Liberal Democrat District Councillors have renewed their call for the District Council to introduce half-hour free car parking in its car parks.

This follows the Tory Leader of the Council saying, “The District Council does not encourage residents to pop and shop into our market town by lowering the cost of short term pay-and-display parking.”

It appears, from this statement, that the Conservatives believe that residents who need to pop into town to a cash point or collect dry-cleaning should pay a high charge in a council car park or compete with residents to park on residential roads.

This has to be wrong. The District Council should be taking the lead in promoting the viability and vitality of our market town and should be encouraging all residents to come into and use the shops in the town.

Over 1,500 Surrey Residents have signed the Liberal Democrat petition opposing reduced opening hours at our recycling centres (refuse tips) and the introduction of charges for certain types of waste.

The Conservative Cabinet at County Hall has, however, to date chosen to ignore the petition and introduce both reduced opening hours and charges for disposing of DIY waste, gas bottles and car tyres.

But the Cabinet’s decision can still be changed … and the Cabinet has just backed down and withdrawn the recently introduced rule that residents could not fold down the back seat of cars, load the cars with rubbish, and then bring the rubbish to the tip.

Liberal Democrats believe that the proposed reduction in opening hours and the introduction of charges are misguided and will result in an increase in fly-tipping. This in turn will result in other organisations, such as the National Trust and the District Council, and landowners, picking up the bill for clearing the resultant mess.

If you want to add your name to the petition, you can sign it at: http://petitions.surreycc.gov.uk/nochargecrc/

At the Budget meeting of Surrey County Council on Tuesday 9 February, the Liberal Democrats called on the Conservative administration to protect vital services for Surrey residents. My speech opposing the budget is set out below.

“Whilst I support the level of Council Tax proposed by the Conservative administration at County Hall, I oppose their Budget as it does not do enough to protect vital services for Surrey residents.

Services Requiring Additional Funding

“Clearly the top priority is the funding of care for vulnerable adults and I support the 2% part of the Council Tax increase for that purpose. The County Council has repeatedly overspent the Adult Social Care budget because there was insufficient money to meet the growing demand for services. This additional money for vulnerable adults will be a life line to help meet this growing demand.

“However there are other vital services which are being under funded by the Conservative administration. These include, the youth service, bus services, Community Recycling Centres (refuse tips), road safety and drainage.

“Funding for the Youth Service was savagely cut last year and as a result it is more difficult for under 16 year olds to get the early help they need or to take part in positive activities arranged by youth workers.

“Similarly, bus services are being cut year after year despite the fact that many residents including young people, older people and disabled people are dependent on them. Bus services are viewed by the Conservative administration as a drain on resources but improved bus services could also reduce the numbers of cars on the road to help to tackle traffic congestion which is a common problem across Surrey.

“A recent decision by the Conservative administration to reduce the opening hours of Community Recycling Centres (refuse tips) and to charge for certain types of waste to save money will result in even more fly-tipping which is a blight on the environment.

“Another type of asset that is under funded by the County Council is footways. According to the County Council’s most recent condition survey in 2014, one third of Surrey’s footways were found to be “functionally or structurally impaired”. Thus more money is needed for a programme of resurfacing and repairing footways to bring them up to a decent standard.

“With the doubling of the number of deaths on Surrey’s roads in 2014, more money has to be spent on road safety schemes such as lower speed limits where appropriate and pedestrian crossings in order to reduce the number of deaths on Surrey’s roads.

“Finally, the many wetspots where there is flooding on the road and of nearby properties requires more funding to resolve them such as by clearing the many blocked road drains across the County.

Areas Where Funding Can Be Cut

“I have a number of suggestions for making savings to fund these vital services. Firstly reducing the County Council’s Communications Budget of £2 million and discontinuing the “Surrey Matters” magazine which costs about £200,000. I would reduce the County Council’s over-reliance on expensive agency staff by recruiting and retaining directly employed staff at a lower cost. My next suggestion is to abolish the four unnecessary Cabinet Associate posts totalling £50,000 per year. I would sell the Wiltshire property purchased by the County Council’s wholly owned property company for £12.4 million. I believe that £12.4 million would be better spent in Surrey than in Wiltshire! The County Council should not be investing in properties outside Surrey. However the County Council should be selling or letting under used offices to maximise income and to ensure that money is not wasted. It should also be investing in improving the energy efficiency of its buildings such as by installing solar panels and energy efficient lighting to reduce energy bills.

As a Result, Value for Money Would be Delivered

“Surrey residents deserve better from the County Council. If Council Tax is to increase, Surrey residents should expect value for money services in return. This can be achieved if changes are made to the Budget to put the money where it is most needed  to protect services and to avoid it being wasted.”

Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council have called on the Conservative administration at County Hall to put more money towards improving Surrey’s footways and to bring them up to a decent standard.

The most recent condition survey in 2014 showed that one-third of the county’s footways were ‘functionally or structurally impaired’. Since then little has been done to tackle the problem of sub-standard footways in the county whilst resources have been concentrated on resurfacing Surrey’s roads.

We have asked the County Council for this additional funding as we believe that the condition of Surrey’s footways is just as important for pedestrians as the condition of Surrey’s roads is for motorists except that footways and pedestrians have not been given the priority they deserve.

The new parking regulations in Dorking High Street have finally been implemented with the aim of preventing traffic congestion in the town.

The new parking restrictions mean that (i) double yellow lines have replaced the single yellow lines between the pedestrian crossing at Lyons Court and the double yellow lines near Pump Corner, (ii) the rules for the single yellow line on the south side between Dene Street and Moores Road have been amended to prohibit parking during the day on Sundays, and (iii) the single yellow line outside The Old Courthouse have been replaced with double yellow lines. The loading of vans is to be restricted but only during the rush hour.

It is expected that these proposals will ensure that traffic can flow through the town at appropriate speeds whilst allowing access to facilities and businesses in the town centre.

Liberal Democrats are seeking to retain the high quality offices we have in Dorking and to stop the conversion of the offices into new flats.

The conversions are happening as new planning rules introduced in 2013 mean that the conversions can take place without planning permission if the external facade of the building is not altered.

Once the conversions have happened, there are then fewer employees working in the town which results in people shopping in Dorking which, in turn, is threatening the viability of some local businesses.

The offices also are being converted into expensive residential units which many local residents cannot afford and as such the conversions are doing little to resolve the housing needs of long term local residents.

We recognise that some office conversions may be appropriate whilst others certainly are not. We believe that the planning authority is best placed to make this decision together with seeking the development of affordable housing units on each site.

This website is currently under construction and will go live early in 2016. We look forward to seeing you then.

Hazel