Lib Dem councillors in Epsom are delighted that the council has agreed to upgrade leisure facilities in the Epsom area. A meeting of the Leisure Committee on 29th January agreed to spend £40,000 repairing and renewing tennis courts and boundary fencing at Alexandra and Court Recreation Grounds, £48,000 on a new hard-surface 5-a-side pitch also at Alexandra and £100,000 on a new playground in Rosebery Park.
The Council ran two "workshops" on 19th January to discuss the Upper High Street development area. They received such an encouraging response that the doors had to be closed at the 3.00 pm session. Those who couldn't get in were asked to attend the evening meeting instead. This too was packed out, with standing room only. Cllr Julie Morris, a member of the Council's working party that set up this event said "The turn-out was really tremendous. The Council should learn from this and in future automatically arrange similar events for all major development sites in Epsom and Ewell".
The extent of domestic waste from outside the Borough being brought to Epsom's waste site has outraged Town ward councillors. Figures for the last 9 months show that for every 100 tonnes of local waste, another 160 tonnes is added from other parts of Surrey. Lib Dem Cllr Julie Morris is horrified that over 60% of the Juggernauts and Dust-carts coming down Hook Road to the refuse site on Blenheim Road are not necessary for handling local waste. "Why should Epsom's narrow residential roads suffer from extra lorries bringing waste from Tandridge, Reigate & Banstead, Mole Valley and Elmbridge?" she asked.
Epsom & Ewell Liberal Democrats arranged a public meeting on the subject of the development proposals for Dame Annis Barn and 18 Burgh Heath Road. The meeting took place on Tuesday 23rd January at 7.30 at the Phoenix Club in Depot Road
The public meeting to discuss a Development Brief for Upper High Street (see "Lib Dems drive Consultation on Upper High Street" dated 13th December) will be held on Friday 19th January. Two identical meetings are to take place, the first between 3 and 5pm and the second at 7pm. The Unity Hall at the rear of the United Reformed Church hall in Church Street is the venue (the entrance is in Depot Road). All are welcome.
Cllr Colin Taylor posed a question to the December meeting of the full council, wanting to know which councillor of the ruling Residents' Party was empowered to sign letters on behalf of the council.
Liberal Democrat Councillors on Surrey County Council have criticised the Conservative administration for seeking to put all the blame for a potentially high Council Tax for next year on the government, without recognising that it has had opportunities over many years to review how the budget is spent.
Liberal Democrats criticised the Conservative administration's policy on waste in Surrey at a recent County Council meeting. Councillor Tom Sharp, Lib Dem Spokesman on the Environment said, "The Conservative administration is placing too much emphasis on incineration as a way of dealing with Surrey's waste."
Conservatives on Surrey County Council have refused to amend the Surrey Structure Plan to delete the proposal to build new housing in the green belt north east of Guildford. Liberal Democrats believe that keeping this proposal in the plan, even as a last resort will set a very dangerous precedent that may result in further threats to Surrey's green belt.
It appears that Lib Dem pressure to make the Tory administration think twice before they propose any further cuts to bus services in the County, may be bearing fruit. No further cuts have been made to bus services and Transport Consultative Groups have been set up. The Conservative administration was persuaded that the review of public transport taking place after the drastic cuts made last year should be widened to include all transport provided within Surrey, and the Task Group is soon to announce the findings.
Surrey County Council did not reply to the government's recent consultation on school transport. Despite the Liberal Democrat motion to Council (see "Liberal Democrats Speak Up for School Transport" 11th June 2004) noting that a response should be given by June 25th, the matter was instead referred to the Executive and hence missed the deadline.
The lack of youth workers has contributed to the failure to deliver the expected services for our young people. Added to this, Connexions, a new service for young people, after a year of operations has also failed to be a visible service.
