15 Most Recent Stories From Surrey County Council Liberal Democrats News Stories

Wed 18th Jun 2008:

Lukewarm Tory support for Local Committees.

This week Surrey County Council debated its 2007 Community Survey, which reveals that:

Tue 17th Jun 2008:

Lib Dems call for increase in public participation at Surrey County Council.

Liberal Democrats at Surrey County Council (SCC) today called for more opportunities for the pubic to get involved in local democracy, but the suggestions were opposed by the ruling Conservative administration.

Mon 19th May 2008:

Tories Respond to Lib Dem Campaign to Repair Roads.

The Tory controlled County Council has responded to the Liberal Democrat campaign to improve the condition of Surrey's roads by allocating funding for road maintenance and financing a two-year programme worth £35.4 million. This follows their failure to spend all their own Highways budget over the last five years.

Wed 7th May 2008:

Surrey Liberal Democrats stand firm on county's Waste Plan.

Liberal Democrats at Surrey County Council have maintained their strong opposition to the Surrey Waste Plan (SWP), voting against a recommendation to adopt it when it came before the council at its Annual Meeting. The council was being asked to agree to its adoption following a report published by Government inspectors into the public examination of the Plan at the end of 2007. This report declared the plan to be 'sound' but Cllr Sarah Di Caprio, Lib Dem group Environment spokesperson, said the inspectors had pointed to various shortcomings in the plan and they suggested calling for an early review.

Fri 14th Mar 2008:

Youth Service U-turn After Sustained Lib Dem Pressure.

Surrey Liberal Democrats have welcomed the lifting of the County's freeze on Youth Service recruitment, highlighted in recent months by County Councillor Diana Smith Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Schools and Learning.

School Admissions Update.

The schools admission process is a long haul for parents, with applications made in the autumn and places only now being offered for this coming September, 2008. At the same time Surrey County Council has been going through the equally long process of deciding how school places will be allocated for September 2009.

Tue 4th Mar 2008:

Lib Dems Urge Longer Term Funding Commitment for "Self-Reliance".

Surrey Liberal Democrats have called upon Surrey County Council to maintain funding for its work devoted to building stronger communities in disadvantaged areas of Surrey, the so-called Self-Reliance Projects.

Tue 5th Feb 2008:

Tory budget is bad news for Surrey residents.

Liberal Democrats at Surrey County Council today opposed the ruling Conservative administration's 4.8% rise in Council Tax and condemned a cut in roads and schools maintenance spending. Highlighting her group's alternative proposals, Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Hazel Watson (Dorking Hills), said it would be possible to limit the Council Tax rise to 4.5%, a saving of £1.5m.

Mon 4th Feb 2008:

Lib Dems challenge Tories to support "in or out" referendum.

The Liberal Democrat Group recently tried to get the majority Conservative group on Surrey County Council to back the campaign for an "in or out" Euro referendum. The Lib Dems say this referendum would be an opportunity for the British public to determine whether Britain should continue to be a member of the European Union or not.

Sat 2nd Feb 2008:

Lib Dems Lead Fight against Heathrow Expansion.

At the recent Council meeting, Liberal Democrats proposed a motion that Surrey County Council should come out against further expansion of Heathrow.

Surrey Roads Budget Under-spent for the Fifth Year Running.

In answer to a question from John Doran, Lib Dem transport spokesperson, the Conservative executive member for transport on Surrey County Council admitted that the council was on target to under-spend its roads budget by nearly £1 million pounds. Mr Munro said "£1 million is about right".

Wed 23rd Jan 2008:

Youth Service Staff 'Freeze' Remains at Surrey County Council.

Tory-led Surrey County Council voted today to keep the freeze on youth service recruitment, despite the obvious damage it is causing to youth services throughout Surrey. Liberal Democrat Councillor Diana Smith (Knaphill) put forward a motion calling for an immediate end to the recruitment freeze, put in place in December 2007. But the ruling Tory group voted to keep the status quo.

Tue 18th Dec 2007:

School Admissions.

The 'equal preference' system for school admissions was first used for admissions to Surrey schools this year, September 2007. It means that parents don't have to worry that they will lose a place in the second or third of their preferred schools if the first school is full, just because they did not place those schools first.

Emergency Planning Department Fiasco.

When the Conservative administration at County Hall took an axe to its Emergency Planning department as part of a major review, the 11 staff were reduced to just 7 - putting the whole county at risk. All the staff bar one left, leaving the county in an extraordinarily vulnerable state for several months, made worse because a freeze in recruitment blocked the advertising for new staff.

Marginal Improvement by Road Contractors is not Good Enough.

At the Transport Select Committee on 5th December members were given the latest set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the ill fated Surrey Highways Partnership (SHiP). The SHiP is the arrangement whereby Carillion manages road maintenance in the East of the County and Ringway in the West. Although there has been some improvement things are still not good enough.

Earlier Stories

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