"No" to Free Swimming
The Residents Association councillors have voted unanimously to once again veto acceptance of the government's "Free Swimming" scheme for under 16's and over 60's as far as Epsom & Ewell is concerned.
The Residents Association councillors have voted unanimously to once again veto acceptance of the government's "Free Swimming" scheme for under 16's and over 60's as far as Epsom & Ewell is concerned.
A special meeting of the Leisure Committee has been convened for 7th September and will decide upon central government's grant toward Free Swimming.
The Borough Council's Ranger Service will be giving a talk in the Elizabeth Welchman Garden, Downs Road, Epsom, on Saturday 12th September.
The future of Epsom town centre could depend upon the results of the Plan E consultation, which closes on 24th August.
A new air quality report covering NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) levels in Ewell village has been published. It shows no improvement on the unacceptably high levels and an Action Plan is now needed to deal with the problem.
With Hook Road car park never more than half full and businessmen wanting cheaper parking in the town centre, the Lib Dems are brokering a marriage between the two.
Proposals to cut "school special" bus services, in some cases from this September, brought such strong public opposition from parents and schools that none of them will be removed before September 2011. However, this is just a reprieve. All "school special" bus services across the county are still being considered for closure, with the Cabinet expected to come to a decision on 13 July.
For years services for young people such as the Youth Development Service have been Surrey's Cinderella. Budgets have been cut, with staff posts left unfilled and then frozen.This year a re-organisation at the top takes away the Youth Development Officers who lead the work in each Borough and District and further managers, replacing all thirteen posts with just four operations managers to run youth work for the whole county.
Improving services for disabled children was one of the requirements of the Improvement Notice issued to Surrey County Council in 2008, after inspectors said Surrey services for vulnerable children and young people were 'inadequate'. Yet Ruth House, the residential facility for respite care attached to Freemantles School for autistic children, is reducing the number of beds offered from twenty to ten, whilst the opening of Applewood, the new children's home at Banstead built to provide respite care for disabled children with complex needs, has been deferred, even though it has recently been approved by Ofsted as ready for use.
Following the problems caused by the severe weather last winter, which left residents stranded at home and many parts of the County isolated, Liberal Democrat County Councillors called upon Surrey County Council to prepare adequately to cope with ice and snow next winter. However despite their proposals receiving support from two cross-party scrutiny committees, the Conservative administration has rejected them.
Colin Firth, Daniel Radcliffe, Floella Benjamin, Bianca Jagger and many other celebrities are asking you to back the Lib Dems on Thursday.
Lib Dem MEP Sharon Bowles, Chair of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, joined Sue Doughty, Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Guildford, to meet victims of the Equitable Life scandal in Guildford and pledge their support for the campaign to compensate those affected.