Posted on

More cuts to come, have your say!

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/have-your-say/consultations

As you will read in this link, the Conservative Government has cut the core grant to the Conservative-led Surrey County Council by £200million since 2010. SCC has already made £500million reduction in expenditure on vital services and now it seeks to “save” a further £85million expenditure over the next year and has launched a public consultation on this range of services:

  • Family Resilience: Children’s Centres
  • Concessionary bus travel
  • Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
  • Libraries and Cultural Services
  • Community Recycling Centres

Have your say online and/or at:

Wednesday 12 December 10am – 12pm Wilfrid Noyce Community Centre (Wyatt Room)
Crown Court car park, Godalming GU7 1DY

Lib Dems, Labour and Green Party and some members of the Residents Association have consistently voted against cuts. But even combined and numbering 17 we are massively out-voted

Posted on

Axe the Tory Tip Tax campaign

“The Government has indicated that residents should be able to dispose of household DIY waste free of charge and that they are considering changing the law to enforce this. Therefore, we the undersigned call upon Surrey County Council to immediately stop charging residents for the disposal of household DIY waste at its Community Recycling Centres”

https://signme.org.uk/en/1428/share

Posted on

Disappointment as Tory cuts hit Community Recycling Centres across Surrey

(The opening times of the Witley site, one of five “strategic” sites, is not affected)

September 27, 2017 10:52 AM

Surrey tips

Liberal Democrat county councillors in Surrey have expressed their disappointment following a decision today by the Conservative Cabinet to slash the opening hours of Community Recycling Centres across the county and increase charges for residents.

The decision will see Community Recycling Centres close for an extra 20 days a week, as well as an end to the free daily allowance. The Cabinet decision follows a petition handed in by Liberal Democrat campaigners of 3,245 signatures, plus an enormous response to the county council’s own consultation of 13,637 people.

Cllr Stephen Cooksey, Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson, said:

“I addressed the Conservative Cabinet today, in order to object to these ill thought out proposals and to hold the Conservatives to account for their decisions. I recognise the difficult financial position that central government has imposed on the County Council but just 3 months ago, in June, the Cabinet were out campaigning for that government’s return and must therefore carry equal responsibility for the refusal of that government to ensure adequate funding for this Council to maintain services to its residents.

“CRC’S were a success story – they provided residents with a helpful and convenient method of disposing of waste; they helped Councils to improve their waste collections; they made a major contribution to improving our environment and they were a significant deterrent to fly tipping.

“I believe, as do the majority of my residents, that the remaining package including the increased charges and closure days are self-defeating and unacceptable and am fearful that the reduced waste collections will lead to damage to the environment and increased fly tipping. Surrey residents deserve so much better than this.”

NOTES

– The Cabinet decision can be found here:

https://mycouncil.surreycc.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=5110&x=1

Posted on

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

Posted on

Cranleigh Tip proposed closure

Surrey County Council has just launched a consultation on ‘Shaping Surrey’s Community Recycling Centres -2017‘. Please submit your views at this online survey here.

The main changes are:

1. Ending the free daily allowance of non-household waste

2. Closing CRCs on two weekdays so all sites are open for five days a week

3. Ensuring CRCs in Camberley and Farnham are only used by Surrey residents

4. Permanent closure of four smaller CRCs – Bagshot, Cranleigh, Warlingham and Dorking

5. Restricting users of vans, trailers and pick-ups to larger CRCs only

There is no doubt that the increased traffic to the Witley Recycling Centre will impact on Godalming users (not to mention the daft increase in pollution), with longer queues in and out of the site and more traffic on back roads and A281.  With at least 1500 new homes planned for Cranleigh at the moment (without Dunsfold Park’s 1800+) it seems there is no lack of demand for the facility in Cranleigh!

The Lib Dems on Surrey have issued this press release, rightly highlighting the environmental issues. Cllr Stephen Cooksey said: “These proposals are a green light for flytipping in Surrey. The Conservatives at County Hall are making it harder and harder for people to do the right thing and dispose of their waste responsibly. The environmental consequence of discouraging the use of Recycling Centres would be very significant. Furthermore, these plans are being pushed by the Conservatives because of the financial crisis at County Hall caused by their failure to persuade their Conservative central government to provide a better funding settlement.”