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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
