Public Meeting on Epsom General Hospital
The borough council is to host a public meeting on Epsom General Hospital on Wednesday 4th March at 7.30 pm in the council chamber.
23 Feb 2009
News
Epsom and Ewell News
RA sets above-inflation Council Tax increase
Despite constructive proposals from the Lib Dem opposition for a smaller rise, the RA-led borough council have set an above-inflation increase in Council Tax of 3.9%. Taken with the 2.9% increase for Surrey County Council and 4.9% for the Surrey police, this will lead to an overall increase of 3.3% in Council Tax bills in the borough.
17 Feb 2009
De-selected RA Councillor turns Tory
It seems that borough and county councillor Nigel Petrie recently failed to be re-selected as an RA candidate for next June's county council elections. At least this is being stated by Stoneleigh RA chairman Bill Slaughter as the reason behind Cllr Petrie's sudden surprise announcement that he has joined the Conservative party.
17 Feb 2009
Durdans planning applications rejected
Two controversial planning applications affecting the former stables of "The Durdans" in Chalk Lane have been resoundingly rejected at a special meeting of the Planning Committee.
16 Feb 2009
Predictable Labour Tactics in Court By-election
When the latest FOCUS newsletter predicted a personal attack on the Lib Dem candidate from the Labour party, they were absolutely right!
15 Feb 2009
Did you know they collect Batteries?
Liberal Democrats are pleased to publicise that the council's recycling vehicles also now collect household batteries and claim most residents have no idea that their doorstep collection will deal with these items.
4 Feb 2009
Surrey County Council News
At last - justice for Gurkhas
Reacting to the Government's announcement that all Gurkha veterans with four years' service would be allowed to move to the UK, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said he was "absolutely thrilled". The announcement follows a key House of Commons vote led by the Liberal Democrats that the Government lost. It outlined rules that will allow Gurkhas who retired before 1997 with four years service to settle here with their immediate families.
22 May 2009
Government confirms capping of Surrey Police
It has been announced that, subject to the approval of parliament, the Surrey Police Authority (SPA) will be capped. They will have to refund £1.6 million (about £3 on average per council tax payer) at a cost of a further £1.2 million for re-billing. The news broke just hours after the SPA had met in public last Tuesday, when the chairman Mr Peter Williams had said they were still awaiting the government's decision following representations made to ministers by the SPA.
18 May 2009
Pension Costs Increase as Deficit Deepens
The cost of the county council's pension fund to Surrey residents looks set to rise steeply. Last year it represented almost 5% of our council tax payments, but due to the fund's worsened deficit (almost 50%) this is likely to rise to over 8% by next year, according to figures obtained recently by Cllr Colin Taylor.
16 May 2009
County Hall Face-lift cost over £3 million
Figures obtained recently by Cllr David Goodwin show that the recent refurbishment of County Hall in Kingston, which also involved the costs of moving staff from one office to another, will total £3.123 million spread over 3 years.
15 May 2009
Children's Services - 'Not out of the woods yet'
Last year, Conservative dreams of seeing Surrey declared an 'excellent' County Council were shattered by Ofsted's shocking findings in the Joint Area Review. Vulnerable children were not safe in Surrey. By the Autumn the Secretary of State had given Surrey notice that it must carry out a demanding two-year improvement programme, meeting a rigorous series of targets, or risk having its services taken over.
14 May 2009
Bus service cuts coming
In this year's budget the Tories included bus service cuts as one of the ways of paying for a lower council tax increase than in previous years. More than 10% of the subsidy will be cut next year.
8 May 2009