Thank you to all who voted for her, and for the army of volunteers who put so much effort in.
The work starts now.
You can watch her gracious acceptance speech via this link.
Tory plans to sell off part of the site of two local schools, The Mead Infant and Auriol Junior, have been stopped by the Department for Education. Conservative-controlled Surrey County Council had intended to help fund renovations and new buildings needed at the schools to replace old temporary classrooms by selling part of the playground at The Mead and part of the school field at Auriol for housing development.
The old "tunnel" or "subway" alongside the railway footbridge linking Stones Road to the Longmead Estate and Miles Road has been saved for future use when the footbridge reaches the end of its safe life. The railway arch forming the subway, which was installed in 1859 when the railway line was built, has been closed since 1911 and was about to be filled in permanently by Network Rail. However SCC's local committee in Epsom & Ewell has accepted the recommendation from SCC's structural engineers to strengthen it instead.
Residents threatened by the proposed closure of Ewell Court Library turned out in force to lobby the recent meeting of SCC's Epsom & Ewell Local Committee. The were not disappointed, for the committee unanimously passed a motion proposed by the Mayor and seconded by Cllr Colin Taylor calling upon SCC's Executive not to confirm their Business Delivery Review's proposal to close Ewell Court Library.
The Lib Dems at Surrey County Council have persuaded the Tory administration to set up an in depth review into the way that the County's contracts are set up and monitored. The County Council is contracting out more and more of its services including such things as school transport but it was revealed last week that the council has inadequate information regarding the performance of that and other contracts.
Surrey County Council has inadequate information on the performance of the contract to provide school transport in Surrey; Surrey County Council's Corporate Management Select Committee has been informed. It was admitted that the contract to provide school transport was not set up in a way that allows the County Council to check whether what the contractors are doing is the most efficient and cost effective way of providing the service.
Auditors KPMG have warned in their annual audit inspection that £26 million, already given to the County Council for its waste disposal scheme, might have to be returned to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). If this happened there would be extremely grave consequences for the Council's financial position. So at next Tuesday's meeting of Surrey County Council, Lib Dem County Councillor Tom Sharp will ask what steps the Tory administration are taking to ensure that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not reclaim £26m already given to the County Council for its waste disposal scheme.
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