 Headed by a panel of important residents and businesspersons, including Richard Langdon, president of the Langley Board of Trade, the push for independence came to a head in the 1950s.Specifically, two issues decided Langley's future - street lights, which Langley Prairie argued were not only needed for safety but also progress, but on which reeve George Brooks declared "not a nickel" would be spent, and Langley Prairie's belief that it did not have the political sway or its fair share of municipal services that it deserved relative to its local tax contribution.Langley Prairie by now made up 20% of the Township's tax base.