Following a public consultation exercise earlier in the year, a draft Development Brief has been prepared for the Upper High Street, Depot Road and Church Street development site. Comments are welcome until 5.00pm on Friday 13th July.
Surrey Police have now opened their new front counter in Epsom & Ewell Town Hall in The Parade. Their "Neighbourhood Policing" team for Epsom & Ewell are now also based there.
Epsom & Ewell's Energy Forum has arranged to collect unwanted tools on 12th May, between 2pm and 4pm, in the Town Hall car park. If you have any unwanted tools (saws, screwdrivers, planes, hammers, wrenches etc but not gardening or electric tools), now is the chance to look them out and give them a new lease of life for this very good cause.
On Friday we lost one of the borough's most famous and widely respected citizens. Well known everywhere not only as an outspoken Labour MP and as a tireless campaigner for the rights of the disabled and the least fortunate in society, Jack Ashley was also prominent locally as President of Epsom Hospital's League of Friends.
That's the question being posed by Liberal Democrat councillors to a meeting of the full Council on Tuesday 24th April.
On Saturday 12th May, Epsom & Ewell Borough Council are organising a Round The Borough Walk which will take in 20 miles of scenery. Two, possibly three of your Lib Dem councillors are going to attempt the epic journey!
Liberal Democrat county councillors have criticised Conservative-run Surrey County Council after it emerged that after only two months of the new financial year, the county council is already predicted to overspend by £24 million pounds. According to the county council, this overspend has been caused by the failure to achieve millions of pounds of savings, as well as a significant overspend of £12.1m in the Children's Services department. Cllr Hazel Watson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council said today:
Liberal Democrat county councillors in Surrey have expressed their anger and opposition to Tory plans to axe 4 Community Recycling Centres (CRCs) across the county. The plans follow on from the introduction of hugely unpopular charges to use the CRCs last year which were forced through by the Conservative Cabinet, despite widespread opposition by residents and Liberal Democrat county councillors. The Conservative-administration has stated that its preferred proposals are to:
Liberal Democrat councillors in Surrey have slammed the Conservative Cabinet at County Hall for cutting vital services provided to young vulnerable adults across the county. The cuts were decided at a meeting of the Conservative cabinet last week, with nearly £450K axed over the next two years from outreach services targeted at hard to reach young people in Surrey. The consultation period for the proposed changes was only 8 weeks in length, contradicting the County Council's own guidance known as the Surrey Compact, which recommends a 12-week consultation.
Liberal Democrat county councillors in Surrey have expressed their concern over the removal of any mention of Cross Rail 2 from the Conservative manifesto in the forthcoming General Election, casting doubt over their commitment to the project. The proposed Crossrail 2 plans would connect north London to Surrey, with interchanges at rail routes through to Shepperton and Epsom, as well as linking up with Crossrail 1 stations in central London.
New rules that prevent councillors from funding street lighting, grit bins and highway schemes from their own local allocation budgets have been heavily criticised by Liberal Democrat County Councillors in Surrey. The rules, which were introduced by the Conservative-administration at the Annual General Meeting of the County Council held on 23rd May, prompted one Tory county councillor to speak out against their own Leader and several more abstained on a Liberal Democrat motion to drop the proposed change.
Liberal Democrat county councillors in Surrey have welcomed the news that the Conservative-administration at County Hall has finally agreed to scrap the 4 Cabinet Associate posts which have so far cost the tax payer nearly two hundred thousand pounds since they were introduced. Liberal Democrats have consistently called for these posts to be scrapped and for the money saved to be used on front line services, rather than on excessive allowances for Conservative county councillors. The roles that will end are:
