MORE PEOPLE WITH SHOVELS NEEDED! (Mole Valley Liberal Democrats)

Mole Valley Liberal Democrats <info@molevalleylibdems.org.uk>

MORE PEOPLE WITH SHOVELS NEEDED!

February 9, 2009 10:50 AM
By Stephen Cooksey (County Councillor) in Press release

Many roads were treacherous days after the snowfall

The last week has illustrated very clearly what is wrong with the way that local government works. Dorking is governed by two Conservative-controlled Councils both with a significant cadre of highly-paid officials, yet six days after a heavy snowfall, many roads, paths and pavements remained uncleared and dangerous because no action had been taken to make them safe and useable.

The essence of local government should be to provide efficient and effective services which reflect the needs of the community; the rapid clearance of snow to make driving and walking safe must be one of them. There appears to be no effective planning to do anything other than keep the motorways and 'A' roads clear (and that was only partially successful) and little attempt to provide assistance for the many residents who were effectively trapped in their homes for long periods of time. Schools were made to close long after the snow had stopped because access was impossible and school car parks remained deep in snow and there was little Council help to resolve these problems.

The usual excuses were trotted out - it was unexpected, not happened for 18 years, not enough staff, not enough money - but what a contrast with other ways that they choose to spend our Council tax. When the County Council wanted to impose Controlled Parking Zones on Dorking there was no shortage of money to pay for expensive consultants and there was no shortage of funding to provide the hugely expensive and largely unwanted traffic control scheme at Pump Corner.

Local government should undertake the provision of essential services as its priority; there should be co-operation between Surrey and Mole Valley when there are specific problems such as snow clearance to deal with. It is clearly beyond the competence of the Conservative administrations that run these authorities to plan for such situations and be prepared to take rapid action to serve the community.

What was needed last week was more men (and women) with shovels clearing the snow and making our roads and pavements safe. That could easily be paid for by employing fewer expensive consultants to devise schemes that the community doesn't want or need.