Save Surrey’s Tips – petition

We the undersigned call upon Surrey County Council to reverse its decision to close Community Recycling Centres (CRCs) at Bagshot, Cranleigh, Dorking and Warlingham, and oppose its plans to significantly reduce the opening hours of all other CRCs across the county by two days per week, and introduce further charges for the disposal of waste.

“We believe that the closure of these amenities and reduced opening hours of others could lead to an increase in fly-tipping leading to further costs for boroughs, districts and landowners as well as the blight to the environment.

“We call upon the County Council to ensure that all sites remain open, with no reduction in opening hours or increase in charges”.
Click here to sign the Petition

Government Rates U-Turn impacts Surrey

Surrey County Council set to overspend by £24 MILLION – see Lib Dem news here.
“The new government has also dropped plans to allow councils to retain their business rates next year, which the Conservative administration anticipated as a potential lifeline for the county council when the budget was set in February.” This is incredibly significant for the Council going forward. The Local Government Finance Bill never made it to the Queen’s Speech.

George Osbourne promised Councils in 2015 that they could keep the £26billion raised in Business Rates in lieu of the Block Grant. He billed it as “embarking on the biggest transfer of power to our local government in living memory.”

Now there is not only no power, there is no money either.

A link to the Council’s budget monitoring report can be found here:

https://mycouncil.surreycc.gov.uk/documents/b17440/Budget%20monitoring%20report%20Tuesday%2027-Jun-2017%2014.00%20Cabinet.pdf?T=9

Cuts Hurt!

Today I wrote to the Surrey Advertiser:

In your newspaper last week, you featured the closure by Waverley of the public toilets in Farncombe and Godalming. I would like to commend Steve Cosser and the members of Farncombe Initiative and their mission to keep them open and I am pleased to add my voice, along with all those who have contacted me, to theirs.

The current severe budget cuts to essential local services made by Conservative-led councils at Waverley and Surrey are hurting us. Councillors who voted for these deep cuts know what public services cost, but they do not comprehend what the services are worth. We need good quality services – street lighting, decent roads and pavements, effective waste disposal, reliable education and health services. Most recently, we have been reminded just how much we rely on our police and fire services. These public servants are more than essential, they are vital.

All cuts hurt. Austerity as a policy has failed us and the costs will be high to repair the wounds to our society.

We have seen the havoc cause by deregulation followed by outsourcing of services. Something has gone badly wrong with the provision of services in our country, we must rise to the challenge and build a better way of life that is fair for all.