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.

More RA internal conflict

It's now the turn of Ewell Village RA to express its disapproval of the way RA councillors are running our Borough.

The Winter edition of their newsletter criticises RA councillors for removing the first hour of free parking at Bourne Hall. It states they "got it very wrong and just do not understand the essential role this car park plays in Ewell Village affairs".

They promise to "harass" these councillors so as to regain the free hour.

So yet another RA learns that the RA group of councillors are less in tune with the needs of local residents than they previously banked on.

Other upset and jilted RAs are evidenced here and here.

Grit bins

Surrey County Council have produced a useful guide to their approach to grit bins after the recent snow.

The web page can be found here.

I have been informed that the recent snow means that a refill of bins will be carried out. If you feel a grit close to you has been missed or that a location near you would be well served by a bin and that we should make a request for one then please get in touch with me.

Lord Halifax rejected once again

The historic riding school at the Durdans

In early 2009 Lord Halifax, owner of the Durdans stables, failed in an attempt to get planning permission to convert the site from its historic equestrian use to a mixed residential and commercial use. We were told at the time of that application that the need to change use was because the site was no longer fit for equestrian purposes. His lordship produced thick, glossy and no doubt very expensive reports from "professional experts" backing up this contention which was bitterly contested by opponents of that application who included myself.

It was therefore ironic that rather soon after the application was rejected that the remarketing of the site produced a Mr. Buckman who has taken on a 125 lease for equestrian purposes namely race horse training and livery.

Yesterday evening two separate applications relating to the site came before the borough's planning committee. For the first time in my council career I was sitting as a member of that committee. The first application was from Mr. Buckman seeking permission for various changes that would allow him to operate a modern equestrian business on this historic site. This application was agreed with some enthusiasm as for the first time in a long time we can see the prospect of a successful equestrian use being made of the site.

The second application came from Lord Halifax. His lordship had excluded part of the site from the lease agreement with Mr. Buckman and last night proposed to demolish stables on it and build houses. I spoke and voted against this application. The Borough has planning policies protecting equestrian land and there seemed no good reason why that protection shouldn't apply in this case. In fact the only reason advanced for this application seemed to be to allow Lord Halifax to make more money than he otherwise would. Not a valid planning reason. This land is within the Chalk Lane conservation area and a change of use would clearly change the ambience of the area. Indeed the council in a planning document back in January this year described similar developments in the past as "regrettable". Moreover the proposed housing was unattractively close to neighbouring properties.

This land can still be used for equestrian purposes. The papers for last night's meeting suggest that there is increased demand partly due to the Olympics. Perhaps it would be best for Lord Halifax to put aside any thoughts of future residential development and concentrate on what is possible.

Pothole progress

There has been a noticeable improvement in the repair of potholes since May of this year. In particular it was fantastic to see Woodcote Green Road in my ward completely resurfaced.

Further good news arrives from the county council. As of the end of April next year the council's road maintenance contract will transfer from Ringway and Carillion to May Gurney. This involves a commendable £60 million investment over six years and importantly a stark improvement in service. May Gurney are committed under the contract to the repair of 30,000 potholes within 24 hours of their being reported. The current contractors achieve the repair of 19,000 potholes within a seven day deadline. Therefore we should hope to see yet another significant improvement.

Baby it's cold outside

Well it's been an interesting and difficult week in Epsom. Surrey was one of the worst hit places in the country when it came to snow and Epsom was one of the worst hit places in Surrey.

Reports of 5-9 hour journeys to cover relatively short commutes home have been common. The inconvenience and frustration caused has been huge. The burden on our emergency services and local authorities has been massive and their staff have performed commendably.

There is no doubt that the whole country needs to sharpen up its act in relation to extreme winter weather, but the improvements in response this year are to be applauded.

Surrey County Council managed to regularly salt a network of 4,000 miles of priority roads. In Epsom this involved not only those roads designated priority 1, but also those at priority 2. Some difficulty was encountered with grit trucks or snow ploughs struggling to get past abandoned vehicles and heavy traffic, but the routes were covered.

One problem was the sheer amount of snow that fell which meant that roads that had been gritted simply got completely covered giving people the impression that they had never been gritted in the first place.

Another difficulty arose when local sections of motorway were closed by the Highways Agency and Surrey Police because of multiple incidents. This, of course, then put intolerable pressure on smaller roads.

Epsom & Ewell Borough Council had to cancel many services, but kept residents informed of disruption caused and will no doubt be working hard to catch up with services such as waste collection over the coming week.

If anyone in Woodcote and Langley Vale has any particular concerns about the way the snow was dealt with in their area then please let me know.

Newsflash - success at 2 Pine Hill

News arrives that the owner of 2 Pine Hill on the Woodcote Estate, Mr. Neville True, has been convicted at Redhill Magistrates' Court of breaching a planning enforcement order in relation to the property.

Mr. True has made himself a nuisance to neighbours at a number of addresses around Epsom. In Pine Hill he has regularly parked over 12 vehicles on and around his property creating an eye sore and affecting his neighbours' enjoyment of their own homes. After complaints from local residents and pressure from myself the council finally agreed to issue an enforcement order to limit the number of vehicles Mr. True is allowed to keep on his land. The figure the council came to was a maximum of seven. This in my view is still much too high. Mr. True is clearly storing and trading in cars from a residential property and there is no evidence to suggest that he needs up to seven cars on the land for residential purposes. I will continue to press the council to reduce this number. Further action is required as to the parking of cars on land to the side of the property that does not appear to be covered by the original notice.

Mr. True had a pop at me in the Epsom Guardian when I dared suggest that he simply get on and tidy up his land. He denied he has committed any criminal offence and has suggested that the council is bullying him. He got a mate to write in (without disclosing their connection) to accuse me of attacking the principle of an Englishman's home being his castle.

Well Mr. True's protestations don't come to much now that he has entered a guilty plea. Just to be clear, as a Conservative, I am a great fan of property rights. This does though include the rights of others to enjoy their properties and not to have to suffer at the hands of inconsiderate and selfish people like Mr. True.

Mr. True's lack of neighbourliness has cost him dearly. He now has a criminal conviction. He is to pay a £2,000 fine and £600 costs. One has to hope that he has learnt his lesson. If he hasn't I fear he may find this all a rather costly business because if he persists with his actions I will ensure that we will go back to court as many times as is necessary for him to learn the error of his ways.

Leave us free to tweet!

Senior RA councillors have made complaints to the Chief Executive about councillors tweeting from council meetings. It seems that these fuddy duddies find such activity "disruptive". Twitter is a useful social networking and micro-blogging tool that a number of opposition councillors, including myself, use.

As one of the councillors who tweets from meetings I cannot see anything objectionable about it. I use twitter to alert my followers to what is happening on the council. Given, unlike other authorities such as Surrey, Epsom & Ewell don't webcast their meetings I imagine this is useful to local residents who can't make it to meetings themselves. Why would we won't to deprive local residents of this sort of information? Unless the RAs don't want what takes place in meetings advertised which is understandable given some of their awful policy decisions recently.

In any event the Chief Executive seems much more up to date and open than certain crusty RA councillors and has even suggested that a council officer could tweet from council meetings. Hurrah for her! Three cheers for all of those who seek to defend the right to tweet.

And if you want to follow me on twitter just go to the side bar on this page and follow the link.

Last chance for public loos

An extraordinary meeting of the council has been called for this evening in a last ditch attempt to reopen our borough's public toilets.

I am proposing the motion and am hoping that a number of RA members have realised what a terrible mistake it was to close these three facilities across the borough.

It disturbs me that there is still waste and inefficiency present within the council's budget and yet instead of tackling this the RAs chose to cut important services to the public. Unfortunately first indications are that the leadership of the RA group of councillors is going to oppose my motion. Cllr Robert Leach has misleadingly suggested that one of the sites is no longer owned by the council. What he doesn't make clear is that the council had not owned it for a number of years, council officers having neglected to renew the lease, but that the legal owners have absolutely no problem with the site being leased at a peppercorn rent for the purpose of being run as a public toilet.

Cllr Jean Smith has sought to dismiss the strength of public feeling on this issue. She has suggested on local radio that that the 130 people who attended the public demonstration at the Stoneleigh public toilets (pictured above) were in fact not local but instead "bussed in" by local political parties. This has been described as a "pack of lies" by the local RA ward chairman. It's unfortunate that instead of dealing with the merits of the argument for public conveniences within the borough these councillors seek to mislead so as to protect their position.

Tonight's vote will be very close and I very much hope that, just as they did with their opposition to granting our local regiment the freedom of the borough, that RA will admit their mistake and do a u-turn. It is important that tonight they represent the interests of their residents and not the interests of the RA group of councillors.

RA magazines: fact or fiction

Residents' Association magazines have always had a relaxed attitude to the truth. Recently we've seen various RA ward chairmen valiantly try to defend the actions of their out of touch group of RA councillors. They desperately seek to persuade their residents that the budget cuts aimed at the most vulnerable in our borough are the only option even when RA councillors refuse to make the council leaner and more efficient in the numerous ways open to it that wouldn't hit the vulnerable.

In a way this is to be expected. RA chairmen are but political activists for the registered political party that is the Residents' Associations of Epsom & Ewell.

The honourable exception has been Bill Slaughter who has led Stoneleigh and Auriol Residents' Association (SARA) in a brave campaign against the RA councillors' decision to close the borough's public toilets. On this issue they have put their residents' interests before that of the political party they support. It is clear that RA councillors have lost the confidence of their supporters in Stoneleigh and Auriol.

It is therefore unfortunate that SARA's own magazine cannot escape inaccurate reporting of what is happening on the council. The culprit in this instance is the leader of the RA councillors, Robert Leach. Cllr Leach tries terribly hard to persuade his residents of the merit of his unpopular approach to the budget. As an example of the wonderful savings he and his colleagues are making he tells us that the Mayor's chauffeur "leaves in August". True, the Mayor's chauffeur has retired, but why doesn't Cllr Leach tells his residents that he has simply employed a new chauffeur at taxpayer's expense! Does he not think this is a relevant piece of information or is he simply practicing to deceive.

Cllr Leach writes about all the great staff savings he has made (a nonsense contention in and of itself), but doesn't tell his residents that his group sought to create a brand new climate change officer at significant expense until I questioned how this fitted in with the council's plans for staff savings.

Cllr Leach suggests that RA councillors accepted a small reduction in their allowances. What he doesn't mention is that he and his colleagues increased their allowances by 14% after the last elections in 2007 and the reduction he mentions was one councillors had no choice about accepting as it came about because of a decrease in inflation (and was only 0.4% if I remember correctly).

Perhaps this is all just another example of how desperate a position RA councillors are in. Clearly out of touch with their residents they now resort to blatantly disingenuous comments to justify their position. This cannot continue and one suspects that for Cllr Leach, if the RAs have any sense, it won't be allowed to for much longer.