Mole Valley Liberal Democrats - Demand Better

Petition suspended - see "Molebridge Gp surgery - safe for now!"

We are extremely concerned about the impact of closing the Fetcham surgery of the Molebridge Practice which would leave many Fetcham residents without access to local GP services. The loss of Fetcham's only GP surgery will particularly affect elderly residents and those with limited mobility and transport. It will also undermine local pharmacies and other related businesses in Fetcham, and put increasing pressure on other GP surgeries in Bookham and Leatherhead which are already overstretched.

Mole Valley Liberal Democrats have started a petition to retain a GP surgery in Fetcham in response to residents' concerns about the proposed closure of the Molebridge Practice's Fetcham Surgery from 20th August 2019. If authorised this closure would leave Fetcham, which has a population of nearly 10,000 residents, without any local GP services.

The Tip is a County Council facility. The results of the District Council elections will have sent a strong message to the Conservative councillors at County Hall that their proposals for the Tip are totally unacceptable to residents. We will be highlighting the election results at County Hall and will be pressing the case to overturn the decision to close the Tip.

In a stunning set of local election results for Mole Valley District Council, the Liberal Democrats gained 9 of the 14 seats being contested from the Conservatives. As a result they now hold 22 seats on the Council, giving them overall control of the Council. The Conservatives have 12 seats and the Independents have 7 seats.

On the eve of the local elections, Lib Dem leader Vince Cable spent a couple of hours supporting some of the candidates standing in the following day's elections for Mole Valley District Council.

After a well-attended rally in Leatherhead High Street, Vince went out canvassing in Leatherhead North with Keira Vyvyan-Robinson and then moved on to Bookham South with Nancy Goodacre.

The postal address for properties in Box Hill village is Tadworth - 5 miles away. This causes problems, especially for delivery drivers who do not know the area. Also it denies our community the identity that comes from having its own postal address.

We call on the Royal Mail to recognise the identity of Box Hill as a village by including it as a non-madatory location in the postal addresses for properties in the village.

The County Council admitted in its Cabinet meeting, on the 26th March 2019, that the car park charges introduced last year at the Norbury Park car parks has resulted in substantially fewer vehicles being parked in the car parks than anticipated.

This admission came as Liberal Democrat County Councillor Hazel Watson (Dorking Hills) questioned the Cabinet Member responsible for introducing the charges at the Cabinet Meeting held at County Hall.

The Liberal Democrats today saw success when their motion aimed at cutting the costs spent on interim staff at Surrey County Council was adopted. The motion, proposed by Cllr Chris Botten, and seconded by Cllr Will Forster was produced in reaction to recent news that Surrey was recruiting for another interim manager on a £90,000+ annual salary.

Much of the depth of Surrey's financial crisis can be tracked back to the chaotic introduction of computer systems which an audit has revealed, among other things:

• The audit team were "unable to find the business case or any supporting paperwork for the Cabinet Member decision to purchase" [the IT system in question]
• The system is not fully utilised which shows an "inefficient use of public money to purchase and pay annual costs for a system that is not fully implemented"
• The improper use of the system "frequently results in parents arranging private support, followed by judicial review in the parents' favour. This in turn leads to increased costs of provision for the council"
• There have been instances of the Council paying a foster carer, or a school, for a child that is no longer being seen to by that specific service.

The Lib Dems have warned of a 'postcode lottery' as official figures reveal that only 30% of people in Surrey have been offered a health check over the last 5 years, significantly below the national average of 85.21% - the lowest in the country.

Lib Dem Health Spokesperson Judith Jolly blamed "swingeing Conservative cuts" and her party has called for "a transformational investment in public health with a penny on income tax."

Health check-ups for adults in England are available to everyone aged 40-74. According to the NHS, these checks are designed to spot early signs of stroke, kidney disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes or dementia.

However, figures published by Public Health England have revealed 22 local authority areas in England, including Surrey, have failed to offer more than 60% of people a health check.