Current priorities and concerns

In addition to this list, you can follow my thoughts on day to day issues by following this |link to my blog.

Housing

• As the portfolio holder for housing I am committed to ensuring that Elmbridge BC plays an active part in delivering decent housing for the less well-off members of our community.
• I am now making the most of my opportunities to deal with the various housing providers operating in our borough and spending as much time as I can familiarising myself with the housing issues facing this borough.
• In my first year in post, 185 new affordable homes were built in the Borough, nearly double the total amount for the previous 2 years.
• We have now launched the Home Ownership Assistance scheme jointly with Catalyst Housing Group, which will provide loans to assist people to take their first step on the housing ladder.
• We are currently engaged in responding to the Government's plans for reforming benefit entitlements. Our guiding principle will be to protect the most vulnerable members of our community.

Planning

• As a councillor, the single largest issue in my post bag is planning applications. We live in a highly desirable area and so there is a constant demand for new housing as more people move here.
• Planning is largely dictated by national government policy. The Labour Government went through a charade of "consulting" this Council over the South-East Plan but then ignored our representations. Fortunately the Coalition has set its face against such top-down policies.
• Although local councillors can and do decide many applications for Cobham through the West Area planning sub-committee, all decisions to refuse permission (but not decisions to allow it) can be appealed to the Government's planning inspector. Thus whilst there is a fig leaf of local decision-making, councillors are not really trusted to make decisions for the areas they represent.
• The Conservative-led coalition government is legislating to end the designation of gardens as "brownfield land" and thus available for development (this is known as "garden-grabbing").
• I would welcome a situation where most decisions about use of land were taken locally. Secondly, anyone dissatisfied with a planning decision should be entitled to appeal it but appeals should only be entertained at all where a clear breach of existing planning rules can be shown.
• The Conservative Party is determined to defend the Green Belt. Elmbridge is not "London Fringe" as the Labour Government called it. We live in Surrey and the London sprawl must not be allowed to continue.
• I have advised numerous local residents in making observations and objections to applications. These include the landscaping of the Sainsburys' car parking area and the proposed siting of a telecommunications mast on Sandy Lane.

Environment

• It is a fundamental principle of Conservative thinking that assets - be they taxpayer's money or the natural resources of this planet - should not be wasted.
• This isn't airy-fairy tree hugging, this is simple economics. We cannot afford to keep burning fossil fuels at current rates. If we do so we will find ourselves dependant on other nations some of which do not respect the rule of law and (as in the recent Ukrainian crisis) have shown no hesitation in shutting off the fuel supply to those countries whose governments upset the supplier nation.
• We can all contribute by making use of our recycling and food waste bins. Elmbridge is playing its part. We are currently on course to meet our recycling targets.
• I led the campaign to ensure that, when parking meters are installed in Cobham town centre, a 30-minute free period for parking is permitted. This will assist our local stores by encouraging short shopping trips in the town.

Education

• The abolition of grammar schools and the institution of the comprehensive system was the greatest crime perpetrated by the liberal elite against the citizens of this country in living memory.
• Secondly nothing has been done to promote proper apprenticeships for those children who do not want to follow an academic training.
• A nation's first duty is to defend itself. Its second is to educate its children. Britain has failed at the second duty for the last 40 years and is now paying the price with significant skill gaps in its workforce. The recent building boom showed this up with hundreds of plumbers, carpenters electricians and so on imported from Eastern Europe.
• Here in Surrey we are left in a ludicrous situation where there are not enough places in local secondary schools for children leaving the primary system. We need a new secondary school to serve Claygate, Cobham, Oxshott and Stoke d'Abernon.
• The new Conservative-led Coalition Government will allow one to be set up by local parents and businesses without government interference. A new free primary school has been given the initial go-ahead for the Cobham area. I hope to be able to work with those behind the proposal in order to address the current problem of secondary school admissions.

Crime

• Government statistics suggest crime rates have fallen locally but this simply does not chime with public perception of the risk of being a victim.
• This is because many incidents of petty criminality and anti-social behaviour go unreported and the police, given Government targets to meet do not encourage reporting of such offences.
• I welcome the recent announcement by the Chief Constable of Surrey Police that he intends to police this county in such a way as will allay the public's fears and if that means centralised targets will not be met then he isn't going to worry about that.
• I supported the motion passed at Full Council on 22nd July 2009 condemning the Government's decision to cap Surrey Police's budget. It was very disappointing that a number of local Liberal Democrats did not support the motion.

Tax

• The Conservative Group on Elmbridge Borough Council has delivered value for money. In the present recession, there is a moral obligation upon all levels of Government to keep taxes low and to use taxpayers' money prudently.
• Council tax levels have been frozen in 4 of the last 5 years.