Goldsworth News : 006 County Council Feb 2006 Report

GOLDSWORTH NEWS HEADLINES                      

 (last updated 5 Feb 2006)

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County Council Report

By Diana Smith, County Councillor for Knaphill and Goldsworth West.

Roads
Work is at last about to start at the junction of Kirkland Avenue and Lockfield Drive. The pain of this disruption should be over by the end of May. The gain will be a mini-roundabout making a safer junction, together with a Toucan Crossing over Lockfield Drive, towards Creston Avenue. This should be particularly helpful for children getting
to school. The scheme was given the go-ahead at one of my first Local Committee meetings, getting on for two years ago. Lockfield Drive doesn’t get any less busy, so I’m still working to keep crossing points at the Amstel Way roundabout on the agenda

Spring Cuts
Last year at this time Surrey went through the PPR (Policy and Productivity Review) asking all departments to look for 10% cuts. This year we have the Business Delivery Review, with expensive external Consultants and Surrey Officers together looking for both cuts and ways of doing things better. The immediate budget pressure is coming
from a fall in Revenue Support Grant and a potential cap of 5% on Council Tax rises.
The outcome has been proposals for re-organisation that will take away 661 staff posts. The theory is that SCC will be ‘leaner and fit-for-purpose’. Centralised procurement and contract management will be more efficient. There will be a beefed-up Call Centre with expert advice on hand so that more inquiries and problems are settled
at once. ‘Front line’ staff have generally been ‘out of scope’, but the services backing them up have not. Any services that aren’t statutory or won’t contribute to an ‘excellent’ rating for the Council are at risk. The picture should be clearer next month, but I don’t expect it to be pretty.

County Hall
In January Surrey’s Executive (the Surrey equivalent of the cabinet) changed its mind about signing the 30-year contract with Equion to provide and maintain office buildings for Surrey. So the New County Hall at Brewery Road will not be built. The reason given in their resolution was that construction costs had gone up since last March, and Surrey was getting less than it needed from the Government in the Rate Support Grant. The background papers show other considerations contributed to this spectacular U-turn. With the delay since last March, County Hall in Kingston has gone up in value, so the deal involving Kingston University looks less good. The Government is getting more serious about merging the powers of County Councils and Borough and District Councils into ‘Unitaries’. How big each Unitary would be, and what would happen to Woking is still entirely speculation, but New County Hall might not have been ‘County’ hall for long. Plus some Councillors have been wondering how it would ‘play’ with the public to cut services and make staff redundant while spending money on the new building. A problem now is that staying at County Hall in Kingston in an old building that needs repairs and modernisation would also be very expensive. There will have to be more talk about options, but it has been County Policy since 1997 to re-locate Surrey County Council in Surrey. Personally, I liked the design for New County Hall and feel Woking has missed out, though I wonder whether a thirty-year contract with a private company ever made sense.

Happier Days
Births, marriages and deaths go on regardless of Surrey County Council’s financial problems. Besides the essential work of making and keeping records of these events, Surrey’s Registration Service offers a whole range of non-religious, civil ceremonies. Marriage, of course, and the new Civil Partnerships for same-sex couples. There are also naming Ceremonies, if you don’t want a baptism but would like to formally welcome a new baby, and Renewal of Marriage Vows or Commitment ceremonies for couples who want to affirm their relationship. Beside the Register Offices there are licensed venues all over Surrey. If you’re starting to plan a wedding or other such event, the ‘Surrey Ceremony Guide’ is a good starting point. I don’t generally approve of Surrey’s glossy brochures, but I make an exception for this one. The information is clear, and the yummy pictures there for a purpose. It wipes the dreariness from "Register Office Wedding", and is available free by phoning Surrey County Council’s Contact Centre on 08456 009009.

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