Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are calling for the Conservative administration to show restraint in increasing Council Tax in the 2012/13 Budget.
Cllr Hazel Watson, the Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition on Surrey County Council, says:
"The legacy of years of the Conservative administration at Surrey County Council, by their own admission, failing Surrey's residents means that they now have almost no choice but to increase Council Tax.
Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are calling for the Conservative administration to abandon their plans to replace professional staff in 10 of the County's libraries with volunteers, rather than continue with a costly legal fight against Surrey residents in the High Court.
Following the High Court order on Friday by Hon. Mr Justice Wyn Williams, that the County Council should 'take no irrevocable steps towards implementing the Community Partnered Libraries (CPLs) decision impugned in these proceedings until further order of this court', Cllr Hazel Watson, the Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition on Surrey County Council, said:
Following the announcement by the Conservative Leader of Surrey County Council that he is proposing a 2.99% rise in Council Tax, Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are demanding to know why councillors have been denied papers to properly scrutinise the proposals by the Conservative administration for the County's 2012/13 Budget.
Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are asking "Where is Conservative-run Surrey County Council's Budget?"
Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition Cllr Hazel Watson says: "With only three weeks to go until Surrey County Council's 2012/13 Budget setting meeting on 7 February, the Conservative administration has not yet even published a draft budget for consultation.
The Government introduced the Feed-in-tariffs (FiT) to encourage early take up of renewable technology in April 2010. Surrey County Council finally approved a scheme to install solar panels on 25 buildings in July 2011. Yet when the Government announced a cut to the FiT rate, they still had not installed a single solar panel.
Conservative controlled Surrey County Council could have kept bus passes starting at 9.00 am and still underspent by £150,000 on this year's local buses budget!
£351,000: The amount saved by Conservative controlled Surrey County Council by cutting concessionary bus passes for the elderly and disabled from a 9.00 am start to a 9.30 am start.
The gathering Eurozone crisis - particularly the dramatic summit on Friday when David Cameron dug his heels in - has generated a variety of comments from Lib Dem spokespeople.
The news media do not generally give Lib Dems much coverage, so here are some key comments, including some not widely reported.
Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are presenting a motion to next week's Full Council raising concerns about the County's performance with regard to child adoption and children in care.
Liberal Democrat leader of the Opposition Cllr Hazel Watson says:
"The Child in Care and Adoption Performance Tables published last month by the Department for Education show many major failings by Surrey County Council. Just taking two of the most concerning findings for Surrey County Council in the tables: Surrey came 139th out of 152 in the proportion of young people aged 19 who were looked after aged 16 who were in suitable accommodation, only 9 councils performed worse, and 2 of those - Rutland and the Isles of Scilly - had no figures reported.
The controversial waste processing development in Charlton Lane, Shepperton has been given clearance to go ahed by Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, despite calls from local residents' representatives for a call-in for review of Surrey County Council's decision by his department.
