At County Council yesterday, Surrey's Leader, Cllr Tim Oliver ensured his group voted against the Lib Dem motion calling for a much-needed reconciliation with the Boroughs and Districts with whom a relationship of trust had completely broken down. In his speech the Lib Dem Leader Cllr Chris Botten outlined how the recent perceived 'power grab' by the county council, by unilaterally pursuing its ambition of a single unitary authority, had severely damaged relations with the eleven borough and district councils of all colours, who had been side-lined by their action.

Surrey County Council has agreed to move its headquarters to the former Cannon HQ in Woodhatch, in spite of objections raised by the cross party group of Councillors responsible for scrutinising the move.

Last year, the County Council stated it wanted to move its HQ from Kingston-Upon-Thames to a location in Surrey. The Council had originally hoped to move to Midas House in Woking, but those plans were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Following a motion by the Lib Dems, Surrey County Council unanimously agreed to introduce 'school streets' in Surrey with the aim of encouraging active travel, improving air quality and promoting road safety.

A school street is where the road outside a school is closed to motor vehicles during school drop-off and pick-up times except for those residents living in that street.

Following a question from the Lib Dems, Surrey County Council has confirmed that the cost of its failed bid to become a unitary authority was just under £250,000.

In anticipation of a Government White Paper on local government devolution, the Conservatives running the County Council decided to pursue plans to become a unitary authority. This power grab would have involved abolishing the Surrey's 11 Borough and District Councils, and centralising power in one unitary authority serving 1.2 million people. However, the Surrey Tories' plans have been stopped by the Government.

Liberal Democrat Councillors on Surrey County Council note and share the public concern regarding the proposed changes to night cover of firefighters.

The Liberal Democrats voted against the Making Surrey Safer proposals and against the budget cuts to the Fire Service. Liberal Democrat Councillors will stand shoulder to shoulder with firefighters to ensure they are able to deliver services which are safe for residents and safe for them.

I believe that :

• Surrey County Council should suspend its plans to create a new single authority for the whole of the County while abolishing the 11 Borough and District councils;
• any changes to the democratic and governance arrangements for Surrey need to be based on clear principles and aims that have been agreed with the population;
• democracy needs elected representatives that reflect the variety of views of the population, and who understand the particular local needs of their electorate.

Dear friends, here is our latest update covering what we hope are interesting developments since our last update on 12 September.

We've slightly tweaked the headings to keep things fresh, let us know what you think.

Please see our plea for some more Focus deliverers.

Borough news (some good news…):

• One of Epsom's "claims to fame" is the sacrifice that Emily Davison made. Thanks to some hard work by various residents a statue should be unveiled in the Market Square for next year's International Women's Day. See http://emilydavisonproject.org/2020/09/23/we-have-done-it/
• One of our local cultural events is back - the Satisfied Eye film festival will run from 9 to 11 October, see https://satisfiedeye.com
• And still on film, Rosebery Park was due to be the site for some filming on Tuesday 22^nd for an ITV show called Finding Alice

Dear friends, when we posted our last update on 14 August we had planned to not write until 25^th September while we recharged our batteries, and had also hoped "things" might get better while we were away. Oh dear…

While we have both had a few days off, sadly "things" are NOT getting better, so we are re-starting our updates. As before, we welcome feedback (positive or negative) so we can serve you better. Please also encourage others to subscribe at https://epsom-ewell-libdems.org.uk/en/subscribe-by-email