From: Tim Oliver, Surrey County Council Leader
Sent: 20 June 2019 07:26
To: All Councillors
Subject: Transformation Project Overview
Dear Members
Please find attached a two page summary on each of our transformation business cases, along with slides that I hope you find useful by way of background.
If you have any queries please feel free to raise them either with myself of the relevant Cabinet Member.
Kind regards
Tim
Tim Oliver
Leader of Surrey County Council
From: Mike Goodman CLR <mike.goodman@surreycc.gov.uk>
To: All Councillors
Subject: Surrey Waste Local Plan
Dear All,
You will be aware that we have been preparing a new Surrey Waste Local Plan. We are now at the stage of our examination in public and I am emailing to let you know details of when the Examination Hearings will take place.
The Hearing sessions (which are part of the Examination) will start on Tuesday 17 September and are currently expected to last for around 6 days. They will be held at County Hall, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2DN.
The Independent Inspector appointed to undertake the examination is Anne Napier BA (Hons) MRTPI MIEMA CEnv.
Those organisations and persons who have made representations on the Plan will have already been asked if they wish to take part in the Hearing sessions by the Programme Officer. The Inspector may also invite others to take part if she feels this would be helpful to her. The sessions will be open to the public to observe.
The Examination Library, submitted documents and information on the examination in public (including the timetable) can be viewed on the Minerals and Waste Planning Policy webpage: www.surreycc.gov.uk/newwasteplan
If you have any questions or require further information please contact us by email and we will get back to you:
Email: wasteplan@surreycc.gov.uk
Best Wishes,
Mike Goodman
Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport
Surrey County Councillor for Bagshot, Windlesham & Chobham
I have received notification of surface dressing works in Lion Lane on Thursday this week:
Around one hundred roads across Surrey are scheduled to receive surface dressing during May and June. The programme is due to start on Wednesday 15th May.
Surrey County Council’s surface dressing team will treat areas with a high volume of traffic that require preventative treatment to keep them in a good condition. We will also seal and waterproof the road, provide a new surface to improve braking and increase safety. This work is highly weather dependent so likely to change. The road surface has to be completely dry to lay the surface dressing so even a small amount of rain, or rain overnight, could stop the works taking place if it’s not dried out in time. You can find out more on SCC’s surface dressing page.
South Western Railway have just launched their ‘Kids Travel For Free’ Spring half term campaign – the offer begins on 19 May and runs to the 2 June – and tickets are on sale now.
From a notification by Keir Highways here:
Kier Highways, on behalf of Highways England, will be carrying out work to resurface a section of the A3 southbound carriageway between the Canadian War Memorial and Liphook junction, to ensure the network remains in a safe condition for our customers.
The work is currently scheduled to take place over four nights starting on Tuesday 7 May 2019.
TRAVEL: Portsmouth Road between Bramshott Chase and the A3 will be closed from 8am today for resurfacing works…as it runs parallel with the A3. Traffic will be diverted through Grayshott village. pic.twitter.com/zvgLxuPB2k— BBC Surrey (@BBCSurrey) April 26, 2019
For the safety of our workforce and customers we will be closing the A3 southbound carriageway between the A31 Hog’s Back and Liphook, with a signed diversion in place from the Hogs Back, west along the A31, then south on the A325 to Longmoor.
Access will be maintained along the A3 southbound carriageway for villages between the Hogs Back and Thursley, and for emergency service vehicles on blue light calls.
Please be aware that these works have been carefully programmed but are subject to change due to weather conditions or unforeseen circumstances – please check the yellow signs placed in advance at the junction for confirmation of the closures dates/timings.
We would like to apologise in advance for any inconvenience or disruption caused during our work; if you have any questions, or if you’d like to know about our work please contact us on 0300 123 5000 or email info@highwaysengland.co.uk
It is a challenging time to be standing for election as a Surrey County Councillor. The council itself has significant challenges. In the past few years, note:
There has never been a greater need for Independent councillors who are able to scrutinise and challenge decisions free from party politics.
The council is composed of 81 elected Councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Partyy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey_County_Council has held the majority- there are currently 59 Conservatives, 9 Independent/Residents Assoc, 9 Lib Dems, 1 Labour, 1 Green. And, 1 vacant seat.
I am contesting the vacant seat.
More detailed reading below:
December 2018 CIPFA Criticism
Residents will no doubt be aware of the poor state of Surrey County Council’s finances. It is of course partly the result the Government’s reduction of the grant funding allocated to the County Council, but an independent Report by the well-respected Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), and commissioned by SCC itself, has severely criticised the County Council for its financial management and budget planning. https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-county-council-faces-unbridgeable-15161504
January 2019 SCC Fire & Rescue service declared Inadequate
Following on from the 2018 Ofsted Report which severely criticised SCC’s Children’s Services as failing, an Inspection by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has reported that SCC’s Fire and Rescue service is “Inadequate” at efficiently keeping people safe, and is failing to make the best use of its resources. This is further worrying evidence of a council failing in the delivery of some of the basic services which it is legally required to provide. https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-fire-rescue-rated-inadequate-15575032
February 2019 Spending on High Level Temporary Staff
At a time of cuts to services it is interesting to note that over the past year SCC has spent almost £2.5 million on temporary and interim staff, mostly on high level salaries. In one case SCC paid a recruitment company over £294k “to source and manage an interim Adult Social Care director” for a year.
Council Meeting March 2019
Conservatives voted down an RA/Independent recommendation to “amend the Terms of Reference of the People, Performance and Development Committee to provide for the monitoring of the costs of senior management salaries, interim appointments and redundancies” thus rejecting openness and transparency in regard to senior management pay.
Budget 2019 Included
Children’s Services rated as Inadequate by OFSTED in May 2018
SCC was rated inadequate for its services supporting children “who need help and protection”, and in leadership, management and governance. In its 2017 report, SCC was told “a number of children in Surrey who have been at risk of serious harm were not assessed, helped or protected quickly enough”. https://www.eagleradio.co.uk/news/local-news/2373475/serious-weaknesses-found-in-surrey-childrens-services/
May 2018 Surrey County Conservatives Vote Themselves More Money
At the May 2018 Surrey County Council Meeting, the Conservatives voted to create four new Deputy Cabinet Member posts to be filled by Conservative county councillors, with an allowance each of £10,000. In addition, and despite an Independent Review Panel recommendation that allowances be not paid to all Committee Vice Chairmen, the Conservatives also decided that they should continue to be paid.
In 2013, Haslemere voted for its first ever Independent Councillor for Surrey County Council.
Vote for Nikki Barton to turn that bottom corner of South West Surrey white again.
(Press release from SCC RA/Independent Group re council budget cuts).
From The Haslemere Herald, 25th March 2019, this article explains why there is a by-election for the Haslemere ward of Surrey County Council: Anger Over Absentee Councillors.
Haslemere Town Council found it was increasingly difficult to make contact with the previous Conservative County Councillor for Haslemere. This is a councillor who was receiving taxpayers’ money to serve the public. A representative from Haslemere Town Council stated:
“Cllr Hampson has thus not been able to respond to our requests to discuss important issues such as the recent Surrey consultations on children’s services, libraries and community recycling centres. We very much hope that whoever replaces him has the time and commitment to the post that our residents deserve.”
I am cited in this same article:
“As the previous Independent Surrey county councillor for Haslemere, I had a real sense of the public duty to serve my constituents and felt a personal obligation to be fully engaged with the community that I care deeply about.
“You cannot be the voice of Haslemere, standing up for residents and organisations, as well as lobbying for scarce and diminishing funds and resources, if you are not engaged or able to be present. ”
In the by-election for the Haslemere ward for Surrey County Council, there are only three candidates – Nikki Barton (Independent), Conservative and Labour. The local Green and Liberal Democrat parties have deliberately not named a candidate, because they are supporting me. Read more here from the local Lib Dem candidate, Terence Weldon.
The Waverley Borough Local Plan Part 1: Strategic Policies and Sites was submitted to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on 21 December 2016 for independent examination.
The scheduled Examination Hearings took place between 27 June and 6 July 2017. Following the Hearings, the Council prepared some Main Modifications to the Plan for public consultation. These were consulted on from 8 September to 20 October 2017 and the responses are available to view.
Upon reviewing the Main Modifications and the consultation responses, the Examination Inspector then issued some further questions to which the Council responded on 29 November 2017.
See The New Local Plan Documents page on Waverley’s website for all current information,
Yesterday evening, I shared this tweet from Eber Kington an Independent Surrey County Councillor:
This morning, Haslemere Town Councillors received this pothole update from Colin Kemp, Cabinet Member for Highways at Surrey County Council. I thought it would be helpful to share, with a reminder of how to report potholes:
From: Colin Kemp CLR <colin.kemp@surreycc.gov.uk>
Sent: 31 January 2018 22:12:22
To: £Members All Councillors
Subject: short note of pothole situation
Dear all
This time of year normally sees an increase in the reports of defects and potholes on the highway due to the wet and cold weather. This type of weather is anticipated during Winter and resources are put in place to manage any peaks in defect numbers The beginning of this year has seen an unusually high number defects and potholes. The repair gangs have recently been working extra shifts throughout the week and weekend to keep up with the number of defects being reported and we have now added some additional gangs to provide some further resilience in the short term. We also have a jet patching machine out and about which carries out a rapid repair treatment. This type of repair will be mainly used on targeting potholes on some of our residential roads.
Although your local highways teams do their best to monitor their areas and spot any defects, there is over 3000 miles of road in Surrey so they/we need your help. If you see a pothole on the network then please use the Report it function on the SCC website. From here you can also see if someone has already reported a defect by zooming in on the map when trying to ‘locate the problem’.
Thank you in advance for your help and patience.
Colin Kemp
Cabinet Member for Highways
Surrey County Councillor Horsell West & Goldsworth East
Woking Borough Councillor for Horsell
Tel: 07889 289177
Cabinet Senior PA: Isabella Nye-Meredith
Tel 020 8541 7208
