Liberal Democrat county councillors have called for care leavers in Surrey to be exempted from paying council tax until they are 25. The campaign was initiated by highly respected charity The Children's Society and will be discussed at County Hall on March 20th.
Liberal Democrat county councillors have raised concern over the future of Children's Centres in Surrey. Currently there are 58 centres across the county, providing services such as childcare, play and learning sessions, parenting courses, employment support and information and guidance for low-income families. Surrey County Council is currently consulting on a new model for delivering its "Early Help" services, with the aim of saving at least £9.7m.
Responding to Cllr Andrew Povey's comments on BBC Radio Surrey this morning, Cllr Hazel Watson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, said today:
Liberal Democrat county councillors in Surrey have expressed their concerns over the long waiting times faced by children and young people with mental health problems in the county.
Liberal Democrat county councillors have criticised Surrey's 11 Conservative MPs after they all voted in favour of the Local Government Finance Settlement in the House of Commons on Wednesday 7th February. The Settlement sets out the level of funding from central government to local authorities for the next financial year and has been heavily criticised for not providing adequate funding to councils to provide essential services. All 9 Liberal Democrat county councillors in Surrey had written to the 11 MPs asking them to vote against the Settlement but no Conservative MP in Surrey spoke in the debate and all voted in favour.
A petition set up by Liberal Democrat county councillors calling on Surrey County Council to axe its charges on residents disposing of DIY waste has attracted over 1000 signatures in just over 2 weeks. The petition was set up after the Government, as part of a wider consultation on fly-tipping, stated that "The Government's view is that residents should be able to dispose of household DIY waste free of charge" and "The Government will consider clarifying the law if councils continue to charge for disposal of reasonable amounts of DIY waste". The County Council introduced the unpopular charges, dubbed the "Tory Tip Tax", in September 2016 and earlier in January this year ended the daily allowance for local residents to dispose of waste for free.
