RA civil war continues

The massive internal divisions within the Epsom & Ewell's Residents' Association movement have been highlighted once again as a senior Residents' Association official has come out and publicly criticised the RA group of councillors.

Mark Walter, Chairman of College Ward Residents' Association (CWRA), has written to the 2,500 households in College ward stating:

"CWRA strongly objected to the blue badge charging scheme but the decision was taken mainly by Ewell RA councillors who do not understand the logistical problems of Epsom residents - had we some RA Councillors in the Epsom wards the result might have been different."

Mr Walter presents a rather selective version of events. There are three Residents' Association councillors from Epsom. Cllr Neil Dallen (Town) voted in favour of charging the disabled for their parking. Cllr Mike Richardson (Woodcote) also voted in favour. Cllr Teresa Cass (Woodcote) didn't bother to turn up to the meeting. The vote was 16-14 in favour of charges. The vote was won for the RAs by Epsom RA councillors. So Mr Walters saying the result "might" have been different with more Epsom RA councillors is, of course, right. The majority in favour of charges would have been even greater!

So Epsom's RA councillors all voted for the scheme that CWRA so bitterly opposes. Mr Walter should face reality - if he wants to reverse the Blue Badge charges he needs to campaign against the RA councillors who brought them in and work to get them kicked out at May's elections.

Perhaps of greater interest than Mr Walters' tortured logic is that he is willing to openly criticise the RA group of councillors. He is in good company in doing so as Bill Slaughter, Chairman of Stoneleigh and Auriol Residents Association, has stated in public:

"the Residents' Association group has hit hardest at the most disadvantaged in our society - the disabled, the elderly and the very young."

How can local residents be expected to vote for RA councillors when their own party activists no longer support them?

Taking on inconsiderate neighbours

This week's Epsom Guardian covers my work on behalf of residents of the Woodcote Estate in tackling the anti-social storage and parking of vehicles at 2 Pine Hill. Over the last week I have delivered a letter to residents in the affected area. Already I have had a steady flow of responses. Local residents agree with me that the owner of this property is playing the system. He is using his property for both the storage and sale of vehicles and this simply is not acceptable in a residential area like the Woodcote Estate.

The council needs to take a firm line. Not only does the current court order need to be enforced but we also need to reduce the number of vehicles he is allowed to keep under the current order as many of them are clearly being kept for illegitimate purposes.

Openness and transparency

The new government has been encouraging local councils to publish all expenditure over £500 so that it can be scrutinised by the public. This was first done by a number of Conservative councils and is rightly thought to be a jolly good idea.

I therefore submitted a simple motion to the council requiring such financial disclosure from Epsom & Ewell Borough Council. It's supremely cheering to learn from the report written by officers in response to my motion that the good sense of this move is conceded and this material will be made available to the public in an accessible format at some point in October.

That being the case how about publishing the number and job descriptions of council employees earning above £50,000 in an easily accessible place? Why not include councillors' allowances which are not easily found on the Borough's web site? Openness and transparency are good things. It's time that the council welcomed them with open arms.

Not so blooming marvellous

On Tuesday evening, in the rain, I took a quick walk around Rosebery Park after a complaint from a local resident about the state of the flower beds near Dorking Road. All seven flower beds in that area are a mess. They consist of dead roses, large weeds and significant gaps. The local resident is a regular user of the park and has not ever seen them in such a state.

The council recently took the decision to discontinue certain flower beds across the Borough as a cost saving exercise. I don't understand these to be amongst their number and in any event any former flower beds would need to be turfed over or otherwise tidied up rather than simply left to the weeds. I fear that these beds have simply been neglected by the council longer than they should have been.

I have raised the issue with the council's Head of Operations and I will update this post with his response once I receive it.