December has been a quiet month as far as Council activities\nare concerned. This is partly because of\nthe general election. This has created a\ngreat deal of work for Council Officers and has meant that some meetings have\nhad to be either cancelled or postponed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those of us who are chairmen \/ vice chairmen had been asked\nto keep a log of the amount of extra work in the chairmanship\/ vice\nchairmanship role that we had undertaken during November. It\u2019s not till you log what you do and how\nlong it takes that you realise just how much time is involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the strands of the work of the Standards Committee is\nto keep the Constitution up to date \u2013 and it is in the process of being\nrevised. There are lots of changes\nneeded because of changes in legislation and Council changes, such as job\ntitles and responsibilities. There are\nalso changes that Council Officers or Councillors request. The draft amendments are put together by the\nCouncil\u2019s legal team, then, as chairman of the Standards Committee, I go\nthrough them all with a fairly fine tooth comb to check them before they are\ncirculated to the committee. We then\ndebated the sections under consideration at the meeting in November. Following this, the legal department and I\nworked on the report that was taken to the Full Council meeting on December 18th<\/sup>\nand, I\u2019m pleased to say, agreed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another interesting item on the Council Agenda was a debate\non a petition that had been presented to the Council about their planning\nstrategy in light of the Government\u2019s house building targets. The Government\u2019s housing target for Epsom\n& Ewell is 579 per year for the next 15 years. This puts the Council in a very difficult\nposition as there just is not sufficient land available without making very\ndifficult decisions about the height and density of housing, as well as the use\nof green belt land. An interesting\ndebate was held looking at the options open to the Council and the outcome in\nother areas where Councils have either challenged or chosen to ignore the\nGovernment\u2019s targets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Local Committee meetings are an opportunity to ask\nquestions about Surrey County Council matters. \nAt the December meeting I asked that the junctions of Ashely Road \/\nAshley Avenue and Dorking Road \/ South Street \/ Woodcote Road could be\nre-assessed as the current road markings and traffic light timings appear to be\ncausing problems for both road and pavement users. Other points of interest to Woodcote Ward\ndiscussed included the problems with traffic in Worple Road and Chalk Lane and\nthe provision (or lack of it) of bus passes for girls travelling to Rosebery\nSchool from Langley Vale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We held a Councillor Surgery in Langley Vale Village\nHall. Thanks to those who came and we\nhope you found the session helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keeping an eye on planning applications and responding to\nresidents about them has taken quite a lot of time. The controversial ones in the ward this month\nhave included the application for flats in Dorking Road (corner of White Horse\nDrive) and ongoing rumours about what will be applied for on the part of the\nsite sold by the hospital. So far the\napplicant has asked the Planning Department whether an Environmental Impact\nAssessment will be required \u2013 and they have concluded that it will not. This month I have also updated residents on\nprogress with planning applications where they have asked for my advice, and\nhave discussed a couple of potential new applications with neighbours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was contacted by a\nresident about slippery leaves for residents walking from the Woodcote Estate\narea through Rosebery Park to the Town Centre and arranged for clearing these to\nbe added to the Council\u2019s work program. \nThey have a large workload at this time of year and the weather has to\nbe suitable \u2013 no point in trying to clear them if they are frozen to the\nground!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other issues raised by residents have included tree\npreservation orders, litter, untidy gardens, drones and traffic routes for\naccessing the Woodland Trust site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We took our two granddaughters to see Peter Pan at the\nPlayhouse \u2013 an excellent production, well worth a visit whatever your age! As a Council nominated member of Citizens\nAdvice, Epsom & Ewell I was also pleased to attend their Christmas festive drop-in\nand hear an update on their work, that does so much to help and support local\nresidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My diary is already filling up with meetings for January, it\nlooks like an interesting time ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" December has been a quiet month as far as Council activities are concerned. This is partly because of the general election. This has created a great deal of work for Council Officers and has meant that some meetings have had … Continue reading