A taste of Tory (+LibDem) government?

A County Council that has been rated as one of the worst in the Country and yet has been re-elected with a bigger majority. It must be regarded as a flagship council by the Tory high command at Westminster!

For the population of Surrey it is a reminder of how arbitrary and uncaring a Cameron government may be.

Road maintenance contracts

Subversive tactics

Pegasus school buses

The County Council has now confirmed that the service will be axed this month. It is greatly appreciated by the parents of the 800 primary school children who rely on it. It provides safe transport to school and cuts down car journeys , which we would expect any responsible authority to support.

Detailed costings for the service have not been published. The decision has been made in the face of many objections and suggested cost-cutting moves. There appears to have been no effective consultation with either parents, schools or Guildford County Councillors. The Tory Cabinet clearly intended to cut the service all along, with no intention of considering the benefits or improving the economics.

At the time of the May elections, the service had been running long enough for them to know the true costs. Yet there was no mention of the closure plan in their election literature. They are guilty of deceiving us - not for the first time. The Tories haven't changed, they still don't like providing public services.

We think that this issue should be reopened for public consultation. We should be allowed to see the costings and consider alternative provision if the present arrangements cannot be improved. The intention should be to provide a service and then find the most economic way of achieving it.

Please send us your comments.    Email: school_buses@labour4guildford.org

Road contracts
The appalling state of Surrey's roads must make them the worst in the United Kingdom!

The County Council has been severely criticised for it's handling of highways maintenance contracts especially allowing itself to be grossly overcharged for shoddy work. Two years ago, its contractors had to pay back £1.3 million for botched work on pothole repairs. Things haven't improved since.

Guildford resident, John Glanfield, pointed out that neighbouring authorities negotiated better deals with contractors and achieved a higher standard of road maintenance at a lower cost. Incredibly, it looked as though Surrey would renew the old contracts.

More recently it seems they are likely to dump the existing contractors and seek a more competitive deal. But they still appear to cling to the belief that they had only minor problems with the contractors. Surrey residents bumping over the potholes can tell them what a shambles their road maintenance has been.

Please email any comments to guildford_ potholes@labour4guildford.org

Severe criticisms of the County Council - The Frater Report
"Failure of leadership, culture and governance, . . . shared equally between both members and officers."   ". . . lacking vision, direction and strategy, . . . operates by a series of often disconnected short-term tactics,   . . . internally focussed, obsessed with itself, with its own processes and bureaucracy, . . . less focus on residents, communities and working in partnerships."

These views are expressed in the damning report on the workings of the Tory-controlled County Council prepared by the Interim Chief Executive earlier in the year. The report could have been published in April in time for May elections, but it was deliberately withheld until July, specifically to avoid it becoming an election issue.

The competence of the Tory administration at County Hall was a very important election issue that should have been debated during the campaign. Preventing the electorate seeing it, is in our view, a subversion of democracy. Had it been debated, it is probable that the Conservatives would not have been returned with an increased majority.

What do you think? Email your comments to: damning_evidence@labour4guildford.org