About Woking

This page provides an introduction to the social and political heritage of Woking, and gives an overview of some present-day issues.

The aim of this overview is to give some subjective pointers to local issues. However, in summarising there is a danger of misleading, and so the comments should be treated with care.

Local Issues

General

There is a loss of village identity as Woking town itself becomes more attractive as a shopping and recreational facility. This has led to a poorer range of local facilities, more dependence on an inadequate bus system and a feeling of isolation among older people and in the outer reaches of the borough. As elsewhere in SE England the cost of housing has an impact on the ability to fill key worker posts and on young couples who want to live independently.

Health

The major hospital, Ashford St. Peter's, is in Chertsey, some 4 miles to the north of town. The original St Peters has been merged with Ashford General, leading to some facilities being even further away from Woking - by over 10 miles. The hospital has scored poorly in the league tables. Woking also has a modern Community Hospital and NHS walk-in centre near the town and a mostly privately financed Respite Hospital (Woking Hospice). Woking is short of NHS dentists.

Education

A significant number of children attend private junior and senior schools (22% in Surrey) but there are over 14 state primary schools (including one with a unit for the visually impaired and one with a unit for hearing impaired children). All 14 are generally of a good standard. The LEA is among the top 4 in the national league tables (Exams & SATs). At secondary level, Woking has 3 secondary schools for 11-16, each with its own Specialist designation, one of which is a Beacon School. There is also an RC school for 11-18. Woking (sixth form) College is reasonably successful. There is one Special Needs school for all ages.

Housing & Planning

The Conservative-led Surrey County Council has responded to Government direction for house building in Surrey by insisting that Guildford and Woking take proportionately more houses than any other Surrey town. Under Government direction there are plans to build 3,250 more houses with considerably increased density in the town centre by 2016 with an increased proportion of affordable, smaller units than developers are currently producing. The pressure on finding brown-field land for building is great but it is very difficult to achieve this. There is a desire by developers to build 4/5 bed units whereas the need is for 2/3 bedrooms for key workers at a lower price. There is no scheme yet from the County for subsidising housing costs - a limited scheme exists for the Police. Major environmental issues include waste management, climate change and refuse disposal.

Environment

Recycling continues to grow and Woking won the Queens Award for Enterprise 2001 for sustainable development for its public/private fuel cell (CHP) venture. The incinerator proposals in neighbouring Guildford were strongly opposed. Housing on the flood plain in the past may have contributed to flooding in parts of south Woking.

Social Services

We have pockets of deprivation in the Central and Sheerwater ward. There is a gross underfunding of social services by County (with the lowest spend per capita of population in England and Wales). The Borough Council runs 3 modern Centres for the Community: Moorcroft in Westfield, The Vyne in Knaphill and St Mary's in Byfleet, where many services are offered for the elderly. Lunches are available most weekdays. There is also a coffee shop, called Marjorie Richardson's in the High Street in Woking. Pensioners in Woking are often property-rich but cash-poor.

Leisure Facilities

These include natural greenbelt attractions, the canal (though canal-side facilities are lacking), and Horsell Common. We have a strong football club, golf courses and numerous excellent private and council-sponsored clubs such as the Gym Club. True to its horticultural traditions the Borough has won many gardening plaudits: we are Regional, National and World in Bloom winners.

Culture, Arts & History

Employment

Woking's unemployment rate is 1%, which demonstrates the relative prosperity of the area. Half the resident workers are employed in Banking, Finance and other Service industries with significant numbers also employed in Distribution & Catering (24%) and Manufacturing (14%). Only 3% are in unskilled occupations.

Business

Businesses centred in Woking's good modern offices include McLarens Formula 1 motor racing, Telewest, Pepsico (Kentucky Fried Chicken etc.), Going Places, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, and Victoria Wine. The economically active population within the Borough is 45,500 and is set to grow over the next 10 years.

Consumers - Surrey Trends

2000 indicates that there were 48,148 square metres of retail floor space in Woking town centre in 1999. Shopping in Woking's Peacocks Centre and Wolsey Place are a regional attraction and provide easy access for the disabled. Village centres in Byfleet, West Byfleet, St. John's and elsewhere provide a good range of shops.

Transport

Transport issues are a major concern:

• The upgrade of Woking's mainline station into a major rail hub will be addressed in the coming years, though perhaps not the capacity of the railway system to meet commuting needs

• The M25 lane capacity increases are opposed by environmentalists

• The Central Railway freight proposals through Byfleet give concern to many

• There are plans being actively pursued for the Airtrack rail connection to Heathrow

• Cycle routes to and through the town are also long awaited

• There is a need to integrate bus and train transport

• The lack of Parking at a reasonable cost for commuters causes problems in neighbourhoods close to the station.

Crime

A 92 camera closed circuit television (CCTV) system exists in Woking centre but the fear of crime is still an issue outside the town centre where CCTV is still awaited.

History of Woking

The Borough of Woking has a population of over 93,000, with some 62% aged between 20 and 64, and covers 25 square miles, of which 1,170 acres are Common Land including Horsell Common, the site of the Martian landings in H. G. Wells's 'War of the Worlds'. The town of Woking is located in North West Surrey, 25 miles from London and 40 miles from the South Coast. There is a direct mainline railway service to London, the South and the South West, and a direct coach link to Heathrow (25 minutes journey) with services running approximately every 30 minutes. The M25, M3 and the A3 are all within easy reach.

Although Woking's first transport route, the Basingstoke Canal, opened in the 1790s, the history of modern-day Woking really starts with the coming of the railway in 1838. This certainly resulted in the development of the town as we know it today. The excellent rail service to London led to the building of substantial 3-storey properties in the new town, the top floors being used as servants' quarters. A few of these Victorian properties can be found in Mount Hermon but the rest have been replaced by modern high density housing. The coming of the railway was followed in the latter part of the 19th century by the establishment of several notable sites such as Brookwood Cemetery - developed to solve the problem of overflowing London graveyards; the Shah Jahan Mosque in Maybury built in 1889 and the oldest mosque in the British Isles, and Woking Crematorium in Hermitage Road, which was the first crematorium in the country. A number of Victorian landmarks are no longer with us. These include the asylum, prison and barracks in Knaphill. The favourable soil and climatic conditions make Woking a commercial horticultural area (the RHS's gardens at Wisley are nearby) and many nurseries have grown up in Knaphill, Goldsworth and Kingfield. A more recent development is the London County Council development at Sheerwater resulting from the postwar slum clearances in the 1950s.

These developments, resulting in the shift of the town centre from what we now know as Old Woking to the area around the station, give the impression that Woking is just a modern town with little previous history prior to 1838. Nothing could be further from the truth. Woking constituency comprises the four ancient parishes of Old Woking, Horsell, Pyrford and Byfleet to which must be added, for parliamentary purposes, the villages of Normandy and Pirbright, both part of Guildford Borough. These last two villages are both very different but share a strong sense of community and indeed have various voluntary groups that provide local support. In addition to the village community there is also an Army training camp.

All these parts of the present constituency have their own history but probably not so distinguished as that of Woking. Within St Peter's parish the principal manor in mediaeval times was the Royal Manor of Woking. Woking Palace, at the end of Carters Lane, was effectively the manor house and, although a ruin now, was much visited by Henry VIII who had considerable works carried out there, and it is known that he brought Anne Boleyn here. Woking's other well-known house, Sutton Place, built in 1525, still stands, albeit much altered within by recent owners. The Wey Navigation, a straightening of the River Wey, which passes through the Borough, was promoted by Sir Richard Weston of Sutton Place and completed in 1652, ruining its promoter in the process.

Woking Palace.

Local politics in Woking

Until the early 80s Woking politics comprised a number of strong Conservative and Labour areas but through that decade - at both County & Borough level - Liberals & SDP working in alliance managed to establish their own areas of strength as well. The Liberal Democrats continue to build on that success, and are now the clear challengers to the Conservatives locally. Labour are now a distant third on the Council and in terms of the popular vote.

At Woking Borough level the position (May 2008) is as follows:

• Conservatives 19

• Liberal Democrats 17

• Labour 0

• Independent 0

Elections are held every year: for three years a third of the seats on the Borough Council are contested and in the fourth year the Surrey County Council elections are held. The next SCC election will be in 2009.