Surrey Lib Dems oppose Tory cuts

7.40.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 14th Jul 2010

These cuts are bad news for Surrey residents

The Conservative administration at County Hall yesterday announced cuts to the County Council's budget. Responding to the allocation of the cuts, the Leader of the Liberal Democrat main opposition group, Cllr Hazel Watson said: "I disagree with the allocation of the cuts by the Conservative administration. The £3.9m cut to front-line services for Children and Young people is excessive. This will be very damaging to services for vulnerable children and young people in Surrey. It was only about two years ago that children's services were rated inadequate by Government and these cuts will not help to improve the service."

Lib Dem county councillor Colin Taylor (Epsom & Ewell SW) said afterwards: ""These cuts are bad news for Surrey residents. They show the stark difference between County Hall and Westminster, where the Coalition's economy measures, though tough, need Lib Dem support. At County Hall there is no coalition, so the Tories are cutting front-line services that people need. By contrast, their cuts to council bureaucracy are minimal. We would cut the administration, communications and back office departments to protect front-line services to children and young people."

"The Conservative administration is mismanaging the Council's finances. Instead of repairing Surrey's roads it prefers to leave the roads full of potholes. The consequence is that claims against the Council for damage and injury relating to the roads are expected to reach £1.1m. This does not make sense and means that money is being wasted. The Conservative administration is expecting to underspend its capital budget by £13.9m this year, whilst claiming that it does not have enough money to fix the roads or to repair school buildings. This in-year budget has been thrown together with little thought as to the consequences for Surrey residents."