Mole Valley Liberal Democrats - Demand Better

Following the hustings meeting in Dorking on Saturday 2nd March, it was announced that the Mole Valley Liberal Democrat members had re-selected Paul Kennedy as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate. Paul has stood for the Mole Valley constituency in both the 2015 and 2017 General Elections.

Following the announcement, Paul said: "I'm thrilled and honoured to have the continuing support of Liberal Democrat members. We are united in our ambition to get a better deal for Mole Valley residents than the disastrous Conservative diet of cuts, green belt development, and Brexit. Liberal Democrats demand better."

In light of recent earthquakes in Newdigate, we call upon Surrey County Council to refuse permission to extend the Horsehill wells to allow the drilling of four new hydrocarbon wells, one water reinjection well and side-track drilling (Application SCC Ref 2018/0152).

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News released today has revealed that the University of Surrey are planning to cut their staff, with all staff being given the option of voluntary redundancy*. The University has released a letter, sent to all staff, which highlights that one of the key factors influencing this decision is the uncertainty surrounding the UK's position in the EU, and how this may affect the University's financial position.

Surrey County Council is advertising yet again for temporary staff with salaries in excess of £90k. The latest is for a Programme Manager to oversee the move from County Hall.

Cllr Chris Botten, Leader of the Liberal Democrats at Surrey County Council, said:

"The use of temporary staff runs the risk that if they fail to deliver long term solutions to the problems set, they are long gone before the problems come to light but are enriched by their generous salary.

Surrey Liberal Democrats remain opposed to the third runway at Heathrow, and whilst we appreciate this consultation is about changing the airspace, it is clear that not all of the proposals being consulted on are intended for the existence of only two runways. Therefore, we feel it poignant to reiterate our opposition to the expansion of Heathrow at this point, before establishing our position on the specific consultation issues. The need for further airport expansion is clear from increased efforts to open up global mobility, however, we feel expansion would be better utilised somewhere other than the South East of England which is already plagued by numerous airports. The South East of England will not be able to cope with the expansion of Heathrow as there is a serious lack of infrastructure to cope with all the consequences a bigger airport will cause. The investment into expansion and thus infrastructure would be better spent elsewhere in the country, and could be used to spread the economic opportunity to the North of England, where it is so desperately needed.

From Claire Malcomson, Liberal Democrat District Councillor for The Holmwoods:

Last year a colleague and I started a pressure group MARFT ( Mole Valley Against Rural Fly-tipping). We have joined together with the CPRE, Surrey Willdlife Trust and the National Trust in order to fight fly-tipping and prosecute the culprits. It costs the NT £30,000 p.a to clear up tips on their land in East Surrey.

Liberal Democrat councillors and campaigners are leading the campaign to protect and strengthen Mole Valley's libraries during the next round of Tory cuts at Surrey County Council.

Not satisfied with plans to close Leatherhead Children's Centre and Dorking Recycling Centre, Conservatives on Surrey County Council have decided to cut funding for Surrey's libraries by nearly 30%. The Council has not said where library cuts will fall - a consultation is expected after the next local elections - but a briefing document notes that just 18 libraries account for 65% of all library visits - implying that smaller libraries are not part of the Tory "plan".

The County Council's Cabinet has decided to postpone the closure of the Dorking Tip until 1 October 2019.

However, even with this reprieve, the Dorking Tip will be restricted to only accepting recyclable material and it will still be closed in the Autumn unless a way of operating the Tip can be identified which will allow a similar level of savings to be made to the savings that will be achieved by closing it.

Only a few days are left to save the Community Recycling Centre at Dorking, whose future will be decided by Surrey County Council's Cabinet on 29th January. The recommendation to the Cabinet following the recent consultation is to close the tip.

The last hope of avoiding closure lies with the local petition which has so far attracted over 1800 signatures and which will be presented to the Cabinet before it takes its decision.