Liberal Democrat county councillors have condemned a decision by Conservative-run Surrey County Council to award a £400K grant to an art gallery which has £38m of funds and an income of £1.2m a year.
Opposition county councillors can today reveal that Surrey County Council is in the process of planning housing and development across dozens of sites in a secret deal that could be worth over £1bn with a private sector partner.
Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are calling on the Conservative administration at County Hall to stop further investment in commercial property outside of Surrey and to instead prioritise County Council owned vacant buildings to either be used to provide services or to be sold or let.
Liberal Democrat county councillors in Surrey have expressed their disappointment following a decision today by the Conservative Cabinet to slash the opening hours of Community Recycling Centres across the county and increase charges for residents.
Liberal Democrat county councillors have welcomed the decision by the Conservative Cabinet in Surrey to drop its plans to close four Community Recycling Centres after an outcry from thousands of Surrey residents. However, the County Council confirmed that it will proceed with its plans to reduce the opening hours of all the Centres across the county as well as dropping the daily free waste allowance which residents currently enjoy. The proposals are scheduled to be confirmed at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 26th September. Cllr Stephen Cooksey, Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson, said today:
Liberal Democrat county councillors have today welcomed the announcement that the County Council has extended the public consultation on the future of the Surrey Performing Arts Library to four weeks up to 1st October 2017. The Conservative-administration had previously only offered two weeks for library users to respond to the County Council's plans, which include closing the library in order to make savings of £180,000. Cllr Hazel Watson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council, said today: