Campaigners against plans to build on the Green Belt have welcomed confirmation that the inflated housing figures imposed on Surrey by the previous Labour Government should no longer be used to give the go ahead for new developments.
The Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council have called for an independent investigation into problems within the Children's Service in Surrey. This follows a Channel 4 television programme "Dispatches: undercover social worker" broadcast on the 7 June, which filmed an undercover family support worker working for the Children's Service in Surrey.
The Liberal Democrat Special Conference in Birmingham overwhelmingly approved the party's Coalition Agreement with the Conservative Party. It passed the following resolution:
The County Council's Conservative administration has recently decided to allow members of the public to submit petitions at meetings of the whole Council, not just at committee meetings. This is something that the Liberal Democrat group at County Hall have requested many times in order to open up the Council, but which until now has always been refused by the Conservative administration, even as recently as March this year.
The Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council have for many years regularly suggested that the County Council could make significant savings by reducing its reliance on costly agency staff by reducing the number of agency staff and using its own directly-employed staff instead. At last someone has listened.
Proposals to cut "school special" bus services, in some cases from this September, brought such strong public opposition from parents and schools that none of them will be removed before September 2011. However, this is just a reprieve. All "school special" bus services across the county are still being considered for closure, with the Cabinet expected to come to a decision on 13 July.
