Due to necessary social distancing requirements, the Annual Meeting of Mole Valley took place, not in the council chamber, but in the Large Hall of the Dorking Halls. It reminded everyone of an exam room with each councillor sat at a separate table. But the atmosphere was lively as everyone was freed from their virtual zoom squares and back into the world of reality.

This is quite a historic and welcome occasion - the first meeting in person of Councillors for over a year. I have certainly missed the interaction of debate and discussion between members which cannot be replicated in a virtual environment. I would like to thank our officers for making this possible - the establishment of a safe and secure meeting place was no easy task, but as with the elections, and the challenging circumstances that we have experienced over the past year or so, they have found and implemented a way forward and we are very grateful for the work that they have done.

The Lib Dems retain control of Mole Valley District Council following a successful local election campaign. This reflects public confidence in the work our team has been doing over the last two years and means we can continue our progressive agenda for the benefit of all residents.

Welcome to three new Liberal Democrat District councillors - Chris Coghlan (Dorking North), Rosemary Hobbs (Holmwoods) and Nick Wright (Dorking South). Congratulations to them and a huge thank you to Paul Elderton, Wayne Monkman and Tim Loretto, who stood down at this election after many years of collective service to the Mole Valley communities. They brought great credit to the local Liberal Democrats.

24 years of Conservative leadership at Surrey County Council has cost the residents, charities and businesses of Surrey dearly. Our communities can't afford another four years. The Liberal Democrats are offering somethng new for Surrey. We have a clear plan to create a greener, more community-focused, caring and competent council.

The local election is fast approaching. Woking residents will go to the polls on May 6th to have their say on who represents their Borough, their County and as their Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC). But wait, what does the PCC do? What powers do they have?

In this episode Liberal Democrat Candidate Dale Roberts explores the issues that will help you decide where to place your vote. He is joined by Lib Dem Cllrs Will Forster (Woking Borough Council and Surrey County Council) and Paul Kennedy (Mole Valley and standing for Surrey's PCC).

We caught up with candidate Rosemary Hobbs via Zoom call.

1 ENVIRONMENT

1.1 Do Everything Possible to Protect the Green Belt - and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty; government planning policies and centrally devised housing numbers increasingly put the Green Belt at risk and the Council must be vigilant and determined to resist this as far as possible by using available planning powers; confirm policy of only considering developments in the Green Belt if the land no longer serves Green Belt purposes and the development has local support; do everything possible to protect the Green Belt in the event that Government demands for excessive housing development put it at risk; implement a similar policy to protect rural areas beyond the Green Belt; 


1.2 Protect and enhance the built environment - provide environmental improvements to town and village centres to increase their attractiveness to residents and business; seek to enhance and improve the quality of pavements, passageways, and street furniture in urban and rural areas and undertake decluttering where appropriate; 


1.3 Provide a cleaner local environment - and support communities by clearing litter effectively and tackling dog fouling, by improving urban and rural street cleaning and by ensuring that street sweeping is scheduled to take account of special circumstances such as the autumn leaf fall; and that graffiti and fly posting are dealt with effectively; 


1.4 Encourage residents to enhance their local environment - by reducing their use of natural resources, re-using materials and increasing recycling; widen the scope of recycling; support the MVDC 'Only Losers Litter' campaign to discourage littering from vehicles; 


1.5 Protect Recycling Centres - campaign to restore the service cuts that have inconvenienced residents, reduced recycling rates and increased fly tipping; work with the County to find a way to extend facilities and opening hours at the Community Recycling Centres in Leatherhead and Dorking; 


1.6 Effectively tackle fly-tipping - in the countryside and towns by using all practical methods including mobile cameras to catch and prosecute offenders; encourage reporting of all fly- tipping on the MVDC website to provide solid data on the scale of the problem; 


1.7 Make the promotion of Green policies a priority - take the lead in energy conservation programmes; promote renewable energy in all Council buildings including consideration of ground source and geothermal heating; work towards the Council becoming carbon neutral by 2030; involve local organisations which promote these aims in enhancing and implementing Council policy; 


1.8 Insist on the delivery of green principles on all new developments - implement green initiatives such as solar, wind turbine or ground source energy, high standard insulation, the replacement of trees and encouraging new planting; the introduction of catalytic converters on log burners and similar equipment; welcoming car club and car sharing initiatives and installing electric vehicle charging points in all Council car parks; support the planning improvements incorporated into the Draft Local Plan; 


1.9 Encourage local power generation - such as solar, wind and hydro energy in appropriate locations; actively motivate investment in renewable energy and dissuade investment in fossil fuels;

We caught up with Cllr Bridget Kendrick via Zoom call got the latest about Leatherhead North:

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