Oxted Tory

Election Campaign Round-up

2011-05-02T17:19:00.004+01:00

I have been greatly encouraged by doorstep support received so far. Now into the final week after a month of campaigning it is clear that residents recognise that Conservative Tandridge is a successfully run Council, delivering high quality services at a reasonable cost. In particular, at a time when other councils up and down the country are having to cut services in order to fix the hole in the public finances, Tandridge’s success in protecting both its own services and its support to the voluntary sector while not increasing tax or making staff redundant has been welcomed.

I am grateful to all who have taken time the time and trouble to speak to express their concerns. The following issues are the most common that have been raised:

State of Local Roads
We are all entirely dissatisfied with the state of the roads, in particular here in Oxted South, and to be frank the entire district could do with resurfacing. However, roads are not Tandridge District Council’s responsibility but the County Council’s and after 13 years of under-funding by the previous Government it would cost many hundreds of millions of pounds to do this. However Surrey County Council is to spend an extra £4 million per year on repairing potholes and George Osborne announced a further £4 million for Surrey’s roads in his recent budget.

Paying for Parking in Oxted
Local Conservatives are actively opposing the County Council’s plans for on-street charges as we believe it will hurt local businesses as well as causing inconvenience to shoppers. Conservative Tandridge will continue to provide free parking for Oxted shoppers in the Ellice Road Car Park.

Commuter Parking in Hurst Green
Over recent years more and more commuters have been starting their journeys from Hurst Green. With the station car park full, we are all aware that cars are being left on surrounding roads, particularly the Hurst Green Road. Without a radical solution, like the construction of a large car park, or imposing residents’ permits in Hurst Green, the problem can only be managed, not eliminated. We hope that the newly painted yellow lines on the Hurst Green Road will make it easier for cars to pass again. And following campaigning by your local Conservative Councillors, Tandridge District Council is proposing to make available part of the Mill Lane car park for commuters (while protecting spaces for local users).

On thursday, in the Oxted South Ward please

VOTE AINSWOTH, VOTE CONSERVATIVE & NO 2 AV

Vote No 2 AV

2011-05-02T17:19:00.001+01:00

Our current tried and tested voting system gives everyone one vote and delivers clear outcomes. The ‘Alternative Vote’ is an unfair, complicated, unpopular and expensive system that gives some people more votes than others. AV is unfair - with our current system everyone gets one vote, but under AV voters of less popular parties may get their votes counted two, three or more times. AV is unclear – the third place candidate can be elected. AV is unpopular – just Fiji, Australia and Papua New Guinea use AV and in Australia voters want to get rid of it. AV is expensive - as it is much more complicated to administer.

Keep One Person One Vote, VOTE NO TO AV.

Vote Ainsworth, Vote Conservative

2011-05-02T17:16:00.001+01:00

When casting your vote please remember that a Conservative Tandridge is putting local residents first by:

· Not putting up Council Tax (for the first time in Tandridge’s history)

· Not cutting services or financial support to the voluntary sector

· Not making council staff redundant

· Delivering innovative solutions to difficult issues

Despite the worst recession in a century and a big cut in the amount of money received from Government, Tandridge continues to deliver improved high quality services including:

· Weekly refuse and recycling collections (and a very popular garden waste collection)

· New affordable homes in Hurst Green for local families

· Free town centre parking thereby helping to protect shoppers and local businesses

· New children’s play equipment in Boulthurst Way and additional investment in the Tandridge Leisure Centre

23,000 People Oppose On Street Parking Charges

2011-03-22T20:30:00.003Z

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

2011-03-22T20:03:00.002Z

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.

New Affordable Homes in Hurst green

2010-09-27T08:23:00.002+01:00

While the unions have installed 'Red Ed' Milliband as Labour party leader over the head ofthe wishes of labour party members and MPs; , here in Oxted South Conservatives continue to deliver improvements for local people.

For instance this month 8 new affordable homes for Tandridge residents have been built on Pollards Oak road (next to the Community Association centre) to join the 10 opened on the Greenway earlier in the summer. Alongside new popular new services for residents like garden waste recycling, this demonstrates our commitment to improving front line services despite the financial challenges that we all currently face.

Councillor resigns from the Lib Dems

2010-07-04T20:52:00.002+01:00

It seems that Cllr Lisa Bangs (who represents Lingfield and the Lib Dem's only Tandridge councillor south of the A25) has decided to resign from the Liberal Democratic party and therefore the Lib Dem group.

I believe that her decision was down to her unhappiness with the Coalition government.

Committee Meetings

2010-07-04T20:44:00.004+01:00

We have now had the first committees of the new council year.

At Housing Committee we agreed to an action plan which will modernise and change the delivery of support services offered to older people in the district. The action plan has been drawn up following a review of the Council’s Sheltered Housing Service and has been driven by the need to create a service that better meets the changing needs of older residents. The review process included extensive consultation with both existing and potential service users of this council's housing. The new arrangements will hopefully better meet demand.

And at Resources Committee we signed off last years accounts (an underspend!) and bemoaned the pointlessness of a lot of the processes put in place by the previous government which cause us as a council to spend more than £20k per year on reporting that no-one will actually use.

Greenway Social Housing

2010-06-25T18:32:00.002+01:00

On Tuesday I was able to look around the nearly completed new homes on the Greenway have have been built by the Raven Housing Trust on former Tandridge District Land. When completed they will be available house local families on the housing list.

I was very impressed. They are spacious with large rooms, built to a very high standard including the latest environmental features (such as solar panels to heat water and a high specification of insulation). And for the lucky new tenants Raven have even provided carpets. And while the majority of the new homes are flats the deveopment includes two 2-bed houses and one 3-bed one, providing much needed additional family accomodation in Hurst Green.

I believe most, if not all have been allocated, and the lucky new tenants will move in next week.

Planning Policy

2010-06-15T18:27:00.002+01:00

More good news from the Coalition.

New planning advice - which has now been formally handed down from central government -means that there is no longer a presumption in favour of those who want to build new houses by grabbing back gardens, by saying it was brownfield land.

While this does not mean that houses will never again be built on gardens (and there is for now at least still a need to provide new homes in the district), it does mean that Tandridge DC will be able to take residents concerns into account as to when and where this occurs and say be empowered to say no when it is not appropriate or welcome, without the threat that the unelected Planning Inspectorate will overturn every decision.

Godstone Farm

2010-06-15T10:58:00.001+01:00

This morning the independent report into the E. coli outbreak at Godstone farm was published. Local residents can find the report at www.griffininvestigation.org.uk.

Car crime

2010-06-10T09:54:00.003+01:00

There have been a few incidents over recent weeks in the Oxted area of cars being broken into or vandalised. Local residents would be advised to keep more of an eye out than normal and report any suspicious activity to Surrey Police on 08451252222 .

End of the Housing Revenue Account

2010-06-10T09:48:00.004+01:00

Tuesday's announcement that the Government is reviewing the unfair housing 'subsidy system' (which sees Tandridge tenants sending money via Whitehall) to badly run Labour councils is very welcome. Giving power back to Tandridge to run its own affairs would be a positive move, they key issue is to ensure that we do not end up having to assume too much debt from other authorities in order to facilitate this.

New Council

2010-05-30T21:54:00.001+01:00

10 days ago we had the first Council of the year. The main purpose of the the meeting is the governance of th Council. As such we elected Alan Jones as the new chairman. The composition of the new committees also agreed. I have come off Planning Policy an returned to Housing, which I was pleased about. Housing queries often form a large part of my casework and it will be good to get more involved in shaping the policy. I have was also elected Vice Chairman of the Resources Committee. Given the financial mess left by the last Government and the resultant cutbacks that are likely to hit local government on I am expecting a busy year in this role!

Localism Wins

2010-05-12T22:22:00.002+01:00

As a local councillor the most eye catching paragraph in the coalition statement reads as follows: 'The parties will promote the radical devolution of power and greater financial autonomy to local
government and community groups. This will include a full review of local government finance.'

This is great news for those of us who believe that decisions should be taken as close to the people who they effect.

Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government

2010-05-11T21:58:00.003+01:00

A Conservative led Government that can serve a full term with the active support of the Liberal Democrats is the best result we could have hoped for in the light of the election results.
While I would have preferred us to have won outright, the Liberals bring some good policies, not least the idea of taking the poorest out of income tax by increasing personal allowances to £10,000. But the most important commitment is that of credibly reducing the deficit and starting that work this year. I also welcome their commitment to localism and hope that powers will be devolved down, so we can make even more of a difference to the residents of Tandridge.

Tandridge District Council Results

2010-05-07T19:50:00.003+01:00

Quick post to say Conservatives retained the 13 of 14 seats up for election today (all with increased majorities), with the Lib Dems retaining the 14th.

The result in Oxted South was as follows:

CONSERVATIVES 1471
LIBERAL DEMOCRATS 734
LABOUR 719
UKIP 253
GREEN 100

7 Spoilt Papers

Turnout 74.93%

A superb result in Oxted South. Well done Barry Compton! For the rest of Tandridge's results please visit the TDC website

East Surrey Election Result

2010-05-07T08:19:00.003+01:00

I am not going to comment on the national picture, it all looks too confusing - albeit a clear rejection of this current Labour government . My commiserations go to Matt Groves and Fabian Richter, who fought Plymouth Moorview and Bath for the Conservatives.

But many congratulations to Sam Gyimah MP, who increased Peter Ainsworth's share of the vote in East Surrey, getting more than double the number of votes polled for the Lib Dems.

I hope that this bodes well for our Council results later this morning.

Polling Today

2010-05-06T23:05:00.002+01:00

Obviously it will be some hours before we have the Parliamentary result in East Surrey and around lunchtime before we have the Council results. But a couple of things stuck me today. Turnout seemed much higher than we might have expected given disenchantment with politics generally and pleasingly a lot of young and first time voters turned out. I was also surprised by how much fight seemed left in the Labour machine in Oxted South.

I saw Sam Giymah early in the evening. I realise that many Conservatives were unhappy at the circumstances in which he came to be selected, but I am sure that he will today have received a clear mandate from the voters of East Surrey to serve them in Parliament. In my opinion he will be an excellent MP.

Night Before

2010-05-05T20:47:00.002+01:00

All the campaigning is done, now it is for voters to decide. All that is left for me to do is to urge readers to:

VOTE FOR CHANGE, VOTE CONSERVATIVE

Full Council

2010-04-30T22:39:00.002+01:00

Last night saw the last full council meeting of the municipal year. There was not a huge amount of debate, but we said farewell to a number of members who are retiring. In doing so partisanship was suspended. It is a good reminder that there is often a lot more that unites Councillors of all parties (and of none) than divides us and that despite the public's current poor perception of politicians, I believe that the vast majority of us are involved in politics because we hope we can make a positive difference to peoples lives, no matter how small.

So come next Thursday I hope as many people as possible turn out and vote (for what ever party)

Campaign Update

2010-04-30T22:32:00.002+01:00

So we are now into the last week. The polls following the TV debates show that Cameron has won, and that the Conservatives are leading the opinion polls (and Labour remaining in third place). And postal votes have started to be completed.

But we have not been complacent in Oxted South. We have again been out on the doorsteps, disturbing eving meals and bathtime and about and the main change from the last few years is still how many undecided voters there are, with many leaving the decision on how to vote until they reach the ballot box. And there are a lot of residents who want to discuss policies - local and national - to help inform their decisions. I think there is a lot still to play for...

Housing Debt

2010-04-26T21:02:00.003+01:00

Last week there we held special meetings of the Housing and Resources Committees to discuss how to respond the Governments offer to take on around £65mn of Housing debt (Tandridge is currently debt free as a local authority) in exchange for them stopping the tax on our residents housing rents and being able to retain the proceeds from Council Houses bought by their tenants.

We agreed to continue the dialogue with government, as bizarre as it sounds the Government's offer might be a better deal than the current arrangements for Tandridge tenants and Council Taxpayers. But it reflects the gerrymandering of the system where rents from well run authorities like Tandridge where there is a great need for affordable housing for local people are being used to subsidise badly run and indebted authorities in other parts of the country.

Campaign Update

2010-04-26T20:53:00.002+01:00

Its been two weeks since I last blogged. During that time I have been to Bath, where there was a considerable desire for change and the local Conservatives are running an active campaign to capitalise on this. Then came the leader debates. A bit of a game changer as far as the national press went, but I must say one not reflected on the doorstep. It is true that a lot of people are fed up with politics and the political class, but certainly no growing enthusiasm for Lib Dem policies in Oxted South (though a number of voters who have said they are not prepared to vote for Labour again). There is however an understanding that the fiscal deficit is too big and a strong interest in both national and local issues that matter, whether that be potholes, swimming in Oxted, parking arrangements or even Fox Hunting

Campaign Update

2010-04-11T09:52:00.002+01:00

A good week's canvassing. Clear that while there may be dissatisfaction with politicians of all hues, there is a general desire for change. Generally people have spoken to think that Tandridge does a generally good job, which is good news for my colleague Barry Compton who is re-standing for the council and a number of voters. And even better I have now spoken to a number of voters, who have not previously voted Conservative, but said they think that Sam Gyimah, our Parliamentary candidate, will get their vote in this election.

On Monday I am spending the day with our Parliamentary candidate for Bath, Fabian Richter, t help him in his attempt to unseat the sitting Lib Dem MP and regain the seat, which we lost in 1992.

Crime Alert

2010-04-07T13:17:00.002+01:00

The Police have reported an increase in criminal damage in the Oxted area. Over the past few weeks the Methodist Church has seen a window broken, car windscreens smashed in Merle Common and Pollards Wood road, cars damaged in Mill Lane and on the Greenway and a Motor Cycle stolen in Bramble Close.

The Police suspect most of this is caused by small groups of youths and would appreciate any information on 0845 125 2222. Also any nuisance behaviour should be reported to the Police.

Easter Over

2010-04-05T20:28:00.002+01:00

The Bank Holiday weekend is drawing to a close and if the pundits are to be believed tomorrow will see Gordon Brown head down to the Palace and ask for a disillusionment.

Last week's canvassing got off to a wet start but we did managed to get out and leaflets have been delivered. As a councillor one of the best things about canvassing is getting to hear what is wrong in the neighbourhood. I get to talk to my constituents all though the year, but that is only a small proportion and generally those to have a particular issue to solve. So to have a broader view of what people's priorities are is invaluable.

And three come along at once

2010-03-29T23:28:00.002+01:00

And finally for today I have seen that the new bus stops are going in around Hurst Green. Hopefully unlike this blog, passenger won't have to wait weeks for a bus only to see three coming along at once.

Seriously, I gather that the new bus service is a vast improvement on the previous arrangements; good news for local residents (but bad news for local taxi drivers, who are already suffering the effects of the downturn).

Construction Work in Hurst Green

2010-03-29T23:20:00.003+01:00

Quite a lot is going up (or down) at the moment. I blogged 10 days ago about the social housing being built on Pollards Oak Road and the Greenway, but housing of a different type is being built on the Holland Road, where the new nursing home is quickly taking shape. Specialising in dementia suffers it will provide a much needed resource for the area. And on Comforts Farm Avenue and Mill Lane new pipework is being laid. Hopefully the disruption is causign will not last too much longer.

And we're off..

2010-03-29T09:11:00.003+01:00

Tonight marks the start of our campaign to retain Oxted South for Councillor Barry Compton at the District Council elections on May 6th. We will of course take the opportunity to mention our new Prospective Parliamentary candidate, Sam Gyimah just in case their happens to be a General Election on the same day....

I find canvassing is a great opportunity to get out and hear what residents have to say about life in Hurst Green, Broadham Green, Merle Common and South Oxted (not to mention a good way to keep fit.

Delivering Affordable Homes for Local People

2010-03-19T13:32:00.002Z

On Wednesday I visited the previously slightly run down area behind Pollards Oak road shops to see the transformation that is going on in an area of former scrub land and garages. Raven Housing Trust are currently building 8 homes on land provided by Tandridge District Council.
These new properties when complete will be available for rent to families on Tandridge's Housing list. I think this is a really exciting development, delivering high quality homes for local families while at the same time improving a run down corner of Hurst Green. They are likely to be completed in the early Autumn.

And in the Greenway the 10 new homes built on the former car park are much nearer being completed and are looking very good.

Together these are good examples of TDC's committment to provide much needed affordable housing for local people.

It seems I do have some readers!

2010-03-19T13:28:00.004Z

It was a surprise to me as well! But over the past couple of weeks a few people have approached me saying they occasionally look at this blog (including 2 at Tandridge's annual Civic Reception on Tuesday night) and why had I been so poor at updating it? Well I apologise, I will try to do better, but unfortunately when things get too busy it is the first thing to slip.

Roads

2010-03-19T13:23:00.003Z

Last Friday I met with our County Councillor and some Surrey County Council Highways Officers. The following is worth reporting:

On potholes they are targeting the A roads first before fixing residential roads. I highlighted the worst of the roads around the South Oxted area, but residents should report any particularly concerns directly to the County Council via their website. Unfortunately it is likely to take a long time before our roads are back to normal.

On the problem on Hurst Green Road, the County are currently publicly consulting on a plan for no waiting restrictions on the stretch of hill from mini-roundabout to where it turns. Regrettably I think this is not the best option as the stretch involved is not the whole of the problem and in enforcing no-waiting along the all of the identified area will just cause the problem to shift again. I have asked the County to consider instead putting in passing places to make the road safe for all users, while minimising the impact further down the road.I will report back if I hear any more.

Lib Dems Call for Huge Increase in House Building

2010-03-06T18:54:00.003Z

I today received a Lib Dem 'Focus' through the door which apears to imply that they want a massive increase in the number of homes built in Tandridge in order to provide affordable housing. This is quite simply the only conclusion that could be drawn. But they do not say where they intend for these houses to be built.

They claim that TDC is 'failing to deliver affordable housing'. This is simply not true, I believe Tandridge has an excellent record at providing afforable housing, and even in the depths of the recesssion we managed to secure 49 new social homes over the past year (against its target of 50).

It is certainly true that there not enough affordable homes for all who would like to live in the district. But, the stark reality is that with nearly 95% of the district being Green Belt land there are never going to be enough without large scale building on the green belt. Even this Labour Government accepted this fact by giving Tandridge the 2nd lowest target for house building in the South East of 250 new homes per year. And even if these were 100% affordable - this would still not be nearly enough to meet demand.

Therefore like most fellow residents I agree with our policies which take into account the fact that Tandridge is mostly green belt and does not have the space or infrastructure to support a massive home building plan. Within these constraints the Council will continue to deliver in a senetive way significant numbers of afforable homes for local people to rent and buy.

So I challenge the Lib Dems to tell where they plan to build their new homes, which fields they plan to concrete over, which gardens they would like to grab.

Wolfs Wood Dogs Destroyed

2010-02-26T14:00:00.002Z

News from that TDC have taken action against out of control dogs. Our tenants tell us regularly that they are happy with the way we look after our housing stock. The following press release from the Council demonstrates the active approach we take to prevent the anti-social behaviour of one person impacting on the lives of others:

On Friday 19 February at Redhill Magistrates’ Court, a housing tenant in Wolfs Wood, Oxted was disqualified from keeping a dog for five years, ordered to destroy one of her dogs and to re-home another dog. She also has to pay a contribution of £500 towards the Council’s costs.

Between March and November 2009 the Council’s housing team received numerous complaints about one of its tenants, Dionne Bakewell’s dogs. The complaints were about the dogs’ behaviour which included barking during the day and night and growling at passers-by and visitors. Residents also complained to the Environmental Health team.

The dogs frequently escaped into neighbouring gardens, the local park and wandered around local roads. They behaved aggressively and in a threatening manner snarling at local residents, including children.

There was a restraining order on one of the dogs which meant it had to be kept under control and chained, so it could not get within two metres of the front door between the hours of 8am and 5pm. It also had to be muzzled on the request of a council or police officer.

During one incident in April 2009, the dogs escaped into a neighbour’s garden where children were playing and growled at them. The children were very frightened and ran into another garden to get away from the dogs. The children’s mother spoke to Dionne Bakewell and was verbally abused.

The dogs’ behaviour was witnessed by council officers and the police. On 1 October 2009 the Council wrote to Miss Bakewell to advise it did not consider the dogs were suitable pets and asked her to immediately re-home them. The Council also started legal proceedings.

On 4 November a policeman, responding to calls from local residents about a dangerous dog loose in Wolfs Wood, was threatened by one of the dogs and forced to use his CS gas spray to protect himself. The dog was later captured and taken to the police dog kennels where it has remained.

Police Panel

2010-02-25T13:13:00.002Z

At Tuesday nights Police Panel, apart from hearing that one of our two excellent PCSOs has got a job as a PC (great news for her and for Surrey Police), but a loss to residents of Oxted South the Police reported that invesigations were ongoing into the armed robbery last week in One Stop. There is no evidence of any local involvement, the criminals likely to have come down from South London. The police also reported that crime in the area has fallen (especially vehicle crime and anti-social behaviour) and with a number of local criminals currently in prison things are very quite. Long may it continue

Council Tax Increase Just 2.48%

2010-02-19T09:17:00.002Z

At last night’s Council meeting we agreed to increase council tax by just £4.69 for the whole year, for a Band D property. This is an increase of around 9 pence a week and gives a Band D Council Tax level of £193.62. This is the lowest increase for 10 years made despite receiving th fourth lowest grant settlement from central government (which increased by just 0.5% compared to the 4% average) and reflects among other things a £905,000 saving in staff costs, all achieved without any redundancies.

Front line services will be unaffected and in fact over the past year (to quote Chairman of Resources, Cllr Fisher) "weekly recycling has increased to over 30% and we have kept the weekly back door waste collection service. We have reduced the number of households living in temporary accommodation and through the Planning Core Strategy protected our Green Belt and won an above average 74% of appeals. We continue to provide shoppers free parking to support local businesses. In the words of the Audit Commission ‘we have made savings and improved services’.

Sam Gyimah - East Surrey's New Parliamentary Candidate

2010-02-14T20:57:00.002Z

Along with around 300 others I attended a meeting at Oxted School on Saturday to select a successor to Peter Ainsworth as the Conservative candidate for East Surrey (and therefore hopefully our next MP).

While the circumstances were unfortunate - having six candidates thrust upon us under bi-election rules - the field was strong enough to deliver two candidates who would have been an excellent future MP, in my opinion the best one won. So I, like the vast majority of others present, was very happy the result.

Sam Gyimah came across to me as the ideal candidate, bright, a good communicator, likeable, a good track record outside of politics and an original thinker. From what I have seen so far, I hope and expect him to go far. I look forward to working with him.

For more details about Sam see his website.

Armed Robbery at the One Stop

2010-02-14T20:48:00.003Z

Yet again another armed robbery in Hurst Green. For a normally quiet part of Surrey we seem to be getting more than our fair share of this type of serious crime. I will take the opportunity of the Chief Constable's annual visit to TDC on Tuesday to quiz him on what they are doing.

CCTV photos of the suspects can be found on the Surrey Police website, though the police report is as follows:

At approximately 9.20pm on Wednesday (February 10) two men entered the One Stop shop, on Holland Road, and demanded staff hand over money from the cash tills.
One of the suspects produced a gun concealed within his hooded-top and fired it into the floor.
The robbers grabbed money from the tills and escaped in a waiting vehicle.
Police are keen to trace a dark coloured 'N' registration Renault Clio which had a white driver's door and a black Range Rover which were both seen in the area at the time of the offence.

The first suspect is described as a black man, slim to average build, approximately 5ft 10in to 6ft tall, wearing a black leather (appearance) thigh length jacket, with a dark hooded top underneath, black trousers, black trainers with white laces and black balaclava.
The second suspect is described as a white man, medium to stocky build, approximately 5ft 10in to 6ft tall, wearing dark rimmed glasses, a dark hooded sweatshirt with "Reebok" written horizontally across the chest, dark shell suit trousers with light vertical stripes on each side of the leg, white trainers with dark insets or dashes around the toe cap and sides and black gloves.
There was possibly a third man waiting outside.

Investigating officer Detective Sergeant, Karl Humphrey, said: "We are looking into the similarities between this robbery and the attempted robbery at Londis, Hurst Green, in September last year.

"This was a very frightening experience for the two members of staff who were working at the time and also for two young schoolchildren who happened to be in the shop when the robbers burst in.
"I cannot stress how vital it is we locate and arrest these men. They armed themselves with a gun and it is possible one of them may have suffered injuries when the weapon was discharged.
"Oxted is a small community and I can understand those who live there may be very shaken by this event but I would like to reassure you we are doing all we can to identify these robbers and bring them to justice.
"If you know someone who drives an 'N' registration Renault Clio which has a white driver's door or a black Range Rover then please come forward. Your phone call could make all the difference to this investigation."

Tandridge Sergeant David Coomber said: "The local Safer Neighbourhood Team will be working alongside detectives during this investigation and also providing a high visibility presence in the community.

"I would encourage anyone who has any information at all regarding this robbery to speak with detectives or Crimestoppers if you wish to remain anonymous."
Enquiries into this incident are on-going but anyone who can help is urged to contact Surrey Police on 0845 125 2222 quoting reference TD/10/688 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Two hundred more police constables planned for Surrey

2009-11-20T13:14:00.001Z

Good News of the Policing Front: The following press release from Surrey Police makes clear their committment to visible Policing on Tandridge's streets:

TWO hundred more visible police constables could be policing Surrey’s streets as part of plans being developed by the Chief Constable to meet the demands of local people. They will be used to increase the local neighbourhood policing teams and add further numbers to the Operation Shield campaign, keeping London criminals out of Surrey by fighting organised crime gangs who operate across Force boundaries.

This is part of wide-ranging radical plans being drawn up to make big cuts in senior officers and bureaucracy, and to have a simpler approach to policing with many more officers on the frontline. Surrey Police Authority, who has encouraged the Chief Constable to be radical because of the financial challenges faced by the Force, will be asked to agree interim plans on December 10 before more detailed planning takes place.The proposals include reducing the number of senior officers within the Force, simplifying the structure and cutting bureaucracy. These changes will enable Surrey Police to invest in 200 extra frontline police officers, and to ensure the Force remains financially sustainable, making the best possible use of tax-payers money.

This innovation builds on the forces determination to focus on the wishes of local people above national targets and bureaucracy.The Force is exploring, with councils, opportunities to locate local policing teams within borough and district council offices to provide a better service to the public in tackling local problems. This approach has been piloted in Woking and Addlestone, and has reaped rewards in ensuring joined up partnership activity on local issues. The Force is also looking at providing a greater range of more accessible places for the public to meet neighbourhood policing teams, such as within libraries, shopping centres and any other busy focal points in communities.

This would replace some old and expensive police buildings with even more accessible ways for the public to engage with us. Many police buildings are little-used by members of the public but there will be no changes to police stations until better locations for meeting neighbourhood teams have been put in place. Replacing old stations with better ways to meet the public will cut the cost of running our old buildings by millions of pounds and help pay for the 200 extra police constables on the frontline.Chief Constable Mark Rowley said: “We are determined to put the Surrey Public First and give them the increases in visible policing they demand - even in a recession. We have difficult choices to make. We can either refuse to change, be forced to cut officer numbers and carry on with a complicated policing structure, lots of managers and bureaucracy and numerous inaccessible old, expensive police buildings - or have 200 more visible police constables working out of buildings in more accessible locations tackling issues that matter most to people. This can be paid for by the changes we are about to present to the Police Authority.“This review is necessary to find ways to continue delivering this excellent service against an overall reducing budget from Government for policing. We want to fix our funding issues and at the same time we want to deliver more police officers on the streets than we have ever had before. We believe this is the best way of spending taxpayers money and giving the public what they have been asking for. “These emerging proposals are at a very early stage. The Police Authority is interested in our plans and we need to take more details to them before a final decision can be made. We also need to have discussions with councils across the county to review opportunities for us to work closer together.”

Warning Rogue Traders About

2009-11-18T14:51:00.001Z

Local police have reported that between the 14th and 16th November a resident of Limpsfield Chart was approached by persons claiming to be able to fix damage to their roof. They have asked for payment in advance to pay for materials before looking at the roof and suggesting it needed replacing entirely. No work was carried out or even necessary and the persons have left with the money.

So be warned and please contact Surrey Police on 0845 125 2222 if anyone tries it on with you.

Criminal Damage in Hurst Green - message from the Police

2009-11-16T16:14:00.002Z

The area of Hurst Green over the past 2 months has suffered an increase in criminal damage, the majority of these cases have involved vehicles being damaged both in the driveway and on the road.

On Friday 13th November there was a significant increase in the amount of damages caused during the evening, again with the majority of offences involving vehicles being damaged. Police believe that these damages have been caused by an individual firing pebbles and bolts from a catapult within a vehicle and driving off.

Police believe that none of the victims have been targeted and that their property has been selected at random by these offenders.Police are urging anyone with information about these offences to come forward. You can pass us information by going to a Police Station, speaking to Officers whilst they are out on patrol, by sending an email or by giving them a call. (3672@surrey.pnn.police.uk or 0845 125 2222)

Police have currently increased their patrols around the Hurst Green area in an attempt to prevent further offences from occurring and to find the individuals responsible. Criminals be warned... if you are found in possession of a catapult you will be arrested.

To reduce the likelihood of becoming a victim of this crime there are some simple steps you can take;(1) If you have a garage park your car in there.(2) If you have a drive park your car on it.(3) Leave your car somewhere with good lighting, if the area is well lit it reduces the chance of your car becoming a target as the offenders know that they are more likely to be caught.(4) Leave your car where there is good CCTV.

Local Police are happy to speak to anyone who needs crime prevention advice, they are even happy to visit your home address to offer such advice.

Bus Stops and Budgets

2009-11-14T21:41:00.003Z

I spent a wet Wednesday morning trialling around Holland and Hurst Green looking a sites for new permanent bus stops. Southdown PSV have taken over from Metrobus as the local operator and have changed the service to ensure a regular half hourly service to Oxted and Redhill six days per week. According to both the operator and local taxi drivers (who have been be-moaning their loss of business) this has been a total success. I hope we managed the tricky balance of bus passengers, other road users and residents who have a bus stop outside their homes. I am sure I will hear if we didn't!

As a council we are starting to put together our budget for the next financial year. It is going to be a tough one. The Labour Government having indebted British taxpayers money on a colossal scale have no money for underfunded Councils like Tandridge and we are very aware that local residents suffering from lower incomes, the threat or reality of redundancy are not able to support a large increase in council tax. But with a large fall in our income from other sources the difficulty will be to protect the front line services which are so highly valued by those who use them.

Tandridge is a safe place, but our position near London, Kent Sussex and the M25 means that we sometimes get the odd case of serious criminality - such as the attempted armed robbery on the Londis shop and attacks on the One-Stop and two weeks ago an attempted attack on a girl in the middle of Oxted in broad daylight on a Sunday. Fortunately the girl managed to get away, but these acts demonstrate the need for a partnership between a properly funded and democratically accountable Police force and local people who keep an eye on their neighbourhood and report all criminal and anti-social acts.

Shed Burglaries

2009-04-14T08:24:00.000+01:00

Police have warned that there have been a number of break-ins to sheds and outbuildings in the Oxted area. Residents are warned to be on their guard.

County Promise Fewer Potholes

2009-04-08T17:42:00.000+01:00

Surrey County Council has budgeted to spend an extra £2.3million on the county's highways in the coming year. The council has agreed a budget of £53.9million, 4% more than the £51.6million allocated for 2008/09.
And nearly £6million of that will be spent on smaller repairs. Each year the council deals with roughly 40,000 minor defects and 10,000 emergency call-outs.

I hope this will continue the recent trend of potholes being fixed quickly, rather than being left to get worse. However, I also hope the County will look at ways to make more lasting repairs to areas which are subject of repeated potholes. The roads around Greenhurst Lane/Hurstlands and Wolfs Row are good examples where the same holes keep reappearing.

Liberals try to get you pay to receive party political propaganda

2009-03-23T20:02:00.004Z

The Lib Dems have just posted their County Council campaign literature through the door. Well I say their, but the title of the paper is 'East Surrey Journal'. I will let residents make up their own mind about the content, but I must say I was amused by the fact that they have put a '40p where sold' price indication in what is a slightly strange attempt at portraying it as an authentic newspaper - either that or they really think someone will pay 40p for a 4 page piece of political propaganda.

Role of a Councillor

2009-03-17T22:44:00.003Z

Councillors have a number of different roles, ward representative, decision taker even social worker but the most important is case worker.

We are the elected face of the council in our patch and it is our role to deal with problems or issues that relate to the Council, the services it provides and the decisions it takes. It is this element that takes up the most time and rightly so.

The majority of issues I deal with (after roads which are actually a County responsibility) are related to planning.

This can be tricky - balancing the needs of different residents is not always straight forward. But I have never got to a point until now where half a road has contacted me to complain about a development. Their complaints are all very reasonable ensuring that at least for once I am very clear of what the right outcome should be.

Parking Congestion

2009-03-16T20:17:00.001Z

Last week I met with Surrey Highways to discuss parking issues in Oxted South. While I am a district councillor and Highways are a county council issue, many local residents contact me rather than our county councillor to deal with problems that arise.

And the issue of the moment is the consequence of the new parking restrictions on Mill Lane and Hallsland Way. The route cause of the problem is that there is not enough commuter parking for Hurst Green station and once the car park gets full the cars have to go somewhere. The problem is where! Mill lane was very dangerous as drivers could not see anything approaching (people or cars) and for the schoolchildren at Moorhouse school and other pedestrians walking on the road meant taking your life in your hands. So moving it anywhere else had to be an improvement.

However, where they have moved to is no better. So various solutions are being considered (against the backdrop of very little money to doing anything at all). I hope something can be put in place by the autumn,but what we really need to do is improve the infrastructure so we are not just dealing with symptoms but the cause and that unfortunately is likely to take much much longer to solve.I yearn for the day where local people will have the power (including the say over how their money is spent) to drive this type of prioity, but until then we will have to fight against the tide to get something in place.

Parking Congestion

2009-03-16T20:17:00.000Z

Labour U Turn on Housing Rents

2009-03-07T07:47:00.004Z

Yet another example of the dreadfully confused state this Labour Government has got itself into by not thinking through the consequences of it actions:

The government has just announced (http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1167420) that it is going to halve its average guideline rent increases for next year from 6.2% to 3.1%. While this is potentially good news for council tenants, Tandridge District Council is waiting to find out more about the proposal. In particular how the government is going to make the funding available to support the Council to make the changes. It is not yet clear if the Council will receive sufficient subsidy to cover actual costs.

While (apparently) it is good news that the government is reducing the impact of rent increases, we must remember that if it didn't tax TDC tenants, the council would be able to keep rents even lower. It is only giving back a small part of the 'negative subsidy' that this Council has to deal with.

Green Belt Concerns Allayed

2009-03-07T07:35:00.003Z

On Thursday night the Planning Policy committee met as part of its normal quarterly cycle. Normally we don't get many (any) members of the public turning up. However the public gallery on this occasion if not packed was definitely busier than normal. Their interest had been sparked by the agenda item concerning the Council's proposal to carry out a Strategical Housing Land Availability Assessment or SHLAA (pronounced Shlar). This piece of work, mandated by central government, is necessary to see whether we need to identify sites for housing development, and if so to hep inform the assessment as to where. The catch is that it is a consultative process and allows developers to suggest sites too.

Understandably there was concern that having fought off Developers attempt to develop Green Belt land in the Core Strategy they might be able to get back in the game via this process. However, the discussion at the meeting provided much in way of reassurance. The Director of Planning confirmed that we would be able to resist attempts to build on strategic gaps between settlements (the whole raison d'etre of the green belt) and on isolated plots. It is also appeared clear that should we need to allocated specific sites, then it is highly likely there would be more than enough brownfield plots available to meet the long term allocation of the District.

So all in all, while this process is important, it is highly unlikely that any green-belt land will be impacted.

Schools' Are Out

2009-03-02T07:51:00.000Z

Like many other parents in Surrey we waited up (or rather went to bed and then got up again) until 1159pm on Friday night order to find out what infant school my eldest daughter will be starting at in September. We were fortunate - schools in Tandridge are all good but we managed to get into our first choice. The state education system is still one of the last vestiges of post war central planning and the fact that allocation is done by a central bureaucracy rather than in response to demand is one of its drawbacks - something a Conservative government would change - and in my view for the better. However there is an irony for me here was that one of the main attractions of the school my daughter got into was its small size. It us clear that the biggest challenge for successful schools as they expand will be to make sure that they don't lose their winning formulas.

Tax and Services

2009-02-22T08:47:00.001Z

On 19 Feb we set a council tax rate of 4,7% for Tandridge or an increase of 16p a week for an average taxpayer. This gives a Band D Council Tax level of £188.93. However once the increases by Surrey County Council and Surrey Police were taken into account it resulted in an overall Band D Council Tax level of £1,475.21 for the district, an increase of just 3.4%. When you consider that this is despite an increase in government grant of just 0.5% (from an already very low base) and when the negative housing subsidy (or more accurately central government's tax on council house tenants) is taken into account Tandridge actually subsidises Whitehall rather than the other way around; that our income from fees and investments is likely to fall significantly that we are not cutting services nor sacking employees (and thus helping keep the local economy afloat while protecting the most vulnerable who disproportionately make use of our services); in fact we have even managed to enhance them by extending our popular weekly recycling service to the whole area, introducing a new garden waste service and keeping a free car parking for shoppers to encourage our shop locally initiative and support local businesses during the current economic downturn then I hope local residents will agree that this settlement is the right one. What's more, next year is likely to be even more of a challenge and I believe that the budget agreed will put us in the best place possible to meet those challenges too.

Holidays and Snow

2009-02-22T08:43:00.003Z

I have been on holiday - hence why zero posts in February up until now.

The night before I left, I spent most of the night stranded on the A22 Caterham Bypass, due to the heavy snowfalls. I as therefrom around 8.30pm to nearly 3am the folowing morning. The lack of gritting and roadclearing of what is a major road inthe County really puts us to shame. I know that this was a once in 20 year event and the severity caught us all unawares (especially me), but even so sonw was forecast and the time it took to get back up and running normally was unacceptable.

Pavement and Parking Restrictions on Mill Lane

2009-01-26T20:40:00.002Z

Today, I met with Surrey County Council officers outside Moorhouse School on Mill Lane in Hurst Green for a site meeting to discuss a new pavement and parking restrictions.

At the moment commuter parking and a lack of pavement makes it very dangerous for pedestrians to walk from Hurst Green road onto Mill Lane and towards Mill Shaw. After a number of years of campaigning on behalf of local residents by Oxted South Conservatives the County Council are shortly to build a new footpath to connect the School to the pavement that starts by Mill Shaw and new 'curfew' parking restrictions will help curb commuter parking, without impacting too much on local residents to make walking (and driving) at the junction a lot safer. The pavement should be installed at half term and the yellow line could come even sooner than that.

Housing

2009-01-26T20:27:00.003Z

At Full-Council last week we debated and I strongly supported a Lib-Dem motion (credit where its due) requesting that the Government unfetter local councils on Housing, by giving local people the power to decide on how best to provide housing support in their local communities. We may disagree on which powers we might use or measures we would take, but it should be for local people to decide.

At the moment this Labour government via an unfair 'Negative Subsidy' (i.e. additional tax) regime take money away from TDC's Housing Department. Tandridge’s 2,686 tenants pay £10.3 million a year in rent, but £3.7 million of this is taken by the Government. This will rise to nearly £3.9 million in 2009/2010. A better funding system is needed to help local councils meet the national housing affordability crisis and to ensure homes are made decent.

Along with the the minimal grant given to TDC from Government it is just one more example of how poorly it treats people who live outside its heartlands - despite the fact that decent housing in the South-East is a lot more costly than in say the North East and people on low incomes.

The motion was passed unanimously.

Weekly Recycling Now District-wide

2009-01-26T20:21:00.003Z

Oxted South may have had it for well over a year, but now Tandridge's Weekly Recycling Services is to be rolled out to all households.

The change means another 19,000 households will start to get their recycling collected every week and be able to recycle plastic bottles. Residents in flats with communal recycling facilities and banks will continue with the current collection service.

Last year residents helped collect more recycling than ever before, increasing the amount of waste recycled to 29%. This included:

2,240 tonnes of glass.
6,660 tonnes of newspapers, other paper and card.
200 tonnes of food and drink cans.
50 tonnes of plastics drinks bottles - that’s around 1.5 million bottles.

All the materials are sent to companies in the UK for recycling.

Residents who want to order boxes and bags should contact Amenity Services on 01883 732988, via the 24 hour automated telephone information service on 08459 400 472, online at http://www.tandridge.gov.uk/ or by e-mail to amenityservices@tandridge.gov.uk.

This means that despite entering an economic downturn, Tandridge has been able to roll-out weekly recycling, alongside a weekly refuse collection to all residents.

Crime in Tandridge

2009-01-22T08:34:00.000Z

Two bits of news locally.

First, I heard last night about some recent attempts at breaking in to homes on Rockfield Road and Rockfield Close in Oxted. I believe Police think that there is gang attempting to steal cars by taking car keys from hallway tables and the like. Having a burgular alarm may not deter them, so keep keys out of sight and easy reach.

Second there was a raid on a Cash-In-Transit deliver to Tesco in Caterham, yesterday morning. Police said they believe the same men carried out a robbery outside NatWest at The Green, Warlingham, on Tuesday. Apparently two guards were injured and a large amount of money was stolen.

If, as I think it is highly likely, that either or both of these gangs were from outside of the area this just illustrates why Surrey Police needs to be treated differently from a rural Force when it comes to funding.

Highways and Street Lighting

2009-01-15T20:18:00.003Z

I met with Surrey Highways yesterday (along with a fellow councillors, District, County and Parish).

On a positive note a lot of progress has been made in repairing pot holes across Oxted South and was report that the broken paving slabs outside the Londis shop on the Hurst Green road will be replaced with tarmac.

The most interesting aspect (although deeply depressing) was that the County Council have absolutely no leverage over EDF Energy in connecting and repairing electrical connections for street lights. If EDF refuse to act, there are no sanctions that can be taken against them. And this situation is enshrined in legislation. We are all therefore at the mercy of EDF for our street lighting.... The lack of lights on the footbridge connecting Nunnappleton way and Pollards Oak road will unfortunately carry on for some time.

More Social Housing

2009-01-15T20:10:00.002Z

Tonight the Development Control Committee will be discussing an application to build social housing on some dilapidated garages and unused council land at the back of the Pollards Oak Road shops.

This application was first proposed last year and whilst a great idea in principle had the major drawback that it would have blocked off a well used footpath connecting the railway station with the iron footbridge connecting Pollards Oak Road Shops with Nunappleton Way. Because of this I strongly opposed the application and it was withdrawn. I am happy to say that an application has now been submitted which retains the pathway. I very much hope (and expect) it will now be approved.

Policeman Impresses

2009-01-15T20:00:00.003Z

Last Thursday night, the 'Temporary' Chief Constable of Surrey came to address the Council.

He explained why the the funding settlement for the Force is so unfair. No other force has so much of its crime originating from outside its borders - nearly 50% of crime is imported from London, Kent, Hampshire or the Thames Valley. Surrey has the UK's two largest airports on its borders, M25, M23 and M3 running through it and faces a very real terrorist threat, but is still funded like a rural county constabulary.

What was so refreshing though was his response to Whitehall diktats. He has decided to throw out the targets imposed by the Home Office, but instead concentrating on making Surrey residents feel more secure and tackle the major crimes (not the ones that might allow a swift rise up the league tables). Surrey Police are also gathering intelligence about criminals operating outside of the county in order to be prepared wen they come in.

This appeared to me as Policing as it should be and a very refreshing contrast to the attitude taken in London, where the Met has become the enforcement arm of New Labour. I very much hope our Temporary Chief Constable becomes a permanent one.

Lib Dems Soft on those who refuse to pay Council Tax

2009-01-07T08:26:00.000Z

The Liberal Democrats are apparently calling for Councils to let off people who don't pay their Council Tax. This I think is wrong. While Councils should (and in TDC's case do) try to work with and support residents who have got into financial difficulties to ensure that they can pay off any arrears in a manageable way, there has to be a sanction for the very small minority of taxpayers who refuse to pay or refuse to talk to the council or about why they cannot pay. It is not fair to the vast majority who pay in full and on time, not to chase up people who do not do so.

Labour wants to tax rubbish collection

2009-01-06T08:56:00.000Z

I have just become aware of yet another decision taken by this government that if implemented will further increase the tax burden on hard pressed residents, for no benefit. Eric Pickles, Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary has said that 'This is just another cynical Labour attempt to tax families more by stealth, but with a thick coat of greenwash. The Government should be working instead with councils to help extend recycling collections, and make it easier for all households to go green'.

At the end of November, laws which allow the Government to impose new charges for household rubbish collections received Royal Assent. Ministers have confirmed that the Office of National Statistics will classify these new charges as a tax. Although bin taxes will be trialled in a series of so-called pilots, the small print of the legislation allows the Secretary of State to roll out and impose the taxes on all local authorities by Order, without any vote in Parliament.

Official technical documents reveal that the bin taxes will take one of four forms:

• Bin bag tax: Households must pay for special bin bags. Rubbish not placed in a paid-for bag will not be collected.
• Bin size tax: Households will be charged for the size of their bin; with families requiring a bigger bin paying the most.
• Weekly collection tax: Households needing a weekly rubbish collection will pay an extra charge.
• Bin chip tax: Households will receive a bill based on the weight of the contents of their bin, with microchips in the bin feeding through to a central billing database.

These taxes will increase taxes on families (who already tend to pay higher council taxes); will raise the overall tax burden due to the costs of levying and enforcing a new tax; and will harm the environment by fuelling fly-tipping and backyard burning.

Local Conservatives will fight these plans.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T08:35:00.003Z

I would like to wish all readers and especially those who live in Oxted, Hurst Green, Broadham Green and Merle Common a very Happy New Year.

There are some very big economic and political questions facing us all this year, nationally locally and in our every day lives. Hopefully the answers will become apparent during the year.

Highways

2008-12-17T09:07:00.000Z

Last week I met with the Leader of Surrey County Council (who is also the Oxted County Councillor) and the East Surrey Highways team to raise a number of issues concerning local people. The Parish Council had submitted a long list of lights not working and potholes in Oxted South, but I mentioned four issues of particular concern (all of which are long standing problems):
1 - Inadequate Drains on Coltsfoot which causes frequent flooding
2- Lack of lighting on the Railway Footbridge connecting the Pollards Oak Road Shops to Nunnappleton Way
3 - The state of the tactile pavingstones outside the Londis on Hurst Green Road.
4 - Poor lighting on a footpath in the Red Lane development.

The Highways team took these away and promised a meeting in the New Year to discuss progress.

More postively - plans for the pavement extension and completing the parking restictions around Mill Lane and Hallsland Way are well advanced and should be dellivered early in the spring (with a possibility that the parking restrictions could be in place before the end of December.)

Voyeurism in Oxted

2008-12-15T08:44:00.000Z

On Tuesday at Redhill Magistrates Court, 41-year-old Kane Joseph Smithers, of Sheiling Road, Crowborough, was sentenced on two charges of voyeurism of young women committed at Tandridge Leisure Centre in Oxted. Now this is the second such offence that has been publicised in recent months.

He was able to do this because the changing rooms in the Leisure Centre are mixed sex. In both cases no serious offence took place and Tandridge Leisure staff easly caught the culprits but it made me think.

It has always seemed slighty odd that in some areas of the public realm (especially hospitals) that there has been a strong move in recent years away from the two sexes sharing areas, but in others (swimming pool changing rooms) then it seems to be positively encouraged. Moreover, there appears to be a yo-yo effect with some parts of the country going one way while others go the other.

Does this mean that the arrangements in the Leisure Centre should change - probably not from a child safety perepective asthere appear to be pros and cons for both arrangements , but I for one would the ability to have a proper shower after a swim.

Bureaucracy

2008-12-07T19:27:00.004Z

Is a nightmare at the best of times, but the nightmare created by this government has been highlighted to me not once, but twice in the past week.

1stly - At Thursday's meeting of the Planning Policy Committee we were told that we needed to update a list of milestones (which we are forced by law to have) due to our success in getting our core strategy approved. However, the government has threatened to penalise councils who change their milestones. How ridiculous, force us to have a list and then force us not to change it despite us putting in place a Core Strategy that we are forced to have! What's more the reason that milestones take so long to get approved is that our Planning Department spend 1/2 their time submitting democratically approved and publicly consulted plans up to central government for them to review and change and then wait for them to send them back.

2ndly - Due to the bungling Government consulting the County Council (which has no remit in this area) over funding to improve Play Areas, the Surrey Districts (including Tandridge) had no ability to bid for the funds and the opportunity to bid closed before the County was able to coordinate a response. Madness. Local Councils need to be set free from such a straightjacket. If this didn't mean that children in Tandridge will miss out on around a £million of funding, it would be funny.

Both examles demonstrate that there is ample scope to cut out a wasteful layer of central management which just hinders the ability of locally elected councils to deliver quality services to local people. And on the first example, the leader of the Lib Dem opposition on TDC agreed with me.

Economy has some life left.

2008-12-07T19:21:00.002Z

I was out doing the rounds, putting out our Autumn 'In Touch' today. It was interesting to note that despite the death of the property market that there are still quite a few for sale boards up, together with some that have sold. Good therefore to see not all of the economy has stopped (despite today's newspaper pointing out that we have again be overtaken by the French!).

But at TDC we are likely to have to tighten our belts in the new year, with prices going up income falling ( have a mentioned before the appalling 0.5% grant settlement we get from central government?), but hopefully one thing that might escape the cut is £14,000 that the Community Services Committee voted to the local Scouts last week to contribute to the rebuilding of their hut following its destruction a couple of years ago.

No Garden Grabbers

2008-11-18T22:29:00.002Z

Hot on the heels of Tandridge's Core Strategy, which will help to prevent inappropriate development in both local communities and on Green Belt land Conservatives in the House of Lords have defeated the Government on their Planning Bill to give more protection to local communities.

The law will now strengthen the powers of local councils to protect urban green space and gardens, and restricts the power of the Government to interfere in councils which want to protect the character of their neighbourhoods. Gardens will again be classed as green space (rather than brownfield land).

It is very pleasing that Conservatives in Parliament used one of the few opportunities to defeat the government to reaffirm their commitment to local decisions by local people.

Credit Crunched

2008-11-10T21:25:00.003Z

Is how I feel at the moment and is my excuse for not having blogged recently.

Work is exceptionally busy (and has been for the past year) and trying to juggle that with a family and being a councillor is not at all easy and recently been a bit too much. I have made all my meetings, am following up my casework, though am probably slower than I would otherwise be at getting back to people. However I have not had time to blog.

And unfortunately I haven't really now. The key things locally to note are
1 - We (TDC) have approved and implemented the Core Strategy
2- We (TDC) have listened to residents and not put in place any interim policy for handling applications for gypsy or traveller pitches until the outcome of allocation of sites between council areas is known.
3 - There have been a number of acts of mindless vandalism in Oxted South. The Police are investigating but please let them know if you see anything (or have seen anything) that concerns you.
4 - Times are now hard for the Council as well as for everyone else. The cut in interest rates and our appalling government grant settlement (a cash increase of 0.5% per year or MINUS 6.5% after the effects of inflation) means that we are in for a tough budgeting round this year.

I will not promise to be posting regularly for some time yet, but will try to do at least one post per week.

Tandridge Lesiure

2008-10-25T20:19:00.003+01:00

Going back to last week, I along with a number of Councillors was given a tour of the various facilities operated by Tandridge Leisure Limited (TLL) in the district. TLL was formed back in 2000 from the Leisure Directorate of TDC, when the government's funding arrangements made it more sensible to set up a community trust to operate the two leisure centres than for the Council to continue to operate them.

Unfortunately the two swimming pools are starting to show their age and will require substantial investment over coming years. However both are very well equipped - the gyms would put most private health clubs to shame - and very well patronised.

And even more impressive was 'The Arc', a new facility opened on the Caterham Barracks site, which provides a soft play centre and a variety of spaces that can be used from anything to art classes for the disabled to hosting teenage band nights. This is a wonderful space and one TLL are using to the benefit of the community.

TLL also gave us a presentation on the wide range of activities they put on in the community every week, the majority aimed at young people, including the Surrey Youth Games, but many more that are not. They reach 1800 young people per week. I for one was largely unaware of these activities, but having seen just a couple of highlights was convinced that they are doing a great job catering for this unprovided for age group.

I left feeling that Tandridge is much the better for having TLL

Policing Update

2008-10-25T20:12:00.002+01:00

The bi-monthly Police Panel took place on Tuesday night. After a very quiet last meeting there was much more to report.

A group of children , some of whom maybe as young as 8 are creating trouble in the Greenway/Boulthurst Way/Red Lane/Holland Lane areas. They appear to delight in throwing gravel, smashing windows and otherwise menacing local residents. It seems one of the ring leaders may well be known to the Police and they will be looking to put a stop to this as soon as possible.

Other anti social behaviour has been taking place in the sheltered housing at the top of Coldshott and in the flats off the Greenway where fire extinguishers have been set off.

Also at Coldshott a couple of cars have been burnt out and two JCBs on the old Ajax site have also been set alight causing £150,000 of damage.

Oxted South and Hurst Green on the whole is a quiet, pleasant and friendly place to live.I trust this is all just a temporary intrusion and things will be back to normal as soon as possible.

Southern Railway - Corporate Lies

2008-10-11T18:51:00.003+01:00

I am a little disturbed by the behaviour of Southern Railway. To be fair to them I think Southern is a well run franchise and we are fortunate locally to have such new trains. It would be better if they were more frequent, but that is down to Government and to Network Rail not the local operator.

However they have a nasty habit of telling lies when they have to run 'short trains' out of London Bridge to East Grinstead or Uckfield in the evening rush hour. Every so often when there is a problem with rolling stock (the fact they have no spare stock is also poor) they have to run six, four or even two carriage trains rather than eight. On those occasions the guards have started to repeatedly announce while boarding is taking place that the train will not stop at East Croydon, only as soon as the train has departed to reinstate the stop.

Clearly what they are doing is trying to encourage those who require East Croydon to use another train, of which admittedly there is plenty of choice to free up space for those off to Oxted and beyond. I can see that they think they are doing it for the best of reasons. But even so for a company to deliberately set out to deceive on this minor of matters does not instill confidence that they would tell the truth about more major ones.

Resources Committee

2008-10-03T19:54:00.002+01:00

A packed agenda last night, important issues, but not ones that necessarily excite: Pensions, the Council's Medium Term Financial Strategy and the distribution of papers to Councillors.

The most important issue on the agenda, although not the most controversial was the Council"s objectives for the comming municipal year. Rather than a whole list of deliverables I was pleased to see we were focussing on three big issues - Recycling, implementing our new Planning Core Strategy and meeting residents' housing needs.

A clear focus on key deliverables while running and efficent operation will ensure that we deliver our aims to provide high quality services while keeping council tax at the lowest level possible despite our very very low (and very unfair) government grant.

Social Injustice

2008-10-02T16:02:00.000+01:00

One of the highlights from my brief time at Conference was a presentation given by Iain Duncan Smith on Social breakdown. it powerfully highlighted the problems faced by children and young people today and he made the point that when the state intervenes to put children in care things tend to get worse. Only 12% of children in care get 5 GCSEs at Grade C or above and nearly half all under 21s in the criminal justice system were in care. And much of the serious crime that occurs on our streets is caused by young people, especially those in gangs, He made clear that the major cause of this is the impact of neglect, with outcomes often being determined in our earliest years. He showed evidence comparing the human brain of a normal 3 year old to one who had been seriously neglected. The latter child's development had been stunted with different parts of the brain unable to make connection

Truly shocking stuff. IDS's Centre for Social Justice is doing sterling work highlighting this issue and proposing solutions - they have 237 proposed polices in the wings. I recommend taking a look at his presentation for more information:http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/client/downloads/20080930ConservativePartyConferenceMainstage.ppt

Weekly Recycling to Go District Wide

2008-10-01T20:07:00.003+01:00

I returned yesterday from a rather shorter trip than I had originally intended to Conservative Party conference, the current extreme financial market conditions requiring me to be at work instead.

However I was able to hear Eric Pickles, the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announce a commitment to allow councils that have dropped weekly refuse collections restore them under a Conservative Government. In Tandridge we have resisted the financial pressures to leave rubbish festering for a fortnight and what's more we have done this while extending the weekly curbside recycling scheme.

And in the same week therefore it is great that the Council have announced that our weekly recycling service, which includes the collection of plastic bottles, will be rolled out across the whole of Tandridge district from 2 February 2009. That means an additional 18,000 homes in Tandridge will be able to take part and have recycling collected every week. And on the same day as the bins are emptied. This means all rubbish - black bags for landfill and reusable waste for recycling can be easily disposed of on the same day.

Care and Repair - Value for Money

2008-09-26T21:46:00.002+01:00

The Tandridge Care and Repair Agency helps older and disabled people remain in their own homes.

For a reasonable cost council handymen carry out small repairs and minor alterations to Council and private homes in the district. Things like gutter clearing, outting up shelves or assembling flat pack furniture that most of us take for granted. Last year 962 handyman jobs were carried out.

This is an example of where a local unbureaucractic initiative manages to make a difference to the lives of hundreds of people every year at a very reasonable cost.

Madness of the Government Minister

2008-09-18T19:42:00.009+01:00

A small point, but in the Secretary of State's overruling of her expert panel's response to the Regional Assembly (which at least has some democratically elected representatives serving on it), in massively increasing the number of houses some areas (including Reigate and Banstead) will have to allow she appears to have ignored the natural world. I'll elaborate; there if a finite amount of water in the underground chalk aquifer that serves much of East Surrey, including Redhill and Tandridge. By nearly doubling the number of homes needed to be be built in Redhill, she appears to believe that she can apportion some of the water to flow to where it goes now to Tandridge to prevent development in Redhill from causing existing homes to run dry. This appears to ignore the laws of physics. Or maybe she believes that she can direct the natural elements in the same way she directs councils.

Financial Markets and Banks

2008-09-18T19:42:00.005+01:00

I am not going to comment much on the current turmoil going on, many others will do that much better than me. But I really feel for those people, whose jobs are disappearing overnight.

More details on the Core Strategy

2008-09-18T19:42:00.002+01:00

Having now had a chance to read the inspectors full report, his conclusions are pleasing.

One of the most critical issues the Inspector had to deal with was whether the Council’s strategy for ensuring enough housing is provided while protecting the Green Belt was the right one.He thought it was which is great news for the Green Belt.

A particular additional success was his support for the policy to curtail the activities for garden grabbers which will allow TDC to refuse planning permission for housing schemes of five houses and over on residential garden land, where there is an oversupply of housing.

The Inspector also supported the policies on character, design and density. The Inspector strengthened the policy on town centres by including a reference to the former Rose & Young site in Croydon Road, Caterham and the Oxted gasholder site, because of the importance the Council attaches to the redevelopment of these.

The Inspector has asked the Council to carry out an early review of two particular policies; affordable housing. and the infilling of the villages designated as Green Belt Settlements. But otherwise, apart from some minor criticism of the drafting the Policy was supported.

The Council will now be in a much better position to defend the district against unsuitable development.

Planning and Environment Committee

2008-09-14T14:37:00.003+01:00

The first Planning and Environment Committee meeting after the summer break took place on Thursday night.

It started with the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition tabling an motion commending the officers on the successful adoption of the Core Strategy. This was unanimously approved. Although we do not yet know what changes the Planning Inspector made, we know that to get it approved in any form is much better than most authorities in England have yet achieved.

Much of the remainder of the evening was spent discussing how best to protect the green belt in Tandridge against unauthorised Traveller encampments and how to deal with any urgent need for Gypsy and traveller need while an East-Surrey wide strategy was agreed. Councillors were made very aware of the need to provide for minorities while balancing the interests of the majority of their constituents. In so far as unauthorised encampments go, we all agreed that while Council should support law abiding land owners against what can be a very distressing invasion of their land, land owners also have a duty to protect themselves.

We also discussed the Governments response to the South East Plan - this is deserving of a post of its own!

Police Roadshow to hit Oxted

2008-09-14T14:30:00.002+01:00

SURREY Police is inviting the public to its ‘Right Up Your Street’ road show, promoting the fact that every neighbourhood in Surrey has its own Safer Neighbourhood policing team, which comes to Oxted next week as part of a month-long campaign being run by Surrey Police.

The road show will be at Morrisons next Saturday, 20 September, from 11am to 4pm, where Oxted residents are invited to meet the local Safer Neighbourhood team (PCs David Every & Richard Smurthwaite and PCSOs Lisa Cobby and Stephen Winch) and and chat to them as they hand out information and run competitions.

If local residents have any questions for our hard working local police I suggest they head over next Saturday, or alternative attend the bi-monthly Police Panels in Hurst Green. The next one will be held at the Hurst Green Community Association on 22 October at 8pm.

Blogging to resume shortly...

2008-09-12T08:32:00.000+01:00

Apologies pressures of work have have stopped me from blogging this week.

When I get a moment I plan to say something about:

- the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government's mad response to the South East Regional Plan
- A Police roadshow to be held at Morrisons next Saturday
- and last night's Planning and Environment Committee meeting.

Core Strategy IS SOUND

2008-09-05T19:25:00.003+01:00

The Planning Inspector has declared TDC's Core Strategy to be “sound”. This is only the second Core Strategy to be accepted in Surrey.

This is superb news for residents as it will now be easier to protect Tandridge from inappropriate development. And a superb result for the Council Officers, who worked so hard to convince the Inspector that the proposal from Tandridge's, supported by elected Councillors from all parties AND also local residents, should be adopted and not dismissed as some self-interested developers would have had it.

The Core Strategy is a blueprint for the future development of Tandridge District and was the subject of a public Examination by the Inspector in June and July 2008. The event caused a lot of public interest, including large crowds outside the Council Offices in Oxted.

Some developers and landowners objected to the Core Strategy because they felt it did not allow enough new development. The Council’s approach, based on restraint, has been supported by the Planning Inspector and he has declared the document is sound.

The Inspector’s report is currently being factually checked before it can be made available. Once published, it can be adopted and used to help decide planning applications.

07.35 Train to London Bridge CANCELLED

2008-09-02T08:03:00.000+01:00

I am sitting on the train to London Bridge as I write this on my blackberry. Which is pretty apt as last week the Government annouced the names of the four bidders for the new South Central franchise (the area covered by Southern and Gatwick Express at the moment). It seems such a short period since Southern took over from Connex that it can't be time for another change but apparently it is.

I thought I ought to read what was being proposed and I must report to be dismayed that in about three years time they are going to cut the frequency of the Uckfield trains at peak times because of a lack of platform capacity at London Bridge station caused by the Thameslink 2000 project. This will impact on fellow rail paasengers down the whole of the Uckfield and East Grinstead lines as we struggle to get onto what are already overcrowded trains.

The double irony is that 1) The London Bridge works are aimed at increasing capacity on the Brighton main line, which is currently less over crowded that the Uckfield/East Grinstead Lines. 2) Cutting services from Uckfield will actually drive passengers back to the Brighton Line

A partial solution to the problem, suggested by London Travelwatch, would be the electricfication of the Uckfield Line - together with making it double track over its whole length. I hope this suggestion finds favour with those in power, otherwise those of us who commute to London regularly may face a miserable few years.

New Mobile Phone Mast Proposed

2008-08-28T20:02:00.002+01:00

Vodafone are proposing replacing their current mobile phone mast next to Hurst Green station with a ungraded version. It appears it will be similar in height, though the footprint on the ground will be bigger.

To see the plans following this link. Given it is merely replacing an exisiting mast and providing an upgraded service then the impact will be broadly neutral, but happ to hear from any residents who diagree.

Footbridge over Railway Closed

2008-08-26T17:06:00.001+01:00

The footbridge connecting Nunnappleton Way with Pollards Oak Road has been closed off by Surrey County Councill. Their statement (available in the depths of their website states that this is : due to 'the likelihood of danger to the public and will be in operation for a period of six months from 11 August 2008 or until completion of the works, if earlier and while the relevant notices are displayed. That period can be extended by the Secretary of State for Transport if required.

The prohibition described above will only be operative while the County Council, or an authorised person acting on its behalf, displays signs prohibiting the said vehicular movements.'

Unfortunately Surrey County Concil have not publicised this locally but I can confirm it has now been blocked off. I hope that this will be shut for as short a period as possible.

Update: I have now viewed the footbridge from the Nunappleton road side and there is a sign stating that the path will be closed until the 28th.

Make Sure You Can Have Your Say

2008-08-26T13:13:00.000+01:00

It only takes a couple of minutes to do, but if you don't do you will not have a say in who runs, Tandridge, Surrey or the UK.

The Register of Electors annual canvass takes place in Tandridge from the end of August. A form which shows all the details the Council has about households on the current electoral register will be delivered to all 34,500 residential properties in the district.

Letting TDC know whether the information is correct (by phone or internet) or if not (by post) will not take more than a few minutes and by doing so will ensure that come election day all adults in a household can vote

The information from the canvass is used to create the register which will be printed on 1 December.

Hurst Green Police Panel

2008-08-21T08:39:00.000+01:00

Last night, in wet and autumnal conditions the bi-monthly Police Panel took place at the Hurst Green Community Centre.

Attendance appeared to have been hit by the poor weather and holiday season, but the police were able to report that things were very quiet in Hurst Green, so quiet that that there were no priorities to take away from the meeting.

Speeding on Mill Lane was discussed again and the Police will be considering what steps to take over the next few weeks now the casualty reduction officer is back at work.

On the Greenway, much of the graffiti that appeared there has been cleared up by TDC and the Police are perusing the perpetrators. A meeting at the Community Centre will be held on 1 September for Greenway residents interested in forming a neighbourhood watch.

The Oxted Pram Race passed off broadly peacefully, but one man was arrested and will be prosecuted for a number of offences.

Following suggestions at the meeting the Police will be speaking to residents on Pollards Wood Road as to what the options for off street parking might be in order to reduce parking near the junction with Pollards Oak Road.

The Oxted Pram Race passed off broadly peacfully, but one man was arrested and will be prosectuted for a number of offences.

Following suggestions at the meeting the Police will be speaking to residents on Pollards Wood Road as to what the options for off street parking might be in order to reduce parking near the junction with Pollards Oak Road.

Councils Offering Mortgages

2008-08-21T08:31:00.000+01:00

This idea has been rumbling on over the past few months and appears to have reached a head in a letter to the Times today. I think it is absolutely bonkers, though it right that locally communities should decide whether to go ahead with it. The idea that in the current tough economic conditions councils can take on mortgage lending without a very significant risk to the local council taxpayer is just naive.

Councils are not set up to undertake the type of risk management that is required from operating a mortgage book and the statement from Liverpool City Council which said “We are talking about people who were offered a mortgage a few months ago, when the lenders were offering 95 per cent mortages, but are unable to do so now that deposits of 15 per cent are required,” just shows the lack of understanding about the risks involved. There is a good reason why Banks are asking for 15% deposits - it is to prorect their balance sheets. Local authorities have a duty to protect their balance sheets also.

Labour isn't Working

2008-08-20T08:18:00.000+01:00

Labour have always claimed to be the party that best represents the disadvantaged in society. This claim has always been false, but yesterday's report from George Osborne just shows how fale it is. Since coming to power in 1997 Labour has presided over:

- 900,000 more people in extreme poverty and the gap in life expectancy becoming greater than in Victorian times.
- the imposition of stealth taxes most heavily on the poor. Mr Osborne asks: "Is it fair to reward enterprise and effort, yet for someone earning £100 a week, for every extra pound they earn they take home just 6p?"
- a failure to undertake schools reform meaning that the gap between the poorest and richest pupils is widening. Social mobility is falling too. This year just 176 pupils on free school meals got three As at A-level.
- a shift of burden from today's Britons to the next generation: As Mr Brown seeks to save his skin he is doing so by recklessly increasing public borrowing to pay for tax give aways today that will have to be paid for by future generations.

Fairly daming stuff

Hat tip: Conservative Home

Gold again

2008-08-18T13:04:00.000+01:00

We are now up to 12 Golds in the Olympics - the most satisfying point for me is that we are ahead of both Australia and Germany. Now we just need to make sure it stays that way. Go Great Britain Go

Gold, Gold, Gold, Gold

2008-08-16T19:28:00.002+01:00

Now I am not that into the Olympics, but to get 9 medals in one day - 4 of them at Gold is a superb effort by the Olympic Team and just shows what the combination of some very hard work by our athletes and better funding via the National Lottery can produce.

Well done all and Come on Britain.

Local Conservatives will need Localism

2008-08-16T19:19:00.003+01:00

As this Labour government staggers on through a summer and the economic news worsens I was mulling this evening how the future will pan out.

If, as currently seems likely, the Conservatives win the election what will they face? With the public finances shot and the prospect of a long period of low or negative growth will the public put up with the necessary long period of restocking the nation's coffers? Hopefully the our experience in the the early 1980s will prove an accurate predictor of the future - a Conservative administration rescuing the country from ten years of economic mismanagement - with the repairs that can be made in the first years of a Cameron administration serving the country well for the decade to come.

However national successes will likely come at a price, and locally the key challenge will be for a Conservative Council to survive any dissatisfaction from voters in the challenging early years of the next administration.

Again I conclude that the link between central and local government should be loosened with real power needs being devolved to local level. Only by doing this will we stand a chance of people voting on local issues to when they come to elect local representatives residents.Treating all elections as an opinion poll on central government needs to end.

Effects of competition

2008-08-11T20:46:00.002+01:00

Oxted has long been a haven for the more independent shop, with national chains being far outnumbered by local businesses. I think it is too early to say that is going to change but I spotted today that the Costcutter on Station Road East has closed. (Now I accept that this is not a particularly local company but bear with me.)

I expect that the one factor that has contributed most to its demise was the re-opening of a Sainsburys in town. This is despite the Sainsburys being much smaller and without much of the range that Costcutter stocked. But the combination of long opening hours and better positioning clearly did for Costcutter, in the same way I expect that Sainsburys might have been the final straw for the greengrocers which has now been replaced (to some protests) by a Costa Coffee.

Only time will tell whether Costa will kill off other local rivals, but I sincerely hope not. The lesson here is that all businesses (whether independents or chains) need to to continue to adapt and change to meet their customers needs. Those that don't will die.

And sadly if to prove a point, I was today in an independent shop in Oxted today which I think has clearly not got it right. I was the only customer and I found it hard to find what I wanted. If it doesn't change I don't expect it will be there in 12 months time.

I'm Back

2008-08-11T20:41:00.002+01:00

Apologies for the lack of activity over the past couple of weeks. I was on holiday and then trying desperately to catch-up at work for having been on holiday. Sometimes makes you wonder what the point of going away actually is.

Anything not much to report locally - all seems to have been quite quiet - though I stand ready to be corrected.

Nationally David Milliband started what appears to have been an attempt to rest the poisoned chalice that is being leader of the Labour Party from Gordon Brown and then promptly went off on holiday. So looks like more leadership speculation will take place throughout the rest of 2008.

Nowhere left to hide for Labour

2008-07-25T07:51:00.000+01:00

Losing Glasgow East is on a par with any byelection loss by the Tories in the 1990s. This seat was so safe they didn't even bother canvassing in the past, but no longer. Brown is a looser and Labour now know it - the question is whether they will do anything about it?

Grass Update

2008-07-24T13:32:00.000+01:00

Fo those who haven't noticed, the roadside verges around the district have now all been cut by Surrey County Council. Together with the open space which is the responsibility of TDC also being cut properly, Oxted South looks respectable again.

Why Labour fail

2008-07-23T20:17:00.001+01:00

Today's speech by Alan Johnson the Heath Secrtary illustrates what is wrong with this Government.

In response to recent speech by David Cameron, Mr Johnson states that it is the government not the individual that is responsible for solving what is wrong in their lives.

Government and voluntary organisations have roles to play but it seems clear to me that primarily the individual has personal responsibility for their own actions. Johnson makes his comments in relation to obesity, but they would apply equally to knife crime, unemployment, anti social behaviour etc etc. Without restoring the idea that we have some responsibility over our own actions then we will not be able to solve society's ills.

EU Treaty Ratified

2008-07-17T12:52:00.001+01:00

So despite the Irish 'No' Vote, the Government has today ratified the European Constitution by despositing the papers in Rome. Our only hope is that the Irish are not bullied into revering their decision.

However give it its due, (and whisper it quietly) the EU sometimes can do the right thing. Today EU countries have agreed to widen sanctions on Zimbabwe, including travel bans and asset freezes on a larger circle of officials and supporters of Mugabe, and a further review in September will examine if more measures are needed.