Epsom & Ewell Liberal Democrats

Friday 3rd February was a busy day for Ed Davey, Lib Dem MP for Kingston upon Thames. Not only was he appointed to the Cabinet as the new Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, but he also gave his first speech in his new role to Epsom & Ewell Liberal Democrats.

To be fair, he had been booked to speak at the Lib Dems annual constituency dinner for some months and it was actually touch and go as to whether he would make it!

Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are calling for the Conservative administration to show restraint in increasing Council Tax in the 2012/13 Budget.

Cllr Hazel Watson, the Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition on Surrey County Council, says:

"The legacy of years of the Conservative administration at Surrey County Council, by their own admission, failing Surrey's residents means that they now have almost no choice but to increase Council Tax.

The ludicrousness of Borough Council decisions associated with Licensing and Planning matters was exposed at a meeting of its Environment Committee on 23rd January. The meeting agreed that Epsom Town Centre should become the focus of a Community Safety Action Plan for one year, yet only a week earlier an Epsom-based club gained permission to extend its licensing hours from 2am.

Even more surprising is that the Police and the council's own Planning Department had objected to the extension - the Police on the grounds of potential disturbance to residents and the Planning Department because it had already refused permission for the same establishment to extend its hours of operation.

The borough council's consultation on the Upper High Street "development" site ends on 3rd February. Most important is that residents tell the council if they favour a foodstore fronting Upper High Street, in the centre of the site or fronting Church Street.

The results of the consultation will go toward creating a Development Brief for the area, which will, in turn, be a useful planning tool to ensure that future planning applications for the area will tie in with what the Brief suggests. What the Development Brief will NOT be, is a council-funded regeneration project for the development site. The likelihood is that the area will be developed piecemeal as and when the various landowners decide to sell or demolish and rebuild. The Development Brief is intended to become a legal planning document, unlike the Development Brief which was written up by the council after a public consultation some five years ago.

Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are calling for the Conservative administration to abandon their plans to replace professional staff in 10 of the County's libraries with volunteers, rather than continue with a costly legal fight against Surrey residents in the High Court.

Following the High Court order on Friday by Hon. Mr Justice Wyn Williams, that the County Council should 'take no irrevocable steps towards implementing the Community Partnered Libraries (CPLs) decision impugned in these proceedings until further order of this court', Cllr Hazel Watson, the Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition on Surrey County Council, said:

Epsom councillors are hopeful that the opening of the Stones Road tunnel isn't far away.

Contractors were working on Saturdays to speed up completion of the tunnel which will create a path suitable for cyclists and pedestrians between the Hook Road area and the eastern side of Epsom, particularly Sainsburys. The photograph shows progress as at 21.1.12.

Following the announcement by the Conservative Leader of Surrey County Council that he is proposing a 2.99% rise in Council Tax, Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are demanding to know why councillors have been denied papers to properly scrutinise the proposals by the Conservative administration for the County's 2012/13 Budget.

With the council's budget preparation well underway for 2012/13, allotment rents are recommended for a 0% increase. The current charge of 30p per square metre p.a. has held firm for the past two years.

The borough has nine allotment sites with some managed by the council and some self-managed. In recent years waiting lists have grown to over 50 waiting for a plot on some sites - which prompted a policy of dividing up large plots into "starter" plots so as to accommodate more allotmenteers. This policy has successfully reduced waiting lists to manageable levels. On the council's biggest site off Alexandra Road, Epsom, the waiting list is now 22 with 11 vacant plots expected to be freed up in the coming weeks.

Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are asking "Where is Conservative-run Surrey County Council's Budget?"

Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition Cllr Hazel Watson says: "With only three weeks to go until Surrey County Council's 2012/13 Budget setting meeting on 7 February, the Conservative administration has not yet even published a draft budget for consultation.