COVID-19 update from your LibDem College Ward councillors - 5 June 2020

Welcome to our latest update, using developments since our last update on Friday 22 May. As a result of your positive feedback on these notes, we will continue them although probably less frequently than our previous weekly versions.

Borough and County update re COVID-19:

• The recycling centre has expanded what you can take to it - almost back to normal, see https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/waste-and-recycling/community-recycling-centres for the latest information.
• The Borough Council is still only having Planning meetings, with other committees cancelled. This is out of line with many other Boroughs.
• Car park charges are being reinstated from 15^th June except for key workers who can display their pass to get exemption.

Other local updates:

• There has been strong interest in expanding cycle lanes. Julie has made some suggestions which will be progressed by the Local Committee (the joint Epsom & Ewell and Surrey organisation). Please get in touch if you have ideas on this.
• The new parking restrictions (e.g. yellow lines) that have been extensively debated and reviewed will be implemented in the coming months. You can see the detailed maps by following the links here: www.surreycc.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/parking/local-news-and-updates/epsom-and-ewell/epsom-and-ewell-2019-parking-review
• A warning - there have been a spate of burglaries around Wallace Fields.
• There are rumours central government is considering local government reorganisation, again! This could mean the 11 borough councils in Surrey and Surrey County Council would be abolished and replaced by three new councils for Surrey which would deal with everything. We are keeping a watching eye on this.

Wider issues:

• One government muck-up that didn't get much coverage was around dentistry. The dentists were not consulted at all before the government said they should re-open. Please be patient as they try to implement safe processes.
• Given the recent announcement about the requirement to have a face covering while using public transport a reminder of this website https://masks4all.co/how-to-make-a-homemade-mask/ Or you can find various charities or political organisations that sell them - David has opted for this one: https://www.wordupdesign.eu/product-page/facemasks
• The government continues to not understand how important objective, sound, statistics are for rational decision making - the head of the ONS (Office of National Statistics) has now had to go public on this as per https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence/sir-david-norgrove-response-to-matt-hancock-regarding-the-governments-covid-19-testing-data/
• Finally, with the extremely sad news from the USA, we should not be blind to race issues in the UK, as illustrated by this article in the HSJ: https://www.hsj.co.uk/coronavirus/exclusive-government-censored-bame-covid-risk-review/7027761.article

Please continue to be sensible, despite the changes in national guidelines, we understand that there has been some "uptick" in COVID cases locally. Julie and David

Friday 5 June 2020