PRESS RELEASE: Surrey Liberal Democrats call on the County Council to step in and provide help with Free School meals.

Surrey Liberal Democrats call on the County Council to step in and provide help with Free School meals.

Last week the Conservative Government voted against extending free school meals for children in need during the holidays, including Sir Paul Beresford, MP for Mole Valley constituency. This means that during October half term, the Christmas holidays and beyond, there will be many parents struggling to feed their children.

PRESS RELEASE: Hawks Hill in Fetcham "a danger to cyclists"

Mole Valley Councillor Paul Kennedy has warned that the downhill stretch of the Guildford Road in Fetcham is a "danger to cyclists" after complaining to Surrey County Councilabout the state of the road, which achieves a gradient of 11% on the descent from the A246 junction down to Leatherhead.

Mole Valley Liberal Democrats publish regular newsletters to keep residents updated on local issues. If you would like to receive these newsletters, please complete the details below to give us your permission.

Do residents want local government rooted in their community or just another branch of central Government?

In a short time, the government will publish a White Paper on devolution for local government. This will signal a dramatic change in the way Councils such as Mole Valley are operated. However, Tory-run Surrey County Council, rather than wait for such guidance and allow for public consultation, has already applied for the County Council to become a single Unitary Authority. This would mean all the Districts and Boroughs, such as Mole Valley District Council would disappear and be replaced with one 'monster' authority.

Timetable extension proposed to allow full consideration

We have had a huge response with lots of detailed and thoughtful comments. We'd like to thank residents for taking the time to give us their views.

90% of respondents backed our brownfield first approach, and 74% disagreed with building on greenfield sites to meet Conservative Government targets. Other key themes included the distribution of future development, infrastructure capacity and improvements, conservation and enhancement of existing areas as well as landscape and biodiversity concerns.

We are delighted to report that Mole Valley District Council is helping Dorking residents who do not have a parking space and who need to park their cars in the town during the day whilst self-isolating or working from home.
The Liberal Democrat administraion has removed the time restrictions for the Off-Peak Residents Parking Permits. For the time being, these permits are valid in MVDC long term car parks outside of the specified off-peak times for residents to park without any penalty.
We are also offering a temporary parking permit for £30 for three months for those residents who do not have a permit, but may regularly park on-street at night, and who may find themselves working from home or having to self-isolate so now need to park in the town during the day. This will enable residents to park in any MVDC long term car park throughout the day.

A reminder that the consultation period for the draft Local Plan finshes on Monday 23rd March.

Also, due to concerns about the Coronavirus situation, the event planned for Leatherhead Institute on 20th March has been cancelled.

During the run-up to the consultation on Mole Valley's Draft Local Plan, Councillor Stephen Cooksey, Liberal Democrat Leader of Mole Valley, announced his intention to write to the Prime Minister to challenge the hosuing targets imposed by the Government on Mole Valley. The letter draws attention to the comments made by Boris Johnson during the Tory Leadership campaign when he told reporters in Oxshott that "We should not be imposing targets on Councils that they are simply finding it impossible to meet without building on the Green Belt".