First win in campaign against parking charges

Epsom & Ewell Conservatives have secured an important concession in the County’s consultation on parking charges in the Borough.

We lobbied the leader of the council behind the scenes in frank exchanges. The result has been the announcement that the county’s default position for villages and small shopping parades will be a half hour period of free parking.

The consultation hasn’t even started, but we’ve already secured an important win for our Borough. We still oppose these charges in principle as they are impractical here, would damage small businesses and not generate any additional income. We will use the consultation when it begins in the Autumn to see off these proposals completely.”

It’s true to say these charges are wanted in some parts of the County, particularly in big town centres and around Gatwick airport, but they are not wanted here. By lobbying behind the scenes rather than engaging in political posturing we’ve created a safety net for our Borough with the free half hour and have a great starting point for opposing these proposals in full. We have secured a commitment from the leader of the county council that nothing will be done to damage small businesses.

Any revenue raised from parking charges can only be spent on road improvements such as repairing pot holes. However in last week’s budget the Chancellor gave £4 million to the county council for Surrey’s highways. This means less will now have to be raised through parking charges.

RA sexual confusion

Reading this week's Epsom Guardian was a little more surprising than usual as it revealed RA councillor Neil Dallen's recent conversion to the attractions of a local strip club called Stir on East Street in Epsom.

Cllr Dallen is quoted as saying, "all credit to Stir for turning it around and running a very good establishment with minimal trouble."

This positive attitude to strip clubs somewhat contrasts with fellow RA councillor Eber Kington who has stated, "many residents would have moral objections to such premises" and "I believe that premises catering for adult entertainment will increase the likelihood of outsiders coming into Epsom and creating problems for the local community."

Rather contrary views. I've not had any complaints about the venue, but then again I don't represent that area. What concerns me is that Cllr Dallen appears to have based his view that everyone approves of the venue on the grounds that no one responded to the RA newsletter he circulated about it. Firstly, I suspect few people read, let alone respond to, RA newsletters in Epsom given the mess they've made of our town centre. Secondly, I have already had a local resident contact me saying they've never received any communication from Cllr Dallen and it seems from the Epsom Guardian's web site that she is not alone. The whole thing all seems rather unscientific to me.

It is also indicative of the lack of focus the Residents' Associations have in relation to our town centre. Do they want these sort of venues or not? Do they want more blocks of flats or not? Do they want more pound shops and kebab shops or not? The answer is they don't know because they have no plan and no leadership, and Epsom continues to suffer as they faff and disagree with one another.

So how are Eber and Neil to reconcile their bitterly conflicting views? Maybe a trip to the venue itself chaps? Now that would make a fine picture for the Epsom Guardian!

Health warning!

I rather liked this image (from Conservative Home).

Finally council opens its books to the public

Finally, with great reticence and after a great deal of pressure, the Residents' Associations have published all council expenditure over £500.

The RAs have been forced to release this data by the government. They were among the last few councils in the country to publish it and despite promising to put it out in October made sure they held it back until after the February budget meeting. They clearly don't want people looking at this, therefore I hope as many residents as possible do.

I will be examining the data carefully, but already it is of note how much the RAs spend on consultants' fees across a number of budget headings. Shame on them for hiding this information for so long. No wonder they haven't even bothered to press release the availability of this material. A perfect indication of the RAs lack of commitment to transparency in local government.

The new information can be found here.

A thoroughly unmodern council

At this week's full council meeting an entirely sensible suggestion was made - shouldn't the council be using twitter to advertise its activities and communicate with its residents?

No difficulty there you might think. Plenty of councils do it already. Good idea, no?

Not when you're a Luddite RA councillor. Step forward Keith Mann, RA Chairman of our Strategy & Resources committee. Keith was having none of it. He couldn't possibly have the council taking on such a significant financial burden as twitter. Given the current financial situation one would normally admire such economic caution. However Cllr Mann's answer simply exposed in general terms the reactionary nature of the RAs and specifically their ignorance of modern technology.

Twitter would not cost one additional taxpayer's penny. Any council account could simply publicise new additions to the web site and would be monitored within the council's communications unit. If the council wanted to be particularly engaging then queries coming in from the public could simply be transferred so as to be dealt with by the staff in our contact centre.

Despite twitter being within Cllr Mann's sphere of responsibility I suspect he didn't even bother to research how it works. However, perhaps I'm being a little too harsh on dear Keith. Perhaps he knows more than appearances suggest. Perhaps he knows exactly how twitter works and that's why he won't allow the council to use it.

When RA councillors are being so heavily criticised by our residents why on Earth would the RA group allow them an additional means by which to lambast them?

Remember you can follow me on twitter: @EpsomSean

Council tax freeze delivered by Conservatives

For decades the Residents' Associations have raised our council tax every single year. That is all about to change. Not because the RAs have seen the error of their ways, but because the Conservatives in government have delivered on their manifesto promise to make council tax freezes available across the country. This is why Epsom & Ewell residents will see no increase in their council tax over the next year.

In recent council meetings RA councillors have been so critical of the coalition government that one would imagine they would prefer to see Gordon Brown and the Labour Party back in power. Perhaps they should be grateful for the Conservatives being in government, otherwise the RAs would simply continue their tradition of forcing unattractive, unfair, unjustified and unpopular council tax increases upon Epsom & Ewell's already hard-pressed residents.

What does the council have to hide?

At full council back in July of last year I proposed that the council should publish every item of expenditure over £500 so that such information could be scrutinised by local residents. Numerous, mainly Conservative, councils had already taken this step in response to the government's wish to see greater transparency and accountability in local government.

In response to my motion I was told that the council planned to publish this data by October 2010. October came and went without this being done. I was then told, upon raising the issue again, that the council would do this by the end of January 2011. Well that deadline has passed and still the council has not published. The January date is important because it was the date that the Secretary of State responsible for local government, Eric Pickles, said was the final point by which councils should get this done.

This exercise will not cost the council any money other than the time it takes to collate this information. That, of course, should cost nothing as this data should already be readily available if the council's senior officer's are to do their jobs properly. How can the council pretend to be careful with our money if they cannot easily show where it is being spent?

It is estimated that 90% of councils have published this financial information, so why hasn't Epsom & Ewell. This delay can only lead us to suspect that the council has something to hide. There are elections for our local council once every four years. The next election is in three months time. Are the Residents' Associations holding back on this information because they know it will not serve them well if it's released before the elections? It is simply not acceptable for the public to have to vote on the record of this Residents' Association council when this information is being held back from them. If it's good enough for nine out of ten councils then it's good enough for us. Come on Epsom & Ewell - show us where our money is spent!

Borough to honour local regiment this summer

News arrives that the council will formally grant the Freedom of the Borough to the Princess of Wales's Regiment in June.

The decision to grant this honour was made at the beginning of last year, but has not been capable of being bestowed because of the regiment's operational duties.

The ceremony will be all the more satisfying because the fight to hold it was hard won. It was myself and Conservative colleagues who proposed the motion to grant this honour. RA and Liberal Democrat councillors initially opposed us until there was a local and national outcry. This u-turn was somewhat begrudging with RA councillors describing the award as "inappropriate" and suggesting that those who supported it were behaving like the BNP!

I very much hope that come June Epsom & Ewell's residents will show just how out of touch their RA and Lib Dem councillors were by giving our local regiment the warm welcome they so richly deserve.

Crime mapping comes to Epsom

I've come across a useful and interesting web site which clearly sets out the crime mapping of the whole of Surrey. It provides information about your local neighbourhood police team and gives details of the types of crimes committed in particular areas. The site allows you to compare changes in recorded crime to the previous year and with other areas. Residents of Woodcote and Langley Vale should note that they fall within the Epsom South area for the purposes of this exercise.

The site, provided by Surrey Police, can be found here.

National Conservatives delivering for local residents

Residents' Association councillors are by definition parochial in their outlook. They have very little to say on national political issues except where they seek to use something national government is doing to attack their political opponents locally. Indeed their slogan is "Keep national politics out of local government." Such political narrow-mindedness means the council lacks leadership and focus. Why? Because as local politicians we need to engage in national politics so as to best represent our residents. The RAs were unforgivably slow to react to previous threats to Epsom Hospital because they initially did not see it as a "local" issue. Chris Grayling MP and local Conservatives instinctively responded by leading the campaign. When the Labour government was outrageously underfunding local government in Surrey so that they could flood their northern strongholds with cash the Residents' Associations had nothing to say and had no influence in fighting against the Labour Party.

Despite their inability to engage or exert influence where national politics impacts upon local residents perhaps the coming to power of the coalition government will lead the Residents' Associations to a more sensible approach. National Conservatives have been leading a quiet revolution in local government. I will be highlighting some of their most welcome initiatives on this blog in the near future and begin now with measures giving councillors the freedom to campaign, the freedom to debate matters with our residents and the freedom to make clear what we think about issues without being accused of closing our minds on those matters.

Importantly this will mean that councillors can let residents know where they stand on important planning applications before a vote on the local planning committee comes along. Councillors will still need to listen to all the arguments and weigh them up, but they will not get in trouble for expressing a view earlier in proceedings, a view that any engaged councillor will obviously possess. Crucially if there is a big planning issue in an area just before an election then candidates will be able to publicise their stance without excluding themselves from voting on the application if elected.

This is a good, common sense change brought about not by the RAs but instead national politics which the RAs so wrong-headedly tell up should be kept out of local government. Long may it continue.

RIP - Roy Richmond

I was sad to hear the news of Roy Richmond's passing. The Epsom Guardian's front page referring to him as Mr Epsom was a fitting tribute (article here). Through Epsom Coaches Roy was a successful local businessman. He and his wife Nancy carried out much charitable work together. His achievements were appropriately recognised by his being made a Freeman of the Borough and, more recently, a local road being renamed Roy Richmond Way. As residents of Woodcote I was pleased to chat with him and Nancy at a recent civic event.

My thoughts are with Nancy and their family at this time.