Cllr Jonathan Lees, leader of the Liberal Democrat group of councillors, comments on the Audit Commission's annual audit and inspection letter for 2006/7 and says it is no surprise that the Audit Commission has highlighted the borough council's financial strategy and recycling performance.
Lib Dem councillors are having to be vigilant in order to keep the borough council's proposals on track.
The borough council is to hold a Public Meeting on Monday 14th April (starting at 7.30 pm at the Town Hall) to try and solve many of the issues surrounding the Stones Road area of Epsom. The green space at the end of Stones Road contains allotments and a pond which is classified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because it contains great crested newts.
Residents from Rosebank, Lib Dem councillors and activists all turned up to quiz the Local Committee at its meeting on 10th March. During the half hour public question time, Rosebank residents told the Committee about their parking problems and how they have to compete with shoppers, workers and commuters every day.
Surrey County Council's governing Executive Committee is set to meet at 2.30 pm on Tuesday 25 March 2008 to finally decide whether or not to lease Nonsuch Park and its Mansion House to the Epsom & Sutton councils whose joint management committee (JMC) has run the park for them for the last 70 years. Campaigners, including Sutton's Lib Dem MP, are encouraging those concerned about the future of Nonsuch to attend this meeting to demonstrate the strength of public feeling locally on this issue when D-Day (Decision Day) finally arrives
Lib Dem councillors and FOCUS teams throughout the borough are taking action to get a better deal on parking, parking enforcement, traffic and road safety.
The Tories' BDR (Business Delivery Review) will adversely affect the County Council's countryside services. The proposals, if approved, will:
The Tories' Business Delivery Review (BDR) will hit Surrey Arts, Music and Museums. Surrey County Arts currently provides 278,000 music lessons annually. However, tuition fees in Surrey are already 30% higher than the national average. Some 42% of local authorities do not charge any tuition fees.
Amongst the cuts in Surrey County Council front line services proposed by the Conservatives' "BDR review" is the closure of the local libraries, at Bagshot, Caterham Hill, Ewell Court, Hersham, New Haw and Virginia Water. The decision will be taken at the County Council meeting on 11th April. If it is agreed to go ahead, the libraries will be closed from September 2006. County Councillor Diana Smith, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Community Services. said: "It makes no sense to close these popular facilities, especially as the BDR itself admits that the aim is not to save money, only to meet a CPA target imposed by the Labour government."
Willie Rennie's election as the new MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, home of chancellor Gordon Brown, takes the total of Liberal Democrat in the House of Commons to 63. His by-election victory not only saw a 16% swing from New Labour to the Liberal Democrats, it also saw David Cameron's Conservatives retain fourth place with a swing of 9% from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats.
Surrey County Council's Tory budget brought bad news for parents and youngsters in Sixth Forms and Colleges.
At the County Council meeting today, the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council opposed the 2006/07 budget proposed by the Conservative administration.
