Three years in the making, Mole Valley District Council now has a draft Local Plan ready for consultation. The new Lib Dem administration has had several months to review all the work done to date and has made some substantial improvements. Potentially this plan will be our roadmap and guidance for all building development in our area for the next fifteen years.

This year's quiz is on Friday 6th March, 7p.m. for a 7.30 start at the Old Barn Hall in Church Road, Bookham. The cost is £13 per person including a light supper - but bring your own drinks.

If you have been before you'll know that it is good fun. It is a non-political occasion but it is an important fundraiser for the local Party. Do try and come.

The Liberal Democrats have accused the Conservatives of failing to protect local small businesses, after figures revealed that 1645 businesses in the area have closed over the last three years.

It comes as the Liberal Democrats have unveiled a series of measures to reverse this decline and boost local firms, to mark Small Business Saturday.

Recent figures show that 1645 have closed in Mole Valley between 2016 and 2018, a 13.8% increase compared to the previous three years.

Across the UK one million businesses have closed their doors between 2016 and 2018, an increase of almost a third compared to 2013- 2015.

The Federation of Small Businesses has warned that a no deal Brexit, which Boris Johnson has repeatedly refused to rule out, would mean more damage to firms. Firms are also being held back by the Conservative government's failure to reform business rates, and by new taxes on the self-employed that business groups have described as "disastrous".

Liberal Democrats have said that they will Stop Brexit and invest the £50 billion Remain Bonus in improving public services and tackling inequality. The party would also put in place a package of measures to support small businesses and boost high streets in Mole Valley, including:

Brexit negatively impacts staff retention at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, the Liberal Democrats have warned.

Figures published by the Liberal Democrats reveal that 78 EU staff working at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust have already left the health service this year including 21 nurses and midwives. 

In the three years since the Brexit vote, 301 NHS staff from the EU have left the local trust. Staff departures from Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust are part of a worrying national trend: over 3,250 NHS staff from the EU have left the health service so far this year, including 1,116 nurses. The data, based on responses to Freedom of Information requests across 50 NHS hospital trusts, reveals that:

Paul Kennedy's statement on the Liberal Democrats policy:

"We need more trees, not more drilling in the Weald or runways at Gatwick and Heathrow. 🌲🌳🌴🌲🌳
That's why I'm backing Lib Dem plans to plant 60,000,000 trees every year. These will help improve environmental health, air pollution levels, give opportunities to improve mental health, reduce hillside run-off and flooding... the list goes on.

Skills Wallets are a plan to allow every adult in England to access training throughout their lives, after leaving full time education.

A £10,000 fund for each person will give them the opportunity to retrain and upskill for jobs that we can't even imagine yet.

It can be expensive to develop new skills later in your career. The cost of courses and qualifications shuts too many people out. Neither Labour nor the Conservatives have any answer to this - their 20^th century and 19^th century policies don't work in the 21^st century.

Paul Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mole Valley, is backing the Friends of Ripley Primary School (FoRPS) campaign to reopen Ripley School, which was controversially closed by Conservative Surrey County Council last year. If elected as Mole Valley's MP, Paul will strongly oppose any attempt to sell off the land for housing.

Please help Paul by providing your input.

The extreme likelihood of a general election taking place later this Autumn has forced Mole Valley District Council (MVDC) to review and delay the public consultation process for the Local Plan.

During any election period Councils have a statutory obligation to enter a period of 'purdah'. This severely restricts the Council's abilities to communicate with the public and would therefore completely disrupt the planned comprehensive programme of consultation making full and meaningful dialogue with residents impossible. In discussion with the relevant officers at MVDC it became clear that the Lib Dem administration would need to delay the consultation until early 2020 in order to comply with the regulations. The delay was formally confirmed at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 24 September 2019.