Surrey Lib Dems

Surrey County Council's consultancy bill DOUBLES under the Tories

Liberal Democrat county councillors have expressed their concern after it was revealed that Surrey County Council's spending on consultants has more than doubled from the previous year. Following an information request to the County Council by Cllr Hazel Watson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, it was revealed that spending on consultants rose from £305,000 in 2015/16 to £663,420 in 2016/17 - a staggering rise of 118%. The maximum day rate paid was a shocking £1800 per day - meaning that at least one consultant working for the Tory administration was earning the equivalent of £468,000 a year. Cllr Hazel Watson said today: "At a time when the County Council is under extreme financial pressure and cutting vital services, spending on consultants should not be going up and certainly not by 118%. The Conservative administration cannot on the one hand say they have been forced to cut services because there is a lack of funding and at the same time double spending in areas such as this. "This use of consultants need

STATEMENT FROM CLLR HAZEL WATSON ON TODAY’S BUDGET

Lib Dems welcome partial Tory U-Turn on Surrey's street lights

Liberal Democrat county councillors today welcomed the decision by Conservative-run Surrey County Council to amend its unpopular street lighting policy. The policy, which was introduced in 2016 and early 2017, saw thousands of street lights turned off across the county without any consultation with the residents affected. The change of policy means that lights will stay on until 1am rather than midnight from Thursday 23rd November 2017.

REVEALED - Surrey County Council's 20 buildings kept empty for a total of 112 years

Over 2000 people sign Lib Dem petition calling for Surrey's Performing Arts Library to be saved

Liberal Democrat county councillors have handed in a petition with over 2,000 signatures calling for Surrey's Performing Arts Library to be retained. It follows a consultation held by Surrey County Council which outlined 3 options for the Library - closure, fragmentation of the service across other libraries or the service by being provided by another organisation. The Library, which is currently based near Dorking at Denbies Wine Estate, houses a unique collection of music, theatre, orchestral and dance materials available for public loan. Cllr David Goodwin, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Communities, said today:

Surrey County Council must pay £18K to family after highly critical Ombudsman Report

Surrey County Council has been ordered to pay £18,400 in compensation to the family of a severely autistic child after a highly critical report from the Local Government Ombudsman. The report criticised all aspects of the County Council's handling of the case, which concluded that there was fault by the County Council and that an injustice had taken place.