The number of children hoping to start at primary schools in Epsom & Ewell next September appears to exceed the total number of places available in the borough. Figures quoted at a recent meeting of Surrey County Council indicate that although there is a small surplus of 30 secondary school places, there is a shortfall of 11 for entry to reception classes at age 4+.
Epsom's Lib Dem councillors will be holding two surgeries every month from February 2008. You can visit councillors (and FOCUS team members) without an appointment on the second Saturday of every month between 10 and 12 midday.
At a full Council meeting on Tuesday 11 December, Members agreed to back the Fairtrade campaign and meet set requirements laid down by the national Fairtrade Foundation.
The long-running saga of the proposed supermarket in the Upper High Street appears to be drawing to a close. Until this week the appeal by the developers against the council's refusal of planning permission was expected to be heard in February. However they have apparently decided to withdraw their appeal.
Court Ward's new Lib Dem councillors are bringing their advice surgeries to the Longmead Centre in Sefton Road. The first surgery will be held on Saturday 8th December between 10.00 am and midday. The surgery is free and no appointment is necessary. The December surgery provides an opportunity for local residents to talk about the Hollymoor Lane redevelopment for which the borough council has now received a formal planning application.
Epsom & Ewell Borough Council has agreed that providing facilities for young people, specifically 11 - 19 year olds, should be a priority over the next few years in local recreation grounds. The proposal, put forward by the Lib Dems at October's meeting of the Leisure Committee, will be taken forward by the council.
After an initial period of close secrecy, the names of 18 youth centres in Surrey planned for closure following the Tories' BDR review have been released. This had earlier been presented as 15 closures, apparently because 3 new facilities are also planned. Councillors representing the divisions affected by the closures have been offered a meeting where the reasons behind these decisions will be explained. Meanwhile the names of the 18 youth facilities at risk are:
The issue of waste remains high on the agenda in Surrey, with not one but two draft waste plans up for discussion. The first, which ended its 6 week period of public consultation in December 2005, comes from the position of Surrey County Council (SCC) as the Waste Planning Authority (WPA) and is called "The Surrey Waste Plan - The Preferred Plan". This basically sets out the County's overall strategy of where and how waste should be handled, giving site specific details. The Liberal Democrats at County Hall criticised this plan as being fundamentally flawed, back in September, because it was predicated on incineration and highlighted a preferred site, Capel. We are still awaiting the results of the public consultation.
Surrey County Council has outsourced its highways maintenance to two contractors, one for the west and one for the east. Since its start 3 years ago the management of this Tory-inspired arrangement has been heavily criticised, with work not being done on time or to budget. Lib Dems are seeking to ensure that these issues are addressed by beefing up the management of the contract and ensuring that its performance indicator criteria deliver on-time and on-budget results. We are very concerned that yet another Tory reorganisation of the transportation service (proposed in the Business Delivery Review) will damage the county's ability to manage the contractors. Also proposed in the BDR is a cut in the maintenance budget to spend more on capital. In the short term (5 years) that will mean worse roads in Surrey!
As part of the BDR review ordered by SCC's Tory executive - and endorsed at a council meeting with only the Lib Dems voting against - there are plans to close six libraries in order to ensure that SCC hits government CPA targets for the ones that will remain open.The libraries that are proposed for closure are:
At the County Council meeting today the Liberal Democrats opposed proposals to cut services. The proposals were made in a report prepared by consultants for the Business Delivery Review commissioned by the Conservative administration to find £50 million of savings in County Council expenditure. Councillor Hazel Watson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council said: "This Review was supposed to identify savings without cutting frontline services. Unfortunately it has failed. The proposals include closing 15 youth centres and 6 libraries as well as cutting bus services. On top of this, the proposals drastically reduce the number of highways staff, which is likely to worsen the ability of highways to deal with problems promptly.
Surrey County Council's Executive have decided not to proceed with its PFI contract plans to build a new County Hall in Brewery Road, Woking. They announced this last week, but without revealing which other alternative they want to pursue instead. As a result of questions by County Councillor John Doran (Woking, Horsell) at this week's Council meeting it emerged that the Executive have not yet agreed how best to proceed and an announcement about the future should not be expected for some time.
