Caroline Nichols
Caroline was elected as County Councillor for Lower Sunbury & Halliford in June 2009. As a County Councillor, Caroline Nichols has the following roles:
- Member of SCC’s Adults and Community Care Select Committee;
- Member of SCC’s Local Committee in Spelthorne.
Caroline Nichols was a local campaigner in Sunbury for a number of years before becoming a borough councillor in 2007. She grew up in Lower Sunbury and has lived there with her family for over 20 years. Caroline is a graduate and a qualified accountant, with senior management experience in the public and private sectors. Having served on the Community Health Council, including a period as vice-chairman, she has 10 years experience of campaigning for improvements in NHS services. She is passionate about the needs of vulnerable groups, particularly the frail elderly and their carers.
Caroline’s priorities include protecting the Green Belt, creating better play spaces, opposing mass burn incineration at Charlton, road safety, road repairs, better bus routes and improved food waste recycling.
Colin Taylor
Colin Taylor has been County Councillor for Epsom & Ewell South-West since June 2001. He was born in the West Midlands and has lived in Dublin, Liverpool, Birmingham, Wales and India but settled in Epsom in 1970. He is married with two grown-up children and one grandson.
Colin is a Cambridge graduate, a Chartered Engineer, a retired Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers and an Honorary Life Member of the Steel Construction Institute. A BSI Distinguished Service Certificate marks his extensive contributions to British and European technical standards.
As a County Councillor, Colin currently has the following roles:
- Health Spokesperson and member of SCC’s Health Scrutiny Committee,
- Member of SCC’s Standards Committee,Chairman of SCC’s Local Committee in Epsom & Ewell,
An SCC representative on the Members’ Steering Group of the Lower Mole Countryside Management Project. Since 1999, he has also been a member of Epsom & Ewell Borough Council, where he is deputy leader of the Lib Dem (main opposition) group. Colin has been a School Governor since 1996. He is currently a Governor of:
- Epsom Primary School,
- Southfield Park Primary School,
- Stamford Green Primary School.
Colin is a member of Amnesty International, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Consumers Association, the Epsom Common Association, the National Trust, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Stamford ward Residents Association. For holidays, Colin prefers boating and enjoys sailing a cabin yacht on the Norfolk Broads or around the Greek Islands.
David Goodwin
David Goodwin was elected County Councillor for Guildford South West in May 2005. David moved from East London in 1995 to Guildford town centre where he lives with his wife Angela and daughter Francesca. He is particularly keen on getting involved with transport issues, such as trying to reduce speed in Guildford town and to improve road safety and maintenance.
As a County Councillor, David Goodwin has the following roles:
- Member of SCC’s Safer & Stronger Communities Select Committee
- Spokesperson for Transportation and member of SCC’s Transportation Select Committee;
- Member of SCC’s Local Committee in Guildford.
In 1999 David Goodwin was elected as a Borough Councillor for Friary & St Nicolas, which together with part of Onslow forms the division he now represents as a County Councillor. David is a member of Guildford BC’s Planning and Licensing Committee and has been appointed by the Borough Council as a member of the Early Years Children’s Centre in Stoke Hill and York Road.
Away from Council business, David is a self-employed German-speaking tour guide, a role he has carried out for more than 15 years. He enjoys sport and is an avid quiz goer!
Diana Smith
Diana Smith has been a County Councillor since March 2004, when she won a by-election in Woking West. Diana was educated at Rosebery Grammar School, Epsom, and St. Hilda’s College Oxford, where she read PPE.
Diana Smith has the following roles as a County Councillor:
- Member of SCC’s Children and Families Select Committee;
- Spokesperson for Schools and Learning and member of SCC’s Schools and Learning Select Committee
- Member of SCC’s Local Committee in Woking;
- An SCC representative on the Basingstoke Canal Joint Management Committee.
Her career with the BBC started at The Listener. She trained as a Studio Manager, working for the BBC External Services; carried out production work with the World Service, and then with Children’s Programmes, Television, on the production team at Blue Peter. She became a Producer in BBC School Radio, where her particular interest was story, drama and poetry for primary-school children.
After leaving the BBC to bring up her family, Diana continued to write for educational radio and television. She has maintained her interest in education as a Governor at Beaufort Primary School, Goldsworth Park, where she has filled a number of roles at different times, including Chair of Governors.
The arts play an important part in her life. She plays the harp, and was a founder member of the Surrey Harp Ensemble, which comes under Surrey’s Youth, Music and Performing Arts umbrella.
Fiona White
Fiona White was elected as County Councillor for Guildford West in May 2005.
As a County Councillor, Fiona White has the following roles:
- Spokesperson for Adults and Community Care and vice-chair of SCC’s Adults and Community Care Select Committee;
- Member of SCC’s Planning and Regulatory Committee;
- Member of SCC’s Local Committee in Guildford;
- Member of the Surrey Police Authority.
She has been a Guildford Borough Councillor since 1991 and was the first Council Leader after the borough changed to the Executive system.
Fiona’s particular interests are in community care, housing and planning. She is a former chair of the Housing & Health Committee and has been a member of the GBC Planning Committee for the last six years. She is chair of Guildford Shopmobility and has been since 1995.
Other committee work has included Guildford Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) and Guildford Action (formerly Guildford Action for Community Care). After her election to the County Council, Fiona retired from her job as a Conveyancing Executive with a firm of solicitors to give more time to Guildford West and to her borough ward of Stoughton.Fiona has two grown-up children and three grandchildren. She is a member of Surrey Wildlife Trust, loves bird-watching and taking her Newfoundland dog out walking.
Hazel Watson
Hazel Watson has been a County Councillor since May 1993. Previously she represented Dorking North. She was born in Carshalton and is married with two teenage children.
Hazel Watson currently has the following roles as a County Councillor:
- Leader of the Liberal Democrat (main opposition) group;
- Spokesperson on Corporate Management and member of SCC’s Corporate Management Select Committee;
- Member of SCC’s Personnel and Appointments committee.
- Member of the Surrey Police Authority;Member of SCC’s Local Committee in Mole Valley;
She has also been appointed by Surrey County Council as a member of the Surrey Local Government Association, the County Councils Network and the Local Government Association.
Hazel Watson is a Solicitor who specialised in Intellectual Property Litigation. She has previously worked for the Confederation of British Industry developing education and training policy. She has served on the Quaker Council for Social Responsiblity and Education.
Hazel has been a School Governor at The Ashcombe school in Dorking since 1993. In her leisure time she enjoys spending time with her family, with the occasional trip to the theatre. The family usually travels to Greece in the summer and the Alps in the winter.
Ian Beardsmore
Ian Beardsmore has been a County Councillor since June 2001. Previously Ian represented Sunbury. He has lived in Sunbury all his life and was a pupil of Bishop Wand School. Ian has worked in Sunbury for many 10 years, initially in the Leisure industry, before moving to warehousing then stores, where he is currently a Stores/Stock Controller.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Swimming Teachers and holds an ASA Advanced Swimming Teacher Certificate and has been teaching locally for many years. Ian Beardsmore is also a member of Spelthorne Borough Council, where he serves on the Planning Committee.
As a County Councillor, Ian Beardsmore has the following roles:
- Vice-chair of SCC’s Planning and Regulatory Committee;
- Member of SCC’s Local Committee in Spelthorne.
One of Ian’s main roles as a Councillor is in the planning process – in addition to Spelthorne’s Planning Committee and SCC’s Planning & Regulatory Committee, he has been elected to the Planning Committee of the South-East England Regional Assembly.
Ian is also a member of SCC’s Local Committee in Spelthorne and of SCC’s Community Safety Select Committee, which covers such services as Fire & Rescue and Trading Standards. His key committee locally is the Sunbury Cross steering group. He is a founder member of this group, which has the task of trying to sort out the varied and complex problems in the Clock area. It involves a wide range of people, including the Police, the County Council and the Borough Council.
Ian represents SCC’s Local Committee in Spelthorne on several forums, covering older people, carers, disability and mental health. He has previously served as a governor of Bishop Wand School and on the committee of Sunbury Youth and Community Centre.
John Orrick
John Orrick was elected as County Councillor for Caterham Hill in June 2009.
As a County Councillor, John has the following roles:
- Spokesperson for Environment & Economy and member of SCC’s Environment & Economy Select Committee;
- Spokesperson for Pensions;
- Member of SCC’s Local Committee in Tandridge.
John was a member of Tandridge District Council from 2004 to 2008.
Mohammed Amin
Mohammed Amin was elected as County Councillor for Woking Central in June 2009.
As a County Councillor, Mohammed has the following roles:
- Member of SCC’s Transportation Select Committee
- Member of SCC’s Local Committee in Woking.
Mohammed Amin has lived in Maybury for over 28 years. He is married with three children, all of whom have gone to school locally. He works in the motor trade. Mohammed says: “I stood for election because I felt it was time people in my part of Woking had a representative who would actually do something for them.”
“Parts of the Woking Central division are some of the most underprivileged and disadvantaged in Surrey. Yet we have severe problems with lack of Council support for our head teachers and inadequate funding of Children’s Services. And you only have to look at the crumbling roads to see what a state they are in.”
Pauline Searle
Pauline Searle was elected as County Councillor for Guildford North in May 2005. She has lived in Guildford all her life and in the Stoughton area for 35 years. She has been a Guildford Borough Councillor for that area since 1999 and is currently Mayor of Guildford.
She is married to Victor, a fellow GBC councillor, and has three children (Matthew, Louise and Luke), two grandchildren (Finley, 3 years and Isabella 1) and another due in July.
As a County Councillor, Pauline Searle has the following roles:
- Spokesperson for Children and Families and member of SCC’s Children and Families Select Committee;
- Member of SCC’s Local Committee in Guildford.
Pauline’s interests are very much children, youth and the community. She has been a registered childminder for 25 years and ran a holiday play-scheme for 14 years for 3 to 7 year olds. She is a special needs governor at St Joseph’s Primary School, a trustee of Disability Challengers, chair of the Management Committee of Stoughton Youth & Community Centre, member of Stoughton Community Association Committee and on the executive committee of Guildford Arts. In any spare time Pauline does have, she likes to read.
Peter Lambell
Peter Lambell was elected as County Councillor for Reigate Central in June 2009.
As a County Councillor, Peter Lambell has the following roles:
- Member of SCC’s Schools & Learning Select Committee
- Member of SCC’s Local Committee in Reigate & Banstead
Peter Lambell is 41 years old and is married to Judith, a Chartered Civil Engineer. He has lived in Reigate for most of his life, attending Doversgreen School, Woodhatch School, Reigate Grammar School and Reigate College. After a period working and travelling overseas he continued his studies at Oxford Brookes University and the College of Law in Guildford before establishing his career in IT Management. Peter is Vice Chair of Governors at Brooklands School for children with severe learning difficulties.
Peter is very aware of the issues that concern the residents of Reigate and Redhill and has been campaigning on local issues with the Lib Dem FOCUS team for many years. He has a particular interest in improving the County Council’s Waste Management Strategy and would encourage both energy efficiency and waste minimisation.
He would also like to see improvements in provisions to protect vulnerable children and adults in Surrey, and new initiatives to increase the supply of affordable rented housing.
Stephen Cooksey
Stephen Cooksey was elected as County Councillor for Dorking & The Holmwoods in May 2005. Stephen recently retired as Deputy Director of Open University Validation Services based in Central London.
As a County Councillor, Stephen Cooksey has the following roles:
- Member of SCCs Corporate Management Select Committee
- Member of SCC’s Audit & Governance Committee;
- Member of SCC’s Local Committee in Mole Valley.
Stephen Cooksey has been a District Councillor for Dorking South since 1992 and was leader of the Liberal Democrat Group and Leader of the Opposition on Mole Valley District Council until May 2005.
He is a member of the Dorking Town Centre Forum and represents the District Council on the Dorking Chamber of Commerce, Dorking Town Centre Manager’s Steering Group and the LGA Urban Commission. Stephen is a former Chairman of Mole Valley Planning Committee and Dorking Town Centre Forum.
He was previously a member of Horsforth Urban District Council from 1971 to 1974, West Yorkshire County Council from 1973 to 1981 and Leeds City Council from 1980 to 1989, including 8 years as Leader of the Liberal/Liberal Democrat group. Stephen served on the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority from 1984 to 1989, West Yorkshire Policy Authority from 1979 to 1981 and Leeds City Development Company from 1987 to 1989.
Will Forster
Will Forster was elected as County Councillor for Woking South in June 2009.
As a County Councillor, Will Forster serves on the following committees:
- Member of SCC’s Environment & Economy Select Committee;
- SCC’s Local Committee for Woking
Will Forster is a law graduate who lives in the heart of South Woking. Will has also served as a caseworker for a London Lib Dem MP. Will has grown up in the area and knows that key issues are retaining services for the vulnerable and fighting to retain local bus services. Will works closely with local borough councillors, community groups and residents for the benefit of everyone in South Woking.
