writing to Lee Rowley, the new Whitehall Minister, for the first time. And she dropped her threat to sue the government (always an empty threat in any case).

But her requests for a face-to-face meeting remained the same throughout. She must feel that she can charm the Minister into giving Spelthorne a free pass. Who knows. The members of this current Spelthorne coalition have never been accused of living in the real world.

But as we have said before on numerous occasions, it is no use arguing that Spelthorne is special. Every borough in the country thinks it is special. If the Ministry gave way on one Borough, every other Borough would be clamouring for special treatment.

So, last Friday, 26 Jan 2024, the new Minister replied to Cllr Sexton. “Thanks, but no thanks” to her demand for a meeting…

And just in case she missed the point of his letter:

“I look forward to further updates on progress on resumption of the examination hearings.”

“Get on with it…”, in effect

You can read his letter here.

And if Cllr Sexton thinks that the new Minister is going to be more malleable than the Minister he replaced, then she should think again. Last week, the new Minister wrote to Mole Valley District Council, another Surrey Borough, ordering them not to withdraw their Local Plan from the Examination process …