Consultation on our Borough Council's Priorities for the next 4 years

Epsom & Ewell Borough Council has a consultation underway in advance of adopting its new Corporate Plan 2016-2020.

Register your views by clicking this item on the home page at epsom-ewell.gov.uk.

There are some confusing bullet items against just a few main topic headings and not really any sensible opportunity to comment on each item. For example, there's mention of a "premium weekly collection service for refuse and recycling". It's anyone's guess what this actually means. Does it mean that we could be charged for it? It could mean that everything is going to be collected weekly from 2017 instead of some materials fortnightly. But is this really necessary ... are our recycling bins full up every week? Do we actually need everything to be collected weekly? Is it mandatory, in other words does the borough council now legally have to do this? Is it cost effective given that government grants to all local authorities are being cut and cut?

As a consultation document, it might have engaged more public interest if choices could have been given, so that responding doesn't feel like a rubber stamp exercise and all rather pointless. But it's what we have come to expect from a Residents Association dominated council, which took a long time to acknowledge that consultation of any kind was worthwhile. Its attitude in the past has been "we don't need consultation, we are Residents' councillors and know what the public think", but the originator of that remark is at least no longer an elected councillor!