The key issues raised at the school council meeting were:

The need for a Zebra crossing in Victoria Road to make the journey to school safer for pupils who walk to school

To have lower monkey bars in local parks from Westfield to Knaphill.

To have a play area on the green in Victoria Road

To make sure dog mess and litter is cleaned up outside school and more recycling and dog bins are provided, which are emptied more often

To have cycle parking outside shops in Victoria Road as too many bikes are left on the floor with nowhere to park

To make sure local museums have more about World War 2

During the meeting we discussed the time frame for change in our local community and the budget constraints that mean it is not easy to get money to spend at the moment.  However, I promised to raise these issues with Woking Borough Council and where appropriate with Surrey County Cllr Diana Smith.  At the end of the meeting we took a vote on which items were most urgent, with a play area on the green in Victoria Road the clear winner with clearing up litter and dogs mess and adding more bins a strong second.

I was informed by students that they had raised a concern with local police regarding litter being dropped by older school students from other schools on their way home past St John’s and I brought this up a police meeting I attended in the afternoon.  I am pleased to report that action has already been taken on this and that this will continue.

Following the meeting I made a short visit to a Year 6 lesson.  As a governor at St John’s primary I am highly impressed with the progress the school is making under the excellent leadership of Mrs Parker and her team. When I have children, I would be happy to send them to St John’s Primary.

It was suggested that a leaflet circulated to the unadopted roads in Knaphill – that have adoption agreements in place contained errors. This is not the case as all information provided was based upon information provided by Surrey County Council officers. As other councillors have other information I applaud that this information has now also been published for the benefit or residents. If it had been published earlier as information has been for over a year on Cllr Diana Smith’s blog then it would have been even better.

A link to details on Cllr Diana Smith’s blog are as follows: http://dianasmith.mycouncillor.org.uk/brookwood-hospital-estate-road-adoption/

Regarding Cllr and PPC Rosie Sharply appearing on literature in Knaphill as another Councillor this is surely quite a silly assertion. Rosie has been appearing on literature across Woking for many years as our contact regarding national matters. She appeared on literature during my election in Knaphill in 2008 and in county elections for Knaphill in 2009.

Finally regarding Warbury lane a far more balanced account of the issue can be found at:http://dianasmith.mycouncillor.org.uk/2009/10/25/woking-local-committee-22-october-knaphills-warbury-lane-additions-to-wokings-cycle-network-highways-overspends-and-a-duck-island-for-goldsworth-park-lake/

The main obstacle for the supposedly environmental conservative party was that as Woking was already so good at reducing emissions and caring for the environment that achieving 10% was much harder for Woking than some other boroughs who had not made so much effort to reduce emissions in the past. There was further worry that while the 10:10 Campaign will celebrate achievements of reductions of 3% or more, some conservative councillors expressed concern that if a league table was published it could confuse residents by making Woking look less good on the environment that it actually is.

This sort of argument, mixed in with some climate change denials misses the point that we have to take action now and the more action we can take by supporting this initiative the better, what message does it send out that Woking a supposedly leading council on the environment is not supporting the 10:10 campaign? For me personally I do not think 10% is enough and favour more radical measures such as lowering the heating temperature in council buildings to help the council lower fuel use as well as save money. If we are really serious about climate change we will not make much difference without some discomfort and significant changes in our life style. I would much rather Woking was known as a council that signs up for things sends the positive message and tries really hard for the environment, where people say ‘wear an extra layer if you are coming to our offices, it is cool for the climate’, rather than worrying that if we try we might not be successful and look bad in league tables that may or may not be published. Our future is more important than this!

For more information about 10:10 see http://www.1010uk.org/

I expressed concern regarding another aspect of the presentation that NHS Surrey is currently rated as fair (equivalent to a 3 on a scale of 1 to 4 with 1 being the best) for both the quality of care offered and for the use of resources.  My concern was that with the likely affects of an aging population in Surrey and with future financial pressures what is being done to ensure that NHS Surrey does not slip from fair to weak.  Unfortunately I was not heartened by the reply, which I would have expected to be full of terms like innovation, efficiency and best practice instead the reply seemed to suggest nothing of the sort, leaving us to wonder how weak will be avoided.

I found out about the evening from an advert in the local paper and my wife and I are very pleased we did.

I must thank all the Community Speed Watch volunteers in Knaphill, as without them it would be impossible to get out as often as we do. We will be there again in January and hope to find fewer speeding cars next time.

It was very interesting to read about the fact behind the fiction. Such as the fiction that Britain’s special relationship with America is undermined by our EU membership…A viewed disagreed with by former US Ambassador to Britain, Ray Seitz: “If Britain’s voice is less influential in Paris or [Berlin], it is likely to be less influential in Washington.”

To see Euromyths debunked visit http://www.bearder.eu/pages/Euromyths.html

Even if it did end a little early, I am sure the event would have been a success and that the local community in Knaphill is grateful to the police team for their continued hard work.

With the Lisbon treaty finally signed, Europe can stop focusing on its own internal political structures and more on effectively governing and delivering solutions to transnational political issues.  One of the strengths of the Lisbon treaty and why I am very much in favour of it, is that it makes clear the powers and responsibilities of the nation states and the powers and responsibilities of the European Union. At the heart of this, one of the political concepts dearest to my heart and to most other Lib-dems, is the idea that decisions are made at the level they are most relevant.  In this case transnational issues such as the Environment, Competition policy, Aviation and many others are tackled at a European level as these issues are not confined to national borders and require significant cooperation.  Some powers are even being given up by the EU under the Lisbon treaty as these are seen as more the domain of the nation states.

The Lisbon treaty has created clear and more efficient decision making processes including increasing the amount of majority voting as well as giving more power within EU processes to the European parliament made up of our elected representatives – MEPs. The advent of a President of the EU and an EU high representative for foreign affairs will go a long way to enabling the EU to act as a coherent single body on the world stage acting in the interest of all the citizens of the EU.

The European project has done a great deal for citizens of the EU and will continue to do so, not least in the form of stability and economic prosperity coming from our common and integrated economies. The EU has done a great deal for the countries of Eastern Europe and this in turn has enriched the lives of every citizen of the EU.  The draw of the prosperity that comes from membership of the EU has been a spur for many former communist countries to reform both economic and social policy as well as respect for the rule of law and the democratic process, not least in the enactment of Human Rights legislation, clearly missing from some European nations still outside of the EU such as Belarus and to some extent in Serbia and other potential future members.

As a young lib-dem I was fortunate to be elected into the bureau of the International Federation of Liberal Youth with responsibility for organising cooperation events within Asia and other areas of the world.  I met other young liberal activists from all over the world and took part in training sessions with those who had recently succeeded in the struggle for democracy or were still engaged in the challenges posed by the country in which they lived. In almost every conversation, what was clear was that cooperation on the level seen in the EU is something that others strive towards because of the strength it provides.  This is something of which residents of the UK should be proud rather than afraid.

As a member of Greenpeace I had an email last month inviting me to visit the ship and take a tour.  The Rainbow Warrior is moored in Docklands, London on its way to Copenhagen where it will take part in campaigning at theCopenhagen summit next in December.

It was amazing to learn about life on the ship and hear firsthand from experienced campaigners the lengths that Japanese whalers will go to, to meet their quota and the efforts Greenpeace activists go to, to protect the whales.  Having met a lot of staunchly pro-whaling Japanese people when I lived and worked in Osaka and now having met some very determined Greenpeace activists I can imagine it really must be quite a tense experience.

While I was there I signed up for the Greenpeace Airplot campaign to be one of thousands of beneficial owners of a strip of land Greenpeace has purchased that will be needed by developers to build the third runway at Heathrow.  While this may not actually stop the runway being built, it will significantly complicate and delay the process.  More information can be found at http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/whats-your-plot-stop-third-runway-20091022 

Next time the Rainbow Warrior is in town I recommend a visit to anyone interested in the work of Greenpeace!

It is always nice to meet local residents at these monthly surgeries, if you have a concern and you are passing by, please do stop to let us know.  When we are not in Knaphill High Street we are also available at home by phone and on email.

There was a lot of good news for cycling in Woking which is covered in the minutes available below.  Highlights from these for Knaphill include: The completion of the link between Percheron Drive and Redding Way as well as the link across Knaphill Country park via Hermitage Road.  Woking is being actively encouraged to put in bids for additional funding for which matched funding may not be required, bids may include a new cycle crossing for the Brookwood cross roads.

Good new for cycling in Woking showed that cycle usage is up. Electronic cycle counters show considerable increases in cycling along the Basingstoke canal path from 57 cyclists a day in July 2007 to 389 in June 2009.

In a change to where we can cycle in Woking, the cycle ban in the town centre has been lifted on particular routes, making them shared use, for an 18 month trial.  These routes are available on a map called ‘getting around town’ which I have not been able to find online.  I will reserve judgement on whether it is a good idea to do this until after the 18 month trial, which started in April.

Cycle Woking has been involved in a bikeability project offering the opportunity for young people to tryout bikes and to learn to cycle safely, so far visiting 5 schools.  This is a positive step given that with an increase in the price for cycle proficiency this training may plug a gap that may have resulted from reduced take up of cycle proficiency that a cycle town cannot afford to have.  I asked a question about this as is mentioned in the minutes.

 The minutes of the meeting are available here: Cycle Form Minutes

As is the system at the council, the motion was then referred to the Council’s Executive. The executive met on 15th October 2009 to discuss, among other things, this motion. I attended the executive meeting as in the papers for the meeting an officer of the council had submitted the comment that it would be helpful if I could be invited to address the executive on the over-arching ambition of the motion so that appropriate proposals can be brought forward by Officers for consideration. I attended, although I did not receive any invitation from the executive to do so, in the hope of being invited to speak.  

When I was invited to speak, it became apparent that the executive did not want me to explain the ambition to the motion, but that the executive had taken exception to the motion, especially the wording. As this became clear I explained that I had not come to the meeting to be cross-examined but to explain the ambition of the motion.

The aim of this blog post is to explain and make clear the ambition of the motion and to refute claims and inaccuracies made on Conservative websites. 

Some of the criticism of the motion centres of the first two points, what I consider to be the poor level of youth service provision in Woking and the increasing amount of antisocial behaviour seen in our communities.

Unsurprisingly I disagree with the view that all is well for youth provision in Woking. If we look at the Surrey County Council website and the Woking Borough Council website for information about youth services, it is clear there is a limited range of activities. The Woking Borough Council page has not even been updated since February 2008, but little has improved. The links are: : http://www.woking.gov.uk/community/children/young/out/wwwwokinggovukyouthcentres and http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/SCCWebsite/sccwspages.nsf/LookupWebPagesByTITLE_RTF/Youth+clubs+and+projects+in+Woking?opendocument 

The centres we have in Woking, with the exception of Ypod, are not open most evenings and are not numerous enough for young people to easily attend them.

Looking at anti-social behaviour, it is an issue that comes up time and time again on the door step, but is a type of offence that is not always reported to the police. Crime is generally on the increase in Woking, but I am willing to concede that anti-social behaviour is a difficult type of crime to unpick, as is shown by the graph from the Surrey Police crime map for Woking: http://surrey.crimemapper.co.uk/map/woking/ 

Anti-social behaviour has decreased over the last 3 months, but is that the right time frame to be looking at? If the statistics are looked at over a longer period of time then it shows that anti-social behaviour increased between March and June, decreasing over July until September. It is equally difficult to unpick the youth component of these statistics. Furthermore, regardless of the increase or decrease, the level of anti-social behaviour in Woking is unacceptable. Putting the young people of Woking in a position where they can either stay at home or wander the streets some nights of the week is socially irresponsible. We do not treat our elderly people like this, so why would we consider it for the young. 

From the perspective of my ward Knaphill, if anti-social behaviour was not an issue, I doubt that Sainsbury’s would have gone to the expense of fitting gates to their store car park, recently, to keep young people and their cars out at night. A year ago there were serious issues with anti-social behaviour in Knaphill around the Vyne Field. One of the actions to reduce the problem was carried out by the residents association. The Knaphill Youth Café (now known as the cabin) was created. It was only possible for it to open on a Monday due to availability of council buildings to provide a venue, but it has been a great success. I ask the question though, if it is needed, is Monday enough? Of course it is not, but there simply are not enough volunteers to run it more nights and there is not an offer from the council to give volunteers a venue any other night. The absence of youth workers from Surrey County Council at the Cabin has been stark. 

The motion also notes the lack of opportunities for intergenerational interaction. The ambition of the motion is to create a Woking where young people have places to go near where they live, which give society an informal opportunity to socialise the young people into the behaviours we hope for in our community. The motion is not specifying what exactly young people need and what they want. It is not saying structure is needed. It is not saying cost should come from the residents. It is simply saying that there should be opportunity for the provision – joint working – Woking may have the buildings and Surrey may have the staff (and some buildings) let’s work together with the community for the young people of Woking.  

It is up to the Council officers to investigate the costs and put forward a model, having consulted young people, which will provide a good quality of youth provision and reduce anti-social behaviour. 

Woking currently has less provision in its youth offer than many other parts of Surrey, but Surrey is significantly failing to meet targets that it has set for engaging with young people who are not in education, employment or training. If these young people then have nothing to do and nowhere to go in the evening, it is not surprising if they are involved in anti-social behaviour. On the night of the executive meeting, one Conservative councillor made a point of stressing the importance of family involvement with young people in the evenings. This is totally valid, but for some young people spending the evening in the family home is not a realistic option and local politicians who fail to see that, are failing to fully represent the people in their wards.

Other Liberal Democrat Councillors from all over Woking tell me they have an issue with the lack of provision for young people and complaints of anti-social behaviour from residents and this is why we have put this motion forward. To do something about the problem, to help those who work in the community, rather than to be in denial and do nothing. There are clear differences between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, this is one such issue. 

Youth motion for Full Council on 1^st October  

Noting:         

Poor level of youth service provision in the borough. The increasing amount of antisocial behaviour seen in our communities.The lack of structured activities for young people in the evening outside of uniformed services and church groups.

The lack of opportunities for positive cross generational interaction.

Calling for:

Woking Borough Council to investigate the cost of providing adequate youth service provision in Woking.

Woking Borough Council to approach Surrey County Council with a view to agreeing to run youth service provision in Woking jointly, in liaison with the Local Committee.

Provision to include an accessible youth centre in each county division in

Woking Borough Council to support and work with existing local community organisations to enable the fulfilment of this motion. 

Woking Borough Council needs to do more to help avoid a lost generation of young people. This is a serious concern.  It is not just recent school leavers or young people with relatively few qualifications or experience seeking manual or retail employment this also includes recent graduates or other young people who would have gone into so called ‘white collar’ jobs.  In previous recessions relatively fewer graduates or experienced young people found themselves in this situation. It is my fear that not enough has been done and we are one step closer to a lost generation of young people who will be out of work from the prime of their life.  This is something which is shown to have a detrimental effect on young people for years after they find work.

With the current employment freeze in operation in Woking and Surrey it makes perfect sense to preserve the quality of service offered by the council by taking on apprentices and at the same time to ensure that young people are in position prepared to move into fully paid employment at the time employers are ready to hire.  If they are not prepared then at the end of the recession these young people may find they lose out to more experienced ‘older’ candidates when job opportunities do come around and the fresher graduates that follow them.For further information on unemployment figures see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8258405.stmNick Clegg in his recent speech as leader of the Liberal Democrats at the Lib-dem party conference made a 90 day promise to young people that they would not go more than three months without a right of access to a place in work, training, or education. To read more about this see http://www.nickclegg.com/lostgeneration/

Ever since I was elected in May 2008 I have been campaigning to have the white lines at the junction of Barnby Road and Robin Hood Road repainted. It beggars belief that it has taken Surrey County Council over 15 months to do this, but finally the junction is safer, with fever cars approaching the junction unaware that they need to give way.  The dashed lines and the give way triangle that indicate this have been painted.  Fingers crossed it will mean residents having to listen to fewer drivers making emergency stops in the middle of the night, as drivers should be more aware of the nature of the junction.  The excuses used to explain the delay have ranged from lack of funds to changes in staff.  It makes me wonder what kind of muddle Conservative run Surrey County Council is in.There are still many other areas in Knaphill where white lines need to be repainted and County Councillor Diana Smith continues to campaign for these to be restored.  I hope we do not need to wait another 15 months for the next road to get a lick of paint.

I met the Sue Morley CEO of the ambassadors over a year ago to express my desire for visitors to the Ambassadors to be able to recycle their paper and plastic waste on leaving the cinema or theatre.

It has taken a long time due to the need for the Ambassadors to renegotiate their waste collection contract, but I am delighted that people visiting the Ambassadors can now recycle used paper and plastic after a show.

I am pleased that the Ambassadors are taking a leading role in promoting recycling for customers by businesses in Woking. I urge other businesses to follow this example. I know that the Ambassadors will be more than willing to give advice on how they achieved this.

These small changes do add up to have a real impact to reduce our impact on the environment. I warmly applaud the work by the Ambassadors in doing this.

There is something wrong with the financial model at the heart of Woking Borough Council that the council needs high parking charges so much.  The Council has to substantially subsidise other areas of the council’s activities through charging drivers significantly more than it costs the council to provide the parking facility thereby making a profit out of driving people away from Woking.  As the Conservatives have driven the council’s reserves so low, parking charges went up earlier this year along with an extension in the charging hours at a time when no sensible organisation would seek to do this.

There is no reason why the council cannot use profit from car parking to run its own very local public transport shuttle service to high demand areas in Woking and anyone such as Conservative Simon Ashall who thinks that only Surrey County Council can run local transport really lacks imagination.  It is bad enough that prices in Woking are higher than in Guildford on a Sunday, it is even worse that these higher prices are not going towards environmentally sustainable local transport, such as electrically powered shuttle buses.

Woking Borough Council is proud of the efforts it has been making on the environment, but these token gestures do not go far enough. Tackling climate change and supporting the economy will require innovation, it is the Lib Dems who have the imagination to do this.

You should also receive a bag for battery recycling, again I have not received mine yet. To find out more about these changes see http://www.woking.gov.uk/environment/wasterecycle/householdwastecollection/daychanges

The key question is should we return all the historical artefacts in the British and other museums that we didn’t purchase or receive as gifts?   For me the answer is an emphatic yes and until we do return these items we will struggle to rid ourselves of our reputation as imperial power abroad. This reputation hinders us in international negotiations and in efforts to increase the spread of democracy abroad.  

For people from Taiwan this as an especially emotive issue as they have a very large number of artefacts from China in their National Palace Museum.  There is a difference though, as these treasures were taken to protect them from destruction at the hands of communists keen to rid China of icons of inequality.  As over 10 percent of the Taiwanese citizens are from mainland China, it could be argued they were taking the treasures with them as they left. 

I don’t want to be seen as anti-patriotic, but it is worth noting that a significant proportion of the world’s population appears to see us in an imperial light, rightly or wrongly.  I certainly support our national teams in sport and where decisions have been made to send our troops abroad I wish them every success and a swift return home with minimum casualties on all sides.  However, if we are to be able to use soft political power abroad to influence the development of the world, rather like the Scandinavian nations are able to do at present, we still need to overcome our past.

This follows sterling work by Surrey County Councillor Diana Smith, in putting together and frequently updating a webpage about the progress being made on each road.  This can be seen at http://dianasmith.mycouncillor.org.uk/files/2009/07/brookwood-hospital-roadsjuly09.pdf 

My letters can be accessed below:

Road adoption letter Coresbrook

Road adoption letter Florence Way B and Tringham Way

Road adoption letter Silistria Close, Brushfield Close, Barton Close, Florence Way A and Cavel Way

Woking Borough Council has just announced a new rate of parking for people parking all day.  Reducing the price from £8 to £5 in all town centre car parks.  This is good news, but is it enough?  To see the press release click here WBC car parking charges press release

However, it seems to me that parking charges in Woking go up and up.  Has it got the point when they can not go up any more?  I understand that revenue from parking may even be falling.

I hear more people than ever before opt to get a lift into Woking and to be picked up again by relatives, doubling journeys and damaging the environment. I also worry that given that the new payment machines in the car parks do not take 5p coins, rises in parking charges will be rounded up to the nearest 10p each time.

I wonder if in Woking parking charges should be linked to cost of providing parking services and public transport and that the money raised should not be spent on other things.  In Woking this would probably mean a threat to services that are paid for by the profit from parking.  I would not want this to happen, but what about restricting any additional income from rises in parking charges to be ring fenced to only be spent on improvements in parking facilities and better public transport.  This might dissuade councillors from the damaging effect of raising parking charges that current rises are having on our local economy and environment. If something is not done, the predictions that councils will seek big rises in car parking charges to fill black holes in funding such as in this newspaper report might come true in Woking.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6788767.ece

Six months ago I would have said it was anti competitive for the government to force banks to lend at a lower rate and even irresponsible for the government to dictate who the banks should lend to.  However, as time has gone on it has become clearer and clearer that banks are afraid to break ranks and offer good deals.  It might be that the time has come for the government to instruct the banks it has large stakes in to get on with offering fair deals to consumers, even if that means large numbers of customers switch away from other banks.  There is nothing anti competitive in a bank pursuing a policy to raise market share by offering fair deals, if all banks have equal access to cheap credit from the government. 

It is unfair on those trying to buy a property to simply say ‘the days of the masses owning property are over’.  It is the role of government to create prosperous market conditions for its people and without these other social ills will creep into our society.

I say this as a first time buyer two years ago, I calculate that I would not be able to buy a property now even if I had saved all my mortgage payments since I bought my house to make a larger deposit.  My wife and I both have stable jobs and could afford the property at 3.5 times our income, but just wouldn’t be able to get a mortgage as we wouldn’t have a large enough deposit.  It will do great harm to the aspirations of young people in our society if there is little hope of people being able to afford a home before they are 40 years old.

Looking back perhaps the government should have given Northern Rock to Richard Branson he’d have seen sense and looked to increase market share for the bank and to do so would have had needed to provide customers with a good deal.  It seems like, as with the lottery the decision was made for reasons other than the interest of the consumer.

 Question from Councillor O E K Wells “Could the Portfolio Holder responsible state if statistics are recorded for the proportion of Council staff travelling to work by foot, bicycle, bus or train and if so what these figures are? Is it possible to break these figures down for comparison with Councillors travel methods? How does the proportion of WBC staff travelling by each method differ with the general population of Woking?”

 Reply from Councillor J Kingsbury “As part of the Council Travel Plan, periodic surveys are undertaken – the last one being in October 2005. The position at this date for those staff who responded to the survey was as shown below. The data for Woking respondents is taken from the 2001 census. There is no data available on modes of transport for Councillors.

To see the data provided by the council click here: Data table 

In my supplementary question I noted that it was disappointing that the council didn’t have more up to date figures, especially in the context of Cycle Woking.  I also commented that it would be good if councillors declared how they travelled to council meetings when signing in with a simple tick box.  I said this as I think that it would be interesting to see how many councillors travel to meeting by sustainable or public transport, as it would not surprise me if very few travelled by bicycle and even fewer by bus and it would be useful to explore why.

My actual supplementary question was ‘what is the effect of increased use of cycling in Woking on the income to the council from car parking’.  The reply from the Leader of the executive Councillor John Kingsbury was an honest one noting that there was an impact on parking revenues from increased cycling, but that it is worth it.  Cllr Kingsbury also agreed to include councillors in transport surveys.

Taking onboard concerns from local residents about the number of cars and young people congregating in the Sainsbury’s car park at night and having spoken with local police officers I wrote to Sainsbury’s seeking to find out what their view on the situation is and the actions they plan to take. 

A copy of the letter can be found here. Letter to Sainsbury’s about antisocial behaviour

Since I wrote the letter I have had an email reply from Peter Smith the store manager stating that he is pursuing gates for the store card park.  This will mean a new bus shelter on Redding way so that buses can still pick people up and drop people off when the gates are closed.  I understand from Peter that Arriva have agreed to this.  It is now a matter of planning permission from the council.  I will work with the council to ensure a good location can be found, as the sooner the gates are fitted the sooner the car park will be quiet in the evenings.

However, I have heard that Macrocare Dental Surgery is now registering NHS patients ( limited spaces available).  They can be contacted 01932 347621.  Their address is 290 Albert Drive, Sheerwater, GU21 5TX.

With a high level of demand for a new NHS Dentist in Woking, this can only be good news.

To find details of all dentists in Woking see the following link:

http://www.windowonwoking.org.uk/neighbourhoods/services?type=3

To see pictures that were declassified recently by the US showing how dramatic the melting of ice caps has been see this link

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/26/climate-change-obama-administration 

With even more possibilities to recycle and travel by bicycle in Woking, we can all do our bit everyday. 

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/video-arctic-sunrise-expedition-polar-north-20090723?utm_source=ebulletin20090724&utm_medium=email&utm_term=arcticsunrise&utm_campaign=climate 

 http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/melting-20090715?utm_source=ebulletin20090724&utm_medium=email&utm_term=arcticsunrise&utm_campaign=climate 

Obesity is going to be a big issue (pardon the pun) in the future and as such we need to do more to help people to make healthy life style decisions.  The government is not suggesting that people can’t buy more than one chocolate bar, just trying to reduce average portions.  If the price is reduced with the size it would be even better, although I doubt it will be.  I think making chocolate bars smaller is a better option that a fat tax on sugar. I understand that the government is even going to reduce the size of soft drink bottles, to read more see this link http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article6731186.ece

As I am no longer a member of the planning committee, I am able, for the first time since becoming a councillor, to express my views on a planning application prior to it coming before the planning committee

I have concerns that this application does not have sufficient special circumstance to justify development in the greenbelt. The application appears to suggest that the plan should be approved for two reasons.  Firstly, as a previous ‘similar’ application was approved.  Secondly, as the operational needs of the hospital’s patients is sufficiently special.  In both cases I disagree.  I disagree that the previous application was similar as it was for a sheltered swimming pool which gives it a different status.  I also disagree that the needs of patients to have a quiet secluded location prohibits other locations from being considered. 

I am now waiting for further information from the WBC Planning department as to whether this application will be recommended for approval. 

A copy of my letter written to the Priory can be seen here Letter to Priory

I will scan and post any reply I receive from the Priory hospital to my letter.

It was especially pleasing to see Eileen Martin and the Knaphill Residents Association (KRA) recognised for the work that Eileen is doing with the KRA, the Knaphill Youth Café and her work with Knaphill care.

It is a concern that some of the services carried out by so many volunteers are filling in for gaps in services run by local and national government, but with the current financial position of both, volunteer groups will become even more important, but worryingly ever more busy and with possibly less funding.

The only problems they cause, is when I can’t find a plastic bag when I really need one as we hardly ever use them now.  Some of the bags are obviously better than others due to how they are made or the rate at which they degrade after they have been used and as consumers we have a role to play encouraging shops to stock the bags with the least impact on the environment realistically possible.

As one of the two councillor members of the Woking Cycle Forum (both Lib-dems), the other being Cllr Norman Johns. I attended the meeting on Wednesday 10^th June with interest.

Rather than list all of the discussion that took place at the meeting, which I expect will be available in far greater detail on websites belonging to other organisations present such as the Woking Cycle Users Group website, I will just mention a few bits of information I found especially interesting.  The Saturn cycle was due to be officially opened and has opened by now.  The sign posts that state distances in time to cycle rather than miles is based on an assumption that cyclists cycle at 9 mph, which for me is ideal is it is exactly the speed I travel.

Concern was expressed about the amount of overgrown foliage along the towpath and this was to be referred back to Surrey County Council as it is not part of the Woking Borough Council contract with Serco.

I was interested to hear about the ‘two tings’ scheme which is being run by British Waterways across London aiming to encourage cyclists to pass pedestrians safely and for pedestrians to understand that cyclists ring their bell out of polite regard for safety as a ‘I am here’ rather than an aggressive ‘get out of my way’.  I think a bit of publicity of a ‘two tings’ system in Woking would go along way towards easing potential tension between different users along the canal tow path.

New layouts for cycle crossings and cycle paths were looked at and discussed as well as a discussion of the possible introduction of swing bridges at two points in the canal where at present cyclists need to cross roads to cross over to the other side of the canal when the two path switches side, such as in St John’s.

The work to improve the canal is continuing and discussion is underway regarding the extension of work slightly out of the borough as originally intended.

To make sure everyone in Woking is aware of this issue I have asked for the Woking flag to be flown at half mast on Friday 19^th June, I hope it will be possible for this to happen.  To see what I wrote or to post yourself seehttp://www.64forsuu.org/word.php?wid=7441 or http://64forsuu.com/

Congratulations to Cllr Diana Smith for being re-elected again to represent the people of Knaphill and Goldsworth West on Surrey County Council.  It will be a long hard fight getting Surrey County Council to provide good services and value for money, but I know Diana along with newly elected Will Forster and Mohammed Amin are a great team for Woking. 

The result in Woking, where the Liberal Democrats have moved from having two Surrey County Councillors to having three, tells me that local people are dissatisfied with Conservative run Surrey County Council offering poorer services for higher council tax. We know it is true that we get poorer services for higher tax as council tax has gone up and the number stars which Surrey County Council has have fallen.The people of Surrey deserve better and I hope that the County Council listens to the message that in Woking local people are not satisfied and are turning to the Liberal Democrats to take this message to county hall. 

I want to see better maintained roads, real youth services for young people, fewer coasting schools, higher quality children’s service and the improved value for money implicit in these improvements, I don’t see these changes coming from Conservative complacency, but from hard working Liberal Democrats representing the views of local people.

I have my concerns about the EU, but when I think about them, they are no different from the concerns I have about Westminster and as a Lib-dem I want to see Westminster reformed and improved to better represent the views ordinary people, I want the same level of reform for Europe for ordinary European citizens.  I have concerns about the democratic legitimacy of the European Commission relative to the European parliament, but I am equally concerned by an unelected House of Lords.  I worry that there might be corruption in the European Union, but I know there is corruption in Westminster, it is in the newspapers everyday.  I worry that some EU legislation does not have my interests at heart because I live far away from Brussels, but equally I know that much of the legislation coming out of Westminster would have been much better framed if it had been handled at a more local level and other legislation would have been much more effective if it had been handled at a European level through the European commission and parliament.  I am concerned that the Common Agricultural policy is a terrible waste of money, but I am deeply troubled that the UK has opted to replace the trident nuclear deterrent.I am equally concerned about all of the above, but want to work within the EU to make the EU a better place, just like I want to make British politics better through reform. My biggest worry is that too much press goes to those who see only the fault in the EU and not enough to the good things the EU is doing for us everyday.  If this undermines support for the EU it will do far more harm to us than those who dislike it, claim it already does. 

While I am a passionate believer in the EU there are areas where I currently draw the line on EU integration or involvement.  I would not join the euro – our economy is just not mature enough, while I do not like using interest rates to control the economy, it seems too blunt an instrument, we cant cope without the flexibility it affords right now.  We need to deal with the north – south economic divide before we open up a new economic divide between us and other EU states. Tax harmonisation is not a good idea at all.  I would even advocate tax flexibility within the UK to equal out regional economic differencesEducation policy – I do not see the need for the EU to be involved in education policy, it should be decided at the most local level possible, but rights to education should be enshrined for all EU citizens and the EU may have some role to play in cross border educational opportunities. An EU defence force is certainly a good idea for sharing equipment costs and ensuring that EU states are able to be involved in all ways possible in international conflict resolution and have all the equipment required to do this.  At present some EU operations can not take place without some US assistance.  However, the defence force should retain national vetoes and should not become a rival to NATO, acting more as a partner. To find out more about what the EU does for you everyday see:http://ldeg.org/resources/sites/82.165.40.25-436cfeee1ec489.65617500/EUWhatsinitforme.pdf 

The failed Lisbon treaty is a very interesting issue.  I was amazed at how much negative press the treaty drew.  The treaty as I saw it pulled together a lot of existing treaties and gave up little more powers than it gave back to EU states.  I was surprised that so few of the people who protested against the treaty seemed to notice that it was the first EU treaty that actually outlined procedures for states to leave the EU.  I was personally broadly in favour of the treaty and did not see anymore need for a referendum on it that any other past EU treaties.  It is not as if we have a referendum on our own national political system every decade or so, although I could not say I would be against such a system.

Attending local police panel meetings is a good way to keep the police informed of any local concerns you have.  Having attended a few of these I have found them very useful and I have been pleasantly surprised how responsive local policing is.  If local people have raised a particular concern officers have made extra efforts to pay extra attention to these concerns, often by putting in extra patrols to areas affected at specific times of the day.  Good attendance at the local police panel meetings is probably the last thing local criminals want.  Come along and show them we are watching, together we can make sure Knaphill remains a safe place to be.

Knocking on doors recently I have been surprised how many people are now asking what is being done to ensure that EU migrant workers are observing the same rules as everybody else when it comes to tax.  As a Liberal Democrat I am proud of our party’s strongly pro-European policy, but just because I am strongly in favour of something, it does not mean I am not able to see problems and suggest changes.

One such problem is EU migrant workers, entering the UK, working for cash and not contributing to our tax system.  I strongly believe this is only the minority of migrant workers and no doubt an equal minority to the number of UK citizens who wilfully avoid paying their correct share of tax.

An isolationist stance such as taken by some other parties is not the solution, I want to be able to benefit from the ability to work abroad inside the EU as much as I want to be able to benefit from a competitive labour market allowing workers from abroad allowing companies to hire workers in times when we have a labour shortage of our own.

It is not just people who avoid paying tax; many companies avoid tax through complicated efforts to reduce profits in one area of the business or the use of offshore accounts to avoid tax on interest on investments.  Businesses aid some of their owners or employers through the use of payments by dividend as opposed to income from salary or wages.

Having outlined some of the problems, possible solutions include the end of cash transactions for values over a nominal sum or even for all transactions to be replaced with electronic payment.  If this was to be implemented right away a low cost way of doing so could be payment by mobile phone text.  The advantage being that these records could be available to the tax man and also automate many personal or small business financial management arrangements, such as seeing where we spend all our money or to produce accounts ready for the tax office.

The quest to end all offshore tax havens will likely be a long one and should not result in world wide tax harmonisation.  It needs to be done in such as way as not to prompt wide scale capital flight from economies making their use more difficult and as such will likely need cooperation beyond national level, such as through the EU or world summits.

The matter of capital gains tax being lower than income tax could be solved in a number of ways.  Capital gains tax and income tax could be brought together at a level between where they both currently are.  Capital gains tax could be altered so as not to be at a flat rate for individuals over a certain amount each year, but remain as it is for company tax as a whole.  They key thing here is to create a system where taxation for individuals retains incentives for entrepreneurialism, but doesn’t create a two tier system where some individuals pay less tax on large incomes than others pay on small incomes.

What frightens me most about British politics is that by not taking action both Labour and the Conservatives are making it very easy for extremist parties to promote isolationist policies that blame other people for our current economic situation, rather than standing up for the benefits of immigration, while at the same time working to ensure a fair market place for all through better education and modernisation of our systems to adapt to the changing globalised world.

In some local authorities each local community has a budget, part of the council’s overall budget, which it can spend on small projects identified by the community as really necessary.  This has been recently advocated by the government, but it is not a new idea.  It has been going on around the country for many years and has helped in efforts to redevelop some very needy areas.  In some ways we already have this in Woking, with Surrey County Councillors able to nominate a scheme each year, however, these schemes are not always taken forward by Surrey and it remains a bit of a lottery.

One way we could really do this would be for the money paid by developers to the council, to be in part ring-fenced for the local community to decide how it is spent.  I have written before that it seems unfair that when small and medium sized developments take place in Woking, the developer is not required to make a small or medium sized contribution to the local authority to be saved up along with the payment from other small and medium sized developments in the area, to pay for infrastructure improvements required as a result of the cumulative effect of development.  However, while I hope this issue can be solved with reform, even a part of the income from large local developments should be given to each local community to spend as it sees fit. This would be much better than the present system where most of the money is being swallowed up by Surrey County Council and a small amount spent by officers in consultation with councillors. 

Just think of things that could have been achieved in Knaphill in recent years as a result of the development we have seen if such a system was in place.  Better youth services could have been paid for, additional litter collections could have been funded, numerous road improvement schemes that Surrey continues to place as low priority could have been dealt with and even the old library site could have been bought and put to good use for the community if several years of money had been put aside.

Local people know best what they want for the local community, it is a shame that the county council seems to be clinging to nearly every penny, hoping that people will be content enough not to complain too much that so much isn’t done!

Would we not be better off spending the money on a conventional military and British made conventional military technology, which would provide jobs and feed back into the British economy? 

It is often hinted that the UK is only a world power because of nuclear weapons and we must keep them to remain a world power.  Would it not be far cheaper to fully engage with the European Union, seeking democratic reforms of its institutions and to be a world power as a member of the EU?    

I am not advocating that we unilaterally disarm tomorrow, rather that we work, as President Obama recently suggested, towards a zero point, where there are no nuclear weapons, if we were to do that we really would be wasting an awful lot of money on a replacement for trident, that we would then have to spend an awful lot of money to decommission safely.  Greenpeace suggests that it may even be illegal to replace our nuclear deterrent http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/peace/trident-replacement-may-be-illegal 

Even if the biggest threat from abroad ceases to be terrorism, it is not likely that another world power will launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against another.  Conventional warfare surrounding territory is still likely to dominate future conflicts.  If we do not invest in our conventional military, countries such as

Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords protest the restrictions on demonstrating outside Parliament during the passage of the Serious and Organised Crime Act.

The legislation is the first time a major political party has collated all of the laws which have undermined civil liberties into one Bill, so that they can be easily repealed. By axing expensive and ineffective measures that hinder and keep tabs on innocent people, the Bill will help switch efforts to catching the guilty instead.

The 20 measures contained in the draft legislation will:
- Abolish the veto in the Freedom of Information Act that allows ministers to keep information secret
- Scrap the expensive mandatory ID card scheme
- Remove all innocent people from the DNA database, except for those tried for a violent or sexual offence
- Stop councils and others snooping by restricting the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to serious and terrorist offences
- Regulate CCTV to protect privacy following a Royal Commission on the use of cameras

You can view the bill in detail, comment on the draft and sign up to back the campaign at http://freedom.libdems.org.uk/