Bus Stops and Budgets

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.

Economy has some life left.

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.

Care and Repair - Value for Money

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.

Planning and Environment

Last night saw the first meeting of Planning and Environment Committee in this civic year. There was broad agreement on the issues discussed in what turned out to be a relatively short session covering the proposed changes to the Core Strategy, a review of the performance of the food and health and safety teams and their remits for the forthcoming year. The Committee agreed procedures for street naming and also to set up a working group to propose how we could implement a better system of getting funds from property developers to strengthen Tandridge's infrastructure.

Leisure and Recreation in Tandridge

I would be very grateful for the views of any Tandridge residents reading this on the Leisure and Recreation Services provided in the district (whether by Tandridge Leisure, Tandridge District Council or who ever else). I am looking for both what is good and bad and any suggestions for improvement.

Please leave a comment under this post or email me via my profile.

Tory questions unveil infestation danger of fortnightly bin collections

According to the Daily Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2059129/Government-cover-up-over-axed-bin-collections.html)Parlaimentary questions tabled by the Conservatives have forced the Government to reveal the findings of a £27,000 study that warned of increased health risks from rats, flies and seagulls if rubbish collections were reduced in frequency. The report found that vermin and insects could be "encouraged into the home environment" as a result of fortnightly collections. (Hat tip to Conservative Home for highlighting this.)

This is yet another reason why Tandridge continues to provide the much valued back-door weekly collection for local residents, despite this being more expensive than a fortnightly curbside scheme. In terms of service delivery this is the biggest gap between us and the Lib Dem Group - who would like to scrap the current arrangments, but going from last months local election results its clear where voters' support lies.

All Quiet

While the national political scene is still coming to terms with the reality of Thursday night's by-election result in Crewe and what that means for a future general election result - merely a mid-term blip for Labour or the first win in a Tory landslide (in my opinion somewhere between the two) - life in Oxted and Hurst Green appears fairly quiet. Certainly my email inbox and postbag appear rather empty at the moment.

With the retirement of Dick Allen, our deputy leader, at the election the Tory Group now has a new deputy (current Council chairman Tony Elias). We also have some new chairmen of Committees, which are now all slightly smaller in size. Hopefully these changes will herald new ideas and more innovation as we all seek to make Tandridge an even more desirable place to live.

£10 MILLION to be spent on affordable housing in Tandridge.

Yes that's £10 whole million for 240 new homes across the district over the next four years. Superb news, and I know I am a little late on commenting on this one, (see the BBC's coverage) but it is a superb achievement for Conservative Tandridge.

Just so we are not to be accused of New Labour type spinning of constantly re-annoucing existing spending , that amount is is made up of a grant of £7.4million from the Housing Corporation announced last week for 195 homes oer the next three years together with £2.5million in the current financial year for 40 new homes.

And Oxted South is set to be one of the locations in Tandridge which will benefit from affordable homes, with two schemes already in an advanced stage of planning, which if approved will provide more than 20 new homes for local people.

Full Council

I had intended to post following last Thursday's 'Full Council' Meeting but there wasn't much to report. The Lib Dems attacked our spending proposals on various fronts but when push came to shove also attacked us for raising charges on a mobile home site we operate even thought we are cheaper, even following the increases, than any other provider in the region was last year!

I think that was a warm up for next month's budget setting Council which I am looking forward to.

How the Council Works- Group Meeting

We have a 'Full Council' meeting on Thursday night (of which there are around six a year), which as the title might suggest all Councillors attend. This is the council's ultimate policy setting and decision making body. Preceding each meeting the political groups (in our case Conservatives and Liberal Democrat ) meet amongst themselves to agree their positions for the meeting.

The Conservative meeting was tonight. As these are confidential sessions I cannot report what was said but I find them a very useful opportunity to catch up with what other councillors are doing and finding out what issues matter to residents in their wards. The transfer of knowledge from more experienced councillors (some of whom have been on the council for many years) to us newer boys and girls is vital if we are to benefit from the lessons they have learned and will hopefully help stop us from trying to reinvent the wheel.

New Local Core (Planning) Strategy

The main agenda item on tonight's meeting of the TDC Planning and Environment Committee was the draft submission on the Core Strategy. This document is the key part of the new Local Development Framework, which will govern how planning policies and development decisions are formulated and decided over the next ten years or so. It was therefore key that we got it right. The strategy has therefore been long in drafting, and all Councillors present paid tribute to the hard work of the officers in putting together such a high quality product which we decided with some minor amendments will now be sent to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for an inspector to rule on its soundness (this will take around a year or so).

Unfortunately because of the strong level of central control the result will still not be what either local residents, Council officers or Councillors would ideally want. Despite the fact this document has been put together following consultation and approval by democratically elected councillors, the controlling tendency of Government Ministers mean that national policies can and will override the wishes of local people and if there is just one aspect that the inspector doesn't like he will declare the whole thing unsound and we will be back to square one.

I think what was approved tonight was a good document (and the best the officers could be expected to produce), but the only way for a truly excellent Core Strategy would be for Central Government to respect that local decisions made by local people, for local people, will have the most legitimacy and in the long term willbe the only way to restore any faith in the electoral process. For an unelected inspector to (regardless of his or her qualities) to be able to hold so much sway over local decision making should not occur in modern Britain.

Anti Social Behaviour

On my walk to the station this morning, I spotted that someone had again driven across the Village Green. Given the very wet weather they have churned up the grass to leave a scar in the surface. No doubt it will be there for some months. Perhaps this was their intention, perhaps they just wanted to make a short cut without using the road, who knows. In other parts of Oxted South the grass verges by the side of roads are often turned to mud by people parking inconsiderately in wet conditions - something a lot of us are probably guilty of occasionally. These are both examples, however far down the spectrum of how anti social behaviour by a small minority in the community can negatively impact the lives of many.

However there are things we as individuals, but also collectively, can do about it.

In this season of goodwill to all men we can of all moderate our own behaviour to make sure that we consider the lasting effects of parking on that bit of grass in the wet. We can also report criminal anti social behaviour to the Police on 999 or if less urgent on 0845 125 2222

We can act as community; for instance following some trouble a couple of months back around the Pollards Oak Road shops, local residents have set up a petition to get better lighting and a CCTV camera installed; Tandridge District Council and Surrey Police have both responded and protecting residents there is a priority for the local crime reduction partnership.

And your council the Police and other public bodies can act with authority - as Tandridge District Council did last month in being awarded its first ASBO on a Council House Tenant.

If we act together it is possible to strike back against anti-social behaviour.

Labour Free Zone

Last week, Caterham Valley Councillor Peter Longhurst resigned from the Labour Party. He cited personal differences with national policies covering Health, Education, Iraq, Local Government, Housing and Planning as the reason behind his decision.

To those of us who serve with him on the council Councillor Longhurst's decision isn't too surprising as he has been an especially vocal critic of the Government's approach especially on Planning and Housing matters.

Councillor Longhurst's move means that the Labour Party no longer has any councillors in Tandridge.

Tandridge voted into top 40 by Residents

The results of a recent government survey show Tandridge District Council residents continue to be among the most satisfied in England.

Every three years, all councils have to carry out satisfaction surveys.The key result of the general survey shows the percentage of respondents expressing overall satisfaction with the Council is 62%, which keeps Tandridge in the top 40 of all councils in England for the past six years. And even better, 82% of residents satisfied with the area as a place to live and 84% of council tenants are satisfied with their accommodation.

It is good to know that by and large people are happy with both Tandridge and the Council, but that is no reason to rest on our laurels and so we will continue to try to improve both the services the Council provides and the environement in which we live.

Council Report

At the quarterly meeting of the full Council last Thursday the two overriding messages should have been 1. unity at how well the Council (and especially its officers) does at meeting the needs of local residents given the financial constraints put upon it by central government; and 2. a common protest at the interference by unelected government inspectors in overturning the democratic decisions of elected councillors on planning matters which have been taken in accordance with plans already approved by the government!

I say should have been, as while many fellow councillors made with the points outlined above it was a shame that not everyone united to vote for a stand to be taken against the current centralising, Gordon Brown knows best, government.

That said, there was general appreciation expressed all round about the success in extending weekly recycling, including for plastics to Oxted South.

Hurst Green - What Concerns Us

So what are the main issues in Hurst Green at the moment? This was a question I was asked yesterday afternoon by a journalist new to one of the local papers.

Good Question. I didn't think that there was one overall answer but I said that the following are all subjects of interest to some local people:

The Ajax Fire and the proposals for redevelopment of that site are of interest, both to those living by the site and more generally as additional heavy traffic goods traffic along the Hurst Green and Holland Roads would be unwelcome.

Crime and anti-social behavior isn't too much of an issue, but big groups of kids hanging around on street corners can be intimidating and the riding of mini-motos on roads and in public spaces by a small minority is an accident waiting to happen.

Back garden developments continue to be an issue for those directly affected and the building of more and more homes without an consequent improvement to local infrastructure concerns many.

The extension of weekly recycling from the beginning of the month which now includes plastics has been positively received.

However, in terms of comments I am given, probably the biggest issue and this is common across the whole of East Surrey is the state of our local roads. Popes Lane remains a disgrace. It is an example that even when work is done the quality is sometimes substandard.

Protecting Children from Harm

This was the reason Surrey Trading Standards gave for asking Tandridge District Council to add additional conditions to the Liquor licence held by Sainsbury's at Warlingham.

This followed a number of reports of children buying alcohol there, followed up by a Trading Standards 'sting' on the store when a volunteer under-age teenager was sent in to try to buy booze. The teenager was served.

We clearly need to protect our children from abusing alcohol, but reading the decision of the committee I was please to see the balance that was struck. Instead of taking away or suspending their licence the firm was forced to introduce a training programme to ensure staff know what to do - with proof required to be produced that the training has been completed. Hopefully this step will stop the under-aged sales without impacting on those who are old enough to buy it.

If local residents want to alert Surrey Trading Standards to any other shops that sell to children they can call 01372 371700

Tandridge Council Tax Payers to Pay for Brown's Mismanagement

Buried within the documents produced by the Treasury this afternoon are some figures for local government spending. Despite giving councils more responsibilities, such as paying for free Bus passes for the elderly, Government grant will only go up by 1% (and that is in total). For councils like Tandridge where Government settlements have normally been worse than the average, we are looking at real reductions in Government funding - which will have to be met with higher taxes locally, cuts to services (or even more efficiency savings).

I think the - non-partisan- local government association put it best:
”This is the worst settlement for local government in a decade. Councils will continue to work hard for the people they serve but they face tough choices. The Chancellor’s announcement will mean above inflation rises in bills for council taxpayers and businesses, and there remains a black hole in funding for the care of the elderly.”

We are now all paying the price for the Prime Minister's profligate spending when the economy was doing well.

Back to School

Weekly recycling in Oxted and Hurst Green starts tomorrow and as part of an awareness campaign Tandridge DC's recycling officer is touring local schools and talking to their pupils. I, along with other local councillors, was lucky to see him in action this morning at Hurst Green school where he took the assembly- together with two volunteers, dressed as Tandridge Ted and Tandridge Pete, who managed to be very energetic despite the warm costumes. The children appeared to love it, especially when they got to put into practice squashing plastic bottles to ensure that they could all fit in the blue bag.

Hopefully this new generation will help encourage their parents to get involved.

Any Tandridge resident who doesn't have a Green Box (for cans and glass bottles and jars) or a Blue Bag (for paper, card and plastic bottles), or would like an extra one, should contact Amenity Services on 01883 732988 or 01883 732982, e-mail Amenityservices@tandridge.gov.uk.

Housing in Tandridge Good News/Bad News

As local residents might have noticed in the press Government Inspectors have said that Tandridge will need to make provision for 2,500 new houses over the next 20 years. In one way we are very fortunate. The 125 dwellings per annum we have been told we need is the joint second lowest in the whole of the south east and is substantially below the current rate of building in the district.

However this doesn't tell the whole story.

* This is a minimum, not a target. The Council has been told it cannot ration planning permissions.

* At current rates of building, the district would meet this target on 'windfall' sites alone - a windfall site is one not identified in the Local Development Framework (currently known as the local plan) and usually these are redevelopments of existing residential and industrial sites (including the notorious back garden developments). The Labour Government have told us that we have to ignore this and provide new sites for building anyway.

*As I have mentioned before the vast majority of Tandridge is Green Belt. New building will have to take place within the urban areas Caterham/Warlingham/Whyleafe, Woldingham and Oxted/Hurst Green. This will have to be achieved by 1) more back garden development, 2) The loss of green space or commercial sites in the towns 3) Loss of Green Belt. Either way these areas are going to get more built up.

Oh, and of course Hazel Blears, the Secretary of State and Yvette Cooper the Housing Ministers, could ignore all of this and make us build far more anyway