How they voted on Freedom for PWRR

At yesterday evening's Full Council we debated giving the Freedom of the Borough to our local regiment the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment. We were debating whether we should send the matter to a Special Council meeting (the only place where the decision to confer the Freedom can be made). Quite brilliantly we won the vote by 16 to 13. I commend the Liberals and rebel members of the RA group who made that possible. I list how everyone voted below. Those who voted against being against granting the Freedom.

For:

Bradley (RA, Ewell), Buxton (Lib, Court), Carlson (Lab, Court), Jones (Lib, College), Keen (Con, Ruxley), Kelly (Lib, Town), Lees (Lib, Stamford), Morgan (Lib, Court), Morris (Lib, College), Pavey (Lib, Stamford), Petrie (Con, Nonsuch), Pontin (Con, Ruxley), Sanger (RA, Stoneleigh), Sullivan (Con, Woodcote), Taylor (Lib, Stamford) and C. Wood (Lib, Town).

Against:

Arthur (RA, Ewell), Dallen (RA, Town), Dudley (RA, Cuddington), Jay (RA, West Ewell), Leach (RA, Auriol), Long (RA, Auriol), Mann (RA, Cuddington), Reed (RA, Ewell Court), Richardson (RA, Woodcote), J. Smith (RA, Ewell Court), Smitheram (RA, West Ewell), Steer (RA, West Ewell), Woodbridge (RA, Ewell)

Abstain:

Foote (RA, Cuddington), Howells (RA, Nonsuch), R.Smith (RA, Stoneleigh), Winkworth (RA, Stoneleigh), D. Wood (RA, Nonsuch)

Not present:

Cass (RA, Woodcote), Key (Lib, College), Kington (RA, Ewell Court)

The Mayor Cllr Jan Mason (RA, Ruxley) excused herself from chairing the meeting as she considered herself to have a personal and prejudicial interest in that her son-in-law is a member of the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment.

Why should Epsom be the odd one out?

What do all the following places have in common?

Arundel, Ashford, Barnet, Basingstoke & Dean, Belfast, Brighton & Hove, Bournemouth, Canterbury, Chichester, Crowborough, Eastbourne, Eastleigh, Folkestone, Guildford, Jersey, Kingston, Hastings, Lewes, Maidstone, Portsmouth, Ramsgate, Reigate & Banstead, Romsey, Rushmore, Southampton, Test Valley, Tonbridge & Malling, Winchester and Worthing.

All have granted their "Freedoms" to the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment. No quibbles at any of these about our local regiment not being local enough.

Why are residents of Epsom & Ewell going to be the odd ones odd in marking the service of our troops?

Petition to honour our troops

Hundreds of signatures were collected in Epsom yesterday in support of granting our local regiment the Freedom of our Borough. There was very real anger at the council for snubbing our troops by saying they are not "local" enough to receive this honour and to allow them to march through our town centre.

We will continue to collect signatures on the streets of the Borough over the weeks to come before the final decision is made at the Special Council meeting on 15th December. However you can also show your support online: click here to support our troops.

Support our Troops!

On Tuesday, the day before Armistice Day, the council's Strategy & Resources committee met to consider my motion to grant the Freedom of our Borough to our local regiment, the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment.

Frankly it is something the Borough should have done years ago and I very much hoped the motion could be agreed unanimously particularly as our troops are giving such brave and valued service at present.

Maybe I was naive, but I was shocked to discover that the committee was against me. Both Residents' Association and Liberal Democrat councillors opposed the motion saying that the Regiment is not "local" enough. Forget that they are our local regiment and that the Regiment is an almagamation of historic regiments including the East Surrey Regiment. Forget that they recruit from our area.

Anyway this petty, small-minded nonsense from these councillors means Epsom & Ewell is denying our troops the right to march through our town centre on their return from service overseas. Guildford so honours them, as does Reigate & Banstead but Epsom & Ewell seems intent to snub them.

The committee vote now goes to a Special Council meeting on 15th December. We will be campaigning hard to win that vote, and overturn this shameful decision in the weeks to come.

Let there be light

Good news for residents of Leighton Way and Avenue Road. The street lamp on the junction of those two roads is now blazing bright after over a year of being out of action.

The fixing of broken lamps is the responsibilty of the County Council and therefore in Woodcote of our Residents' Association County Council. As a mere Borough Councillor I have no influence over such matters, but I was contacted by a local resident who had been let down by the Residents' Association Councillor who said nothing could be done about the light.

This turned out not to be true. A numner of calls to County later, including sorting out a confusion about whether repsonsibility lay with EDF or County and the engineers were out to mend the light. In the end it took a number of visits, but the light got fixed. So why were the Residents' Associations telling people it could not be fixed? The best advice I can give is if anyone has a similar problem in future just get straight in touch with the Conservatives.

Conservatives Gain Residents' Association seat

Ruxley residents have rejected the Residents' Associations and returned William Keen as their Conservative Councillor. The seat had previously been held by the Residents' Associations.

The result was as follows:

William Keen 564 (51.3%, +13)

Residents' Association 363 (33%, -11.7)

Labour 73 (6.6%, -2.6)

Lib Dem 60 (5.5%, -2.2)

UKIP 40 (3.6, +3.6)

Swing from Residents' Association to Conservative of 12.4%.

This is a fantastic result which the Residents' Associations simply did not see coming. Prior to the by-election Ruxley had two RA councillors and one Conservative. It is a testament to Cllr. Stephen Pontin's hard work that we secured over half of all the votes cast, gaining the Conservatives first ever by-election victory in the Borough. All this bodes well for Ruxley going completely blue at the next Borough elections.

So in the space of a few months our Conservative group on the council has doubled in size. With a swing like the one in Ruxley there are a number of Residents' Association councillors who will be looking at their majorities in a most concerned fashion.

Congratulations to William Keen. William was the only Ruxley resident to stand in the election (despite the Residents' Associations trying to suggest otherwise). He will be a great councillor and indeed has already been doing sterling work for the Royal British Legion. I am very proud to have him as a member of our group.

Is the future of Epsom Hospital now secure?

Yesterday evening I attended the public meeting held at Epsom Town Hall concerning the future of Epsom Hospital. We were not told what the future of the hospital was, instead we were told that there are two reviews going on. The first is a review of exactly what the local health trust wants to do with the site and what services it sees itself offering, this will take six months. The second is considering whether the local health trust should demerge (split St Helier and Epsom), divest (get other providers to run certain services) or maintain the status quo. This should be decided by the end of April.

Goodness knows why they don't already know these things after years of prevaricating, but at least the work is being done. Although I distrust what any health manager tells us about the future of Epsom Hospital there were some reassuring comments made.

Representatives of the Surrey NHS Trust indicated that they will require Epsom to provide a Consultant led maternity service and proper children's provision, including A&E.

Antony Tiernan, Director of Communications at Epsom & St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust made the following points:

1. Epsom Hospital will not close
2. It will continue to offer the services it offers now
3. It will be a local hospital supplying the services local residents expect, including A&E.
4. The Denbies Trust proposal will be looked at, but only as a general tender process once the plan for the hospital has been finalised. There will be no sell off of land and private/charitable assistance will only be taken up if it offers something more than the NHS is capable of offering.

Mr. Tiernan made a big point of stating he himself is a local resident and repeated the above assurances a number of times. I will do my best to hold him and his colleagues to these. Let's hope that in six months time we will see the future of our hospital secured for the future.

Public meeting: the future of Epsom Hospital

Epsom & Ewell Borough Council is hosting a public meeting on the future of Epsom Hospital given the forthcoming release of proposals from local health trusts.

Date: Wednesday, 4th March 2009

Venue: Council Chamber, Epsom Town Hall, The Parade, Epsom

Time: 7:30pm

What's the point of the Residents' Associations if they don't put up a local resident for elections?

Residents' Association campaigners in Ruxley have come unstuck for misleading local electors about whether their candidate lives in Ruxley.

A by-election is to be held in Ruxley ward this coming Thursday, the 26th February. The last election showed it to be a very close ward with a Conservative and two Residents' Association councillors elected. The Residents' Associations are petrified of losing this seat to the Conservatives. Unfortunately this has led to them saying some less than factual things in their literature and on the doorstep.

In the one and only leaflet we have seen the Residents' Associations put out in a seven week long campaign the following statement is made:
"support your RA candidate so that we can continue to have our unique and independent council manned by councillors who live locally 365 days a year, constantly in touch with you and your needs."

All very compelling stuff. Of course what it omits to mention is the RA candidate, Michael Guest, lives no where near Ruxley. As shown on the nominating papers he lives in the college area of Epsom. Also no mention that the only candidate who lives in Ruxley (William Keen of Poplar Crescent, off the Chessington Road) and therefore the one who will actually be able to keep constantly in touch with local residents and their needs, is the Conservative candidate.

To make matters worse when canvassing for William on Saturday we found that Residents' Association activists had gone before us telling residents that their candidate is the only one who lives in the ward. So not only an untruth about their candidate, but now combined with an untruth about William Keen.

I've always thought campaigning in Epsom & Ewell to be relatively civilised, but then it occurred to me that this is happening because the Residents' Associations really are in a pickle. What is the point of the Residents' Associations contesting local elections if they cannot even find a local resident to stand for them? They have resorted instead to trapsing to the other side of the Borough to find their candidate. No wonder they are deluding themselves into thinking their candidate is local when he is not, otherwise their entire reason for being disappears.

Unfortunately no sooner had the Residents' Associations started playing this rather distasteful game the Liberals joined in. Their leaflet announced that they had chosen a "local candidate". Of course they had done no such thing and had instead selected someone living in Worcester Park.

Ask anyone in Ruxley whether the Worcester Park or the college area of Epsom are local and they will say no, but hey the Residents' Associations and the Liberals have got an election to fight so what do they care. Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.

Senior Residents' Association Councillor joins Conservatives

Nigel Petrie MBE, County Councillor for Epsom & Ewell North East and Borough Councillor for Nonsuch ward has joined the Conservatives.

This weekend thousands of leaflets were delivered across his county divison informing his residents of his decision.

Nigel has served on the Borough Council for 22 years and is a former Mayor of Epsom & Ewell. He has served on Surrey County Council for 8 years.

Nigel has commented, " I consider the best way for me to achieve the things we want for our community is as a member of the Conservative Party. It is vitally important that we challenge the Labour Party as it flounders over the economic crisis, and give a boost to the national campaign by backing the Conservatives."

Chris Grayling, our Member of Parliament, has commented that Nigel " has a long track record of public service in the area, and he will now be able to play a much more direct role in making sure that the County Council looks after the interests of Epsom & Ewell as part of its ruling group."

As the leader of our council group in Epsom & Ewell I am delighted that Nigel is joining us. He is the third most senior councillor in the Borough and he is a good common sense politician who cares deeply about the area he represents. Nigel, like so many in Epsom & Ewell, has come to the conclusion that the Conservatives, not the Residents' Associations, offer the best future for the Borough.

Durdans application defeated

On 28th January the Planning Committee of Epsom & Ewell Borough Council rejected Lord Halifax's application to convert the historic Durdans stables into residential and office accommodation. One Residents' Association councillor voted in favour of the application.

This result was the culmination of a huge campaign in my ward and across the Borough against the plans. Local Resident Tina Mountain organised for a petition to be delivered to every household in Woodcote ward. The response was massive. Various petitions raised over 3,000 signatures.

With Tina I organised a public meeting at the Town Hall which was well attended and addressed by our Member of Parliament, Chris Grayling. As a result of that meeting Woodcote Conservatives delivered a note to every resident in the area encouraging them to write in objecting to the application and setting out the valid planning objections that could be made. Close to 300 letters were received.

I am not a member of the planning committee, but I attended the meeting and used my right to speak as a local councillor. I attacked Lord Halifax for allowing the property to fall into disrepair and then trying to use that as an excuse to abandon its equestrian usage. I mocked the transport survey that the applicant had presented as being entirely unbelievable to those who know the area.

The fight, unfortunately, is not over. Lord Halifax has the right to appeal and the council continues to refuse to use its enforcement powers in relation to the condition of the buildings. We will continue to keep a watchful eye over the site.

No council tax freeze for Epsom residents

Residents' Association councillors will deny local residents the council tax freeze on offer from any future Conservative government.

The Conservatives have stated that if successful at the next General Election we will provide funds to any council that is able to restrict its proposed council tax increase to 2.5%. These funds, obtained by reducing the money central government spends on consultants, will allow participating councils to freeze council tax completely.

At December's Full Council meeting I asked the Residents' Association leadership to commit to being able to take advantage of these funds. They refused. The Residents' Associations are currently projecting that Epsom's council tax will increase by just under 5%, the maximum allowed, for the foreseeable future. They are not willing to run the council efficiently enough to offer a council tax freeze to our Residents.

The Residents' Associations have wasted our money in the good years so that they cannot make it easier for local residents in the hard years. That they are not even willing to try is the real shame of it all.

The Conservative Group on the council will continue to push for a council tax freeze.