Debt, transport, SEND provision and trust were among the items on the agenda at Woking’s hustings for elections on May 7 to the new West Surrey Unitary Authority.

Seven candidates formed a panel at Trinity Methodist Church on April 11 and each gave a short manifesto summary before answering questions.

Despite standing in local elections, there was emphasis on national politics with Labour’s Tahir Aziz praising the government and defending it against criticisms, particularly from Conservative Steve Dorsett and Reform’s Sean Flude, both of whom also extolled the virtues of their national parties.

With Woking Council’s debt standing at £2.6 billion, Dale Roberts, the Liberal Democrat candidate and the outgoing administration’s portfolio holder for finance, was particularly under scrutiny. He said the party was addressing the debt and ensuring there was “proper control and proper transparency”.

Tahir Aziz replied that the debt had been caused by the Conservatives first and then the Liberal Democrats but that “the Labour Government is a silver lining and a blessing” because it had written off £500 million of the debt.

Sean Flude promised that his party would “apply a forensic eye to the council accounts … (and) … ruthlessly seek out savings and efficiencies and prioritise frontline services.”

The Green’s Paul Hoekstra said that more of the debt needed to be written off as the remaining amount meant important policies could not be pursued. For his party these policies were improving public transport, social care and SEND provision and protecting the greenbelt. However, he said that there was “a massive roadblock to those who want to stop building on the greenbelt as the government is able to push for housing on it. We need to engage and fight for the best possible result.”

All agreed that they wanted to keep the greenbelt free of housing. “Look at Singapore,” said independent candidate Hassan Akberali. “They haven’t used greenspace but have infrastructure like cars parks and shops within the built-up areas.”

SEND was uppermost in all the candidates’ minds with all seven wanting to invest more. Steve Dorsett suggested a “SEND Czar to look at it across Surrey”, while Hassan Akberali called for investment in understanding SEND and simpler processes for apply for funding.

The Heritage party candidate Tim Read, said the existing system was “failing” and advocated helping children as young as possible so that they “can grow up to pay taxes”.

Questions about transport and fly-tipping elicited responses ranging from improving the bus system (Green) to using Ubers (Heritage), with Reform saying that the access to the town centre was “good and not overly expensive”, and promising to “end the net zero madness”.

The Conservatives propose free garden waste collections to reduce fly-tipping while the Liberal Democrats favour better access to community waste and recycling facilities.

There were also questions on single sex spaces, with most responses being evasive, and whether the electorate could trust politicians. Perhaps the most straightforward response to this was by Paul Hoekstra: “Trust the people who have done things before getting into power.”