At the July meeting of Mole Valley Council, Claire Malcomson, Lib Dem Cabinet Member for Climate Change, proposed a motion to request the Surrey Pension Fund and its investments reach net zero by 2035; and that suitable interim carbon budgets are set. After much debate Full Council agreed to it unanimously. This makes Mole Valley the first Council in Surrey to do this.
Cllr Claire Malcomson, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Mole Valley, provides an update on recent activities and plans to deal with the climate change emergency.
At the Mole Valley Council meeting in July, councillors of all parties gave unanimous support to a motion proposed by Lib Dem Councillor David Preedy for the Council to write to ministers and work with local MPs to keep pressure on the Government to resolve the "anomaly" whereby many Park Home residents would not be eligible for the £400 per household rebate.
The Liberal Democrat led District Council Administration has issued a strong statement about bank closures in the district and is hoping to be consulted if any of the four remaining banks are proposed for closure. It is already too late to prevent two further Dorking branches closing this autumn. The possible updated guidance from FCA to banks may even come too late to keep some of remaining four branches, Nationwide in both towns, HSBC in Leatherhead and NatWest in Dorking.
Claire Malcomson, the Cabinet Member for Climate Change, summarises the key achievements:
"Having declared a Climate Emergency when we took over the Administration in 2019, we instigated an Environment Forum consisting of local groups working to save the planet and a Cross Party Working Group to contribute to our Climate Strategy.
Constituency now on knife edge with Lib Dems 2% ahead
Recent constituency modelling by You Gov has shown that had a General Election been held on the day they sampled, the most likely result would the removal of Mole Valley's Tory MP by the Lib Dems.
The polling showed that the Conservatives would lose 26 out of 64 seats where the Lib Dems polled well at the last General Election. These include other Surrey seats Esher & Walton (Dominic Raab's seat), Guildford, Woking and Jeremy Hunt's seat, South West Surrey.
A recent YouGov MRP poll suggests that Mole Valley is one of 24 battleground seats that the Conservatives are set to lose to the Liberal Democrats in a General Eelection.
Other Surrey seats are also predicted as Lib Dem gains, including Esher & Walton. Guildford, Woking and South West Surrey, as well as Wimbledon and Carshalton & Wallington in South West London.
Local Liberal Democrats have launched a campaign demanding that the Government changes the arrangements for paying the £400 energy rebate announced by the Chancellor in May
Whilst the Government announced that the rebate would be paid to "all households", the current arrangements mean that many Park Home residents will be not receive it.