Surrey County Council's Budget

At our budget meeting this morning, we councillors set the budget for next year. 2.5% increase in council tax - the lowest since the tax was set up 20 years ago - but some quite nasty spending cuts in prospect.

It was a sombre meeting, members recognising that we should keep the increase as low as possible but also apprehensive about the cuts in services that this will bring. As an ex-Executive Member for Transport, I was particularly concerned about the budget for road maintenance which is much less than I would like and which will I fear mean the postponement of greatly-needed highways resurfacing. But it's no good living above one's means and the budget is an honest one: spend what we can, get all the possible efficiencies out of the system, and then recognise that we can't do all that people would like us to do.

My speech at council emphasised two points: the need for joint working between all the public authorities in Surrey to achieve economies of scale, and a plea that we ourselves (members that is) take some of the pain too: we are too top-heavy I fear, and will need to make cuts at the councillor level as well. I have to say that this message was received in rather sullen silence!

Salt Bins Yet Again

I think I'm becoming a little obsessed by this, but am still frustrated by so many salt/grit bins in my division of South Farnham not yet being refilled after the snows two weeks ago. The forecast says that we could have another bout of snow next Tuesday and it's surely commonsense to be as prepared as we can.

I'm glad to say that my increasingly abrupt messages to Surrey County Council highways service seems to be making an impact and I'm promised this evening that refilling of the 44 bins in the division will get a higher priority, but I won't really be satisfied until actions accompany words.

Right Team Right Time

As the Chairman of Surrey's Health Scrutiny Committee, I was delighted last Friday to sign off our investigation into Surrey's Primary Care Trust's rehabilitation proposals in West Surrey. If , for instance, you have a stroke or a new hip, how will you be looked after until you return to full health? - that's what the 'Right Team Right Time' project aims to address.

The committee, which has a legal duty to comment on any proposals that could affect residents in Surrey, basically gave the project the thumbs-up but had concerns over how this would actually work out in practice. Some committee members (not me) were particularly concerned over the plans for the Cranleigh area.

I hope that our report was a balanced one: welcoming the proposals in principle but flagging up some significant issues to which the committee will return later on in the year.

Our report is now on Surrey County Council's web-site - see link to the right. It's good in my opinion, but what do others think?

Meeting with Farnham Society

At last, a non-snow item. This lunchtime the three county councillors representing Farnham (me, Mrs Pat Frost and Denise Le Gal) had a meeting with the Chairman and a committee member of the Farnham Society. I think it's fair to say that we have been too distant from each other for too long and so it was a welcome occasion to build bridges and discuss concerns. The Society is I think (without offending the many other amenity groups in the town) the premier residents' association in Farnham, with a membership of over 800 and a keen interest in conservation, traffic and planning issues - plus many others.

We talked traffic, the standard of road and pavement repairs, the forthcoming development in the East of the town, planning applications and many other subjects. I hope and indeed think that we had a fruitful and interesting exchange of views.

The touchstone is: will it produce concrete actions, and I'm hopeful it will.

Salt Bins Again

I decided to do a tour of salt/grit bins in my Surrey county council division of Farnham South, and have duly spent a good part of the last few days doing just that.

I am not sure that these statistics are very interesting to many people, but here they are anyway:

44 bins in total, including 5 that are not on the master list held by county.
5 locations where bins should have been but weren't (probably taken away when they were damaged and not returned).
17 were empty

I have asked for all bins to be filled and those taken away to be returned pronto. Winter is by no means over and we could need every single one.

I've had many requests of course for more bins and am busy collating them before sending them off. The danger is that we flood the whole area with rather ugly yellow boxes and they stand there for the next 20 years completely unused - as they have been for the previous two decades.

Comments on the Snow

My plea in the Farnham Herald last week for people to let me know if there are any particular 'hotspots' that should be treated in any next bout of prolonged snow has brought in quite a good response - 10 people so far plus the ones that contacted me before. One of next week's tasks is to collate them all and send them to Highways - and then keep an eye out for how they're faring.

Back to normal now, until the next time that is. The emphasis has moved to potholes and I talked to a gang specially hired for the occasion filling in potholes in the Long Road in Rowledge. This will be a prolonged job as the snow, ice and frost will have played havoc with road surfaces.

The Big Thaw

Thank goodness, the thaw seems to have arrived - but for how long? I have had surprisingly few complaints about the way in which Surrey County Council and Waverley Borough Council have coped in South Farnham with the snow and ice: most residents seem just to have got on with it. But, clearly, lessons will have to be learnt. My top three recommendations on how we should respond next time (which may be as little as a week away) would be to make sure that all existing salt bins are full (but please, don't empty them for your own driveways), to keep the A roads clear but also to react as quickly as possible to changing circumstances - if there's a particular problem on a stretch of road, then deal with it rather than sticking to previously-formulated priorities.

However, there's no escaping the fact that local authorities, perhaps lulled into complacency after over 20 years of mild winters, will not be able to satisfy every demand, and it would be dishonest of councillors to pretend otherwise.

I have asked residents, through the medium of the local paper, the Farnham Herald, to let me know if there are any particular problems they'd like me to pass on, and am getting a good response.

Salt Bins (Cont)

2010 has of course brought in a severe cold spell, with temperatures way below freezing every night and very little relief during the day.

There's also talk of more snow and I rang up the local highways engineer to check that preparations were in hand to cope. I was partially reassured by his answer which was basically that they were continuing to concentrate on the main roads and were reasonably confident that they'd be able to keep them clear. This is clearly the right priority and our A roads and motorways must be kept free and safe come what may.

I was less happy with the situation with salt bins however, although it was gratifying that nearly all had been refilled just before Christmas. However, a few crucial ones were still empty. The most important one in my division of Farnham South (because residents have told me of the problems there) is the non-replacement of the bin by the Bourne Cross-roads in Burnt Hill Road. It was damaged earlier last year and hasn't been replaced yet. I have asked that the issue be made top priority for tomorrow and am assured that it will be attended to.

More on Ice and Snow

The weather forecast now predicts a frost-free few days so hopefully things in South Farnham can get back to normal. It's been bitterly cold and therefore icy, and quite a few residents have been contacting me to ask for the county's gritting machines to help them out and to get salt bins refilled.

The answer has unfortunately had to be 'no' for most gritting requests since Surrey's policy (rightly) is to concentrate on the primary road network. However, the prolonged icy conditions have made life very difficult for some people, especially those on bus routes, so I've asked the highways service to modify their policy on priorities for salting to ensure that the main secondary roads get more attention if the ice lasts more than a day or two.

In addition, some salt bins have been emptied very quickly and I've asked for more urgency to be given to refilling them. As always, we rely heavily on residents reporting empty bins - we don't have enough people to continually check on the 1400 bins or so in the county.

A rather more peaceful Christmas in prospect I hope.

Winter Weather Arrives

The snow of the last few days has understandably brought Surrey County Council's road salting efforts to the fore, and I've been contacted by several residents asking if their particular road is going to be treated.

Surrey's policy is not to salt every single road, but to concentrate on the main transport networks covering about 40% of the road network. Priority 1 roads are done come what may - and have been salted repeatedly over the weekend - and Priority 2 roads are done when crews and machines are available.

In South Farnham, the roads are categorised as follows:

Priority 1 - The A325, A287, Ridgway/Shortheath/Echo Barn Road, Weydon Lane and Upper Lane, Tilford Road.

Priority 2 - Boundstone, Sandrock Hill, The Long Road and Fullers Road, Chapel Road, Burnt Hill Road, Green Lane, Little Green Lane. As I write, all the county's effort has been on Priority 1 but they are hoping to get round to Priority 2 as soon as they can.

I think the policy is right, although it's understandably frustrating for residents who want to access main roads from their houses and are finding difficulties. But, with limited resources of money, crews and salting machines, it's surely correct to keep the major transport arteries open.

Another problem has been that many of the salt bins have now been exhausted despite being topped up only a couple of weeks ago. They are being refilled as a matter of priority. I suspect alas that some residents are using the contents (meant for the public highway) to salt their own driveways, thus causing stocks to be run down more quickly than they should be.

Quarries and Minerals

Surrey County Council has won a major victory in its effort to reduce its minerals apportionment set by government. This is the annual tonnage that the county is required to make available to the quarrying industry for minerals such as building sand. The equation is simple: higher apportionment = more quarries.

For the last few years we at Surrey have been arguing for a lower apportionment (I remember some quite tetchy meetings in the Regional Planning Committee) with the county being at odds with most of our neighbours. Now, however, Surrey has been vindicated by a government-apppointed inspector who has declared we were right and has dramatically reduced the apportionment from its current sky-high level.

Our argument was very simple in theory but hard to convince others: although Surrey is blessed (or cursed) by plenty of potential mineral sites, they're nearly all located in the Green Belt or in relatively remote parts of the county. Opening up new quarries would cause severe environmental problems. There will be many communities out there who (without realising it at the time) are now saved from the misery that adjacent quarries would have caused.

Further to my post of 16 November about the possible sale of the water meadows to the South of Farnham town centre (where I hoped to reassure people that the site was as safe as possible from speculative development) I spent a morning last week helping to deliver leaflets to the surrounding area updating residents on where we are, and urging them to contribute to raising the approx £280,000 to buy the land on behalf of the community.

My message remains the same: there is very little chance of the meadows falling in to the hands of developers who want to build houses there. However, it would be great if the land could pass into community ownership and therefore have cast-iron protection for evermore.

I hear that pledges of support and actual cash are coming in nicely so we will see if there is the will and deep pockets to raise the total amount. Whatever happens, it's good to see a cross-party consensus (Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat) to tackle this issue.

Petition on Sandrock Hill Farnham

At Surrey County Council's local committee last week we councillors received a petition from a number of residents about the dangerous state of Sandrock Hill Road in South Farnham. I know the road well, having used it two or three times a week for years but have to admit not realising that residents were concerned about it. However, a meeting with the organiser of the petition just prior to the meeting soon disabused me.

The primary concern is the speed of traffic and then the condition of the road, including its propensity to flood. I hope we can do something about this (some of the measures ie white lining don't look too expensive) and have contacted the local highways service to ask for their views.

Formally, responses to petitions are given at the subsequent committee meeting - in this case not until the Spring - but I hope we can get action way before this date.

New Trees at Sandrock Hill Junction

My last post as a Farnham county councillor concerned the campaign to get a £25 million bypass at Wrecclesham, to the South West of Farnham town. This post records a more mundane matter, but one which is also dear to some residents' hearts: three new trees at the recently-completed Sandrock Hill/Shortheath Road cross-roads improvements.

After a little delay, the three Himalayan birches were duly planted. I am not a horticultural expert but am told that Autumn is the best season (in fact a month ago would have been even better) to allow the trees to put out some roots before the winter and be in a better position to flourish in the spring.

A local gardening and forestry expert tells me that he went along to tidy up and improve the planting by adjusting the ties, undertaking some pruning etc - thanks Brian.

I'm told that the trees will need constant watering next year if it's dry so we will need to think how this can be done reliably.