Liberal Democrat Councillors on Surrey County Council recognise that there is huge frustration in communities about the difficulties in getting road safety schemes funded in a timely manner and, whilst the County Council discusses its budget for next year, they have called for greater investment in measures to tackle road safety issues across the county.

They have proposed the creation of a Road Safety Fund which will enable local communities to access the funding needed to get the lower speed limits, pedestrian crossings, junction improvements, cycle lanes, and other safety measures which so many communities want to make their areas safer. Where there is local support, 20 mph zones, could also be introduced using this potential Road Safety Fund.

All over Surrey there are requests for road safety improvements. The County Council’s Local and Joint Committees receive regular petitions calling for improvements to the highways network but the County Council is unable and unwilling to act on these requests. This proposal is a practical and affordable way to allow these schemes to be delivered: we have been clear where the funds are coming from and we believe this proposal will meet an unmet need in our communities.

We have launched our manifesto for the 2021 Surrey County Council elections, emphasising:

• Working for our communities and protecting them by supporting local businesses at this tough time;

• Campaigning for Surrey to get the affordable housing it needs whilst protecting our green belt area; and

• Providing care for those who need it by ensuring more funding for mental health services.

Our values on Compassion, Competence, Communities and Climate lead to our promises which include:

• Combatting anti-social behaviour, including littering from visitors and unacceptable exhaust noise from motor vehicles;

• Investing in road safety measures in light of local needs;

• Ensuring competent contract management and enforcement so services are quality assured the first time – pot holes to stay fixed, verges cut at the right time, responses to emergencies are timely and effective.

• Supporting children with special needs and their families by investing in SEND provision closer to home;

• Taking adult social care back in-house where required and providing an equitable and safe provision for the elderly;

• Making Children’s Services the best they can be with vulnerable families and their children kept safe and well cared for;

• Bolstering local flood prevention and holding drainage and sewage bodies to account; and

• Rebuilding youth services and adult education provision, and with libraries becoming all round community hubs supporting the community.

Mole Valley District Council’s Draft Local Plan has allowed for an increase in the number of new houses built each year in the District to meet the housebuilding targets set by the Government. At the Draft Plan’s inception, this meant more than doubling the original annual target of 188 dwellings to 453 dwellings.

The District Council, having carried out an extensive seven-week consultation at the beginning of the year based around the 453 dwellings figure, has now been notified that the Government has proposed revising the method of calculating housing need. If agreed, the requirements imposed on Mole Valley District Council would see the housing need increase from 453 dwellings to 563 dwellings per year. The total number of dwellings the new Local Plan would have to accommodate would increase by 1,870, to a revised total of 9,571, over the plan period 2020-2037.  

In making this change, the government is essentially putting the District Council under more pressure to consider Green Belt development and increase the housing densities in our towns – two areas where residents have expressed dissatisfaction with the current draft Plan. 

We have written to the Secretary of State expressing our unhappiness at the approach to housing requirements as we cannot see it as tenable to simply agree to higher and higher housing requirements in a beautiful district that has huge Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and important Green Belt.

Over the summer months there has been issues with speeding traffic and exhaust noise on both the main roads and the rural lanes in Mole Valley from both cars and motorbikes.

The Roads Policing Unit (RPU) started to address these issues and from mid-May to the end of July undertook over 400 stops in our area, the majority being motorcycles. The majority of drivers stopped were issued with either a Section 59 warning (repeat results in the vehicle being seized) or a Fixed Penalty Notice for a Construction and Use offence. 

We appreciate that residents may not have noticed it, but the RPU feel that this has had significant impact and they are seeing less of the same people and groups.  The aim of the RPU is for the motorcycling community to realise that Mole Valley is not an area to drive anti-socially.

This was followed up with a Joint Action Group meeting which included representatives of the various agencies, including both our Councils, the Police, and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) whose support is essential in tackling exhaust noise, to see what additional measures can be taken. Top of the agenda for discussion was the introduction of mobile “noise monitors / cameras” which would be aimed at both car drivers and motorcyclists with illegal exhausts, as well as those that rev their vehicles excessively, to collect evidence against the offending vehicle and following the meeting it was announced that four cameras were to be purchased for Police use on Mole Valley roads.

The Liberal Democrats have called on Surrey Police to provide extra resources to address the increasing problems caused by visitors to our beauty spots during the lockdown and by the excessive noise emitted from vehicle exhausts on our local roads.

The call came after large crowds – which left substantial quantities of litter and other waste – gathered at our beauty spots, dangerous parking occurred on local roads, noisy vehicles continually roared along our roads, and after the A24 near Denbies was used as a car meet for two weekends running with little police interference.

We have asked the Police to use the powers they have under Section 35 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to issue dispersal orders to disperse any groups likely to cause harassment, harm or distress by their actions – with anyone dispersed and who returns to the area within 48 hours being liable to arrest and prosecution – and under Section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 where warnings can be given to drivers of vehicles which are driven carelessly or inconsiderately – with a repeat offence within 12 months allowing the police to seize and crush the vehicle.

In February and March Mole Valley District Council consulted residents on the draft of a New Local Plan which, when adopted, will set the ground rules for potential development in our area up to 2033.

The District Council received over 4,000 responses to the consultation and we would like to thank everybody who took the time to make their views known.

The consultation asked three initial questions and the results of these questions were:

We have taken a ‘brownfield first’ approach, with the need for new development being met within built up areas or on previously developed land as far as possible. Do you agree with our ‘brownfield first’ approach?

The Response: Yes 90% – No 10%

We have sought to make more efficient use of land of brownfield land through: town centre redevelopment; limited reallocation of employment land; mixed-use redevelopment; and increasing densities in opportunity areas. Do you broadly agree with these approaches?

The Response: Yes 79% – No 21%

However efficiently brownfield land is reused, there is still an unmet need for housing which can only be met on land that has not previously been built on. Do you agree with the use of a small amount of undeveloped, greenfield land for this purpose?

The Response: Yes 26% – No 74%

These responses give a strong indication of views within the community.

The District Council will now take a qualitative approach to reviewing the comments made and is currently working its way through thousands of responses that provide much greater detail on the opinions held by the community. This, together with refining the evidence used to put the draft Local Plan together, will take several months.

The key themes in these comments include the principle of development on greenfield sites, the distribution of future development around the District, infrastructure capacity and improvements, the conservation and enhancement of existing areas, and landscape and biodiversity concerns.

When we launched this consultation we promised that it would be a genuine consultation and that it was not a “rubber stamp” exercise. We will now be taking account of these responses before bringing a Revised Draft Local Plan forward and in preparing this Revided Draft the District Council will look at how it selects sites for development and will take account of your views.

Our community is at its best when we pull together. As well as looking after our friends and family at this time, many residents are doing what they can to support vulnerable neighbours too.

If you are also looking to volunteer and help in our wider community during this crisis, please e-mail the Central Surrey Voluntary Action at admin@csva.co.uk The CSVA are collating this information and putting together a vetting process to safeguard both those providing the voluntary services and the parties receiving them. The District Council and the County Council are working with the CSVA to set up a scheme which will allow those vulnerable people who need assistance to be put in touch with those able to provide it. 

Coronavirus is the biggest peacetime crisis our country has faced in generations and the situation seems to worsen by the day. It is clear that older people and those with existing health conditions could be particularly vulnerable at this time. If you are concerned about a neighbour or you yourself need community support, you can call the Surrey County Council Coronavirus Helpline on 0300 200 1008. Please note that this is not a medical helpline, but one to ask for practical help from the community.

If you require more information:

• The latest information from Public Health England on Coronavirus or COVID-19 can be found on the Public Health England website: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

• The latest advice on what actions to take if you feel you might be suffering from the symptoms of Coronavirus can be found using the NHS 111 Coronavirus service: https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19

We are delighted to announce a new initiative that we have introduced through Mole Valley District Council: anyone aged 5 – 16 can take part in free holiday activities from 6 – 17 April with the events running at Meadowbank Park, Dorking [8, 9, 16 and 17 April] and Kingston Road Rec, Leatherhead [6, 7, 14, and 15 April].

Register for your place now at www.molevalley.gov.uk/holidayactivities

There is a fantastic range of outdoor events to choose from: Play football, rugby, table tennis or golf. Try out stoolball, yoga, skateboarding, dance fitness or mini karting. Or get out and explore with orienteering and outdoor fitness.

The events are provided by Dorking Rugby Football Club, the YMCA, Leatherhead Theatre, Ezee Sport, Fusion, Team Rubicon, Belong, Xplorer, Dorking Stoolball Club, Go4Goal, Kiddi Karts and the Dorking Wanderers FC Academy and  these free activities provide a wonderful opportunity for the young people of Mole Valley to get active and have fun on their Easter Holidays. 

Free of charge, children can enjoy their favourite sports or try something completely new.

We hope as many children as possible can take part so please book up as soon as you can.

Liberal Democrats believe that any development in the Green Belt should only be on sites that no longer meet the Green Belt criteria and where the development is supported by local residents.

The Draft Local Plan was originally put together by the previous Conservative administration that ran the District Council and it shows how the 6,735 homes required by the Government can be achieved through developing sites in the Green Belt.

We have amended the Draft Local Plan to promote the construction of more affordable housing and greater energy efficiency in the new homes that will be built but the risk of inappropriate development in the Green Belt remains.

The Draft Local Plan has now been published. It will be formally issued for consultation shortly and then residents can let the District Council know their views on its proposals, including potential development in the Green Belt, and help build the case that the numbers of houses to be built in Mole Valley must be reduced.

In January 2018 Surrey County Council agreed to introduce car park charging in fifteen of the thirty car parks across its countryside estate with a view to generating new investment in Surrey’s countryside.

After a strong campaign involving the Liberal Democrats, the County Council’s Cabinet agreed, in July of 2018, that a review of the impact of car park charging would be undertaken after 12 months and that the decision would be reconsidered if the charges had not delivered a significant financial contribution to the countryside.

In the first year of the charges, the County Council raised £144,000 in parking charges with a cost of collection of £83,000, resulting in net income of £61,000. It also cost £300,000 for equipment and signage to set up the scheme.

This promised review has now taken place and has concluded that the small surplus has not delivered the significant contribution to the countryside and that charging to park in the County Council’s Countryside Estate should be withdrawn from 1 April 2020.