Tuesday 22 March 2011

23,000 People Oppose On Street Parking Charges

It is a shame that while Tandrige is trying to protect local businesses by offering shoppers free carparking in Oxted that the County Council is intending to introduce short-sighted charges for on-street parking.

Tandridge Councillors were united in agreed to oppose this at the recent Council meeting. And it looks like that over 23,000 Surrey residents agree. There is just one day to add your name to petition on the County website. To do so follow the link: http://petitions.surreycc.gov.uk/ParkingCharges/

No Increase In Council Tax No Cuts No Redundancies

This is what I and my fellow Conservatives who run Tandridge District Council decided last month. Indeed despite the significant cuts in Government grant brought about by the need to reduce the Country’s budget deficit, the local Conservative councils serving Oxted and Hurst Green have voted not to raise the rate of council tax this year.

Indeed Tandridge District Council has found savings of around 10% without having to sack a single member of staff, cut a single frontline service or borrow a single pound. Instead, it has managed to save this money by working with other authorities to cut IT and administrative costs, by earning more money from recycling and by constantly improving the way it delivers services, to provide more for less.

While the Labour Government spent taxpayers’ money like it was going out of fashion, Conservative Tandridge prudently prepared for the tough times ahead. We have been running efficient services, we implemented a recruitment freeze to avoid the painful process of making staff redundant and have kept the Council out of debt.

Tandridge has been able to increase frontline services rather than cutting them. For instance unlike other local Councils who have had to switch to a fortnightly bin collection, Tandridge residents continue to benefit from both weekly refuse and recycling collections and are now able to have their garden waste collected as well.