Borough Notes
By Councillor Eber Kington
Council Tax
In February the Residents’ Association run Borough Council approved a council tax increase of 2.98%. That is a rise of £5.58 a year or 11 pence a week for a Band D property*.
The Borough Council no longer receives any Revenue Support Grant from the Government – two years ago it received over £400k. However we have made over £1milion of efficiency savings in the last 18 months and, once again, have set a balance budget with no use of reserves and have not cut any services. In fact, despite the financial challenges faced by the Borough Council there have been continued improvements to many Borough Council services. For example, £70k to improve facilities at the Longmead Social Centre, a new Routecall fleet of vehicles, the weekly recycling service and refurbishment of local playgrounds, a skate park and tennis courts.
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*Epsom & Ewell Borough Council collects the council tax on behalf of EEBC, SCC and Surrey Police but only 10% of your council tax goes to Epsom and Ewell Borough Council. 77% of your council tax goes to SCC, and 13% to Surrey Police.
Your EEBC council tax enables EEBC to provide many services including: Recycling, Street Cleansing, Parks and Open Spaces, Longmead Social Centre, Meals on Wheels, Action on Homelessness, Leisure Activities, The Rainbow Centre, The Playhouse, Environmental Health, Planning and Licensing and much more.
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The Local Economy and Improving our Shopping Centres
Improving our Car Parks
The Borough Council recently upgraded its Deport Road and Upper High Street car parks with new pay machines that take debit and credit cards, new parent and child dedicated spaces and improved lighting around the machines to improve safety.
In February, and following an inspection, Hook Road car park once again achieved the Park Mark Safer Parking Award from the British Parking Association. The award is based on four Police accredited criteria: effective surveillance, appropriate lighting, a clean environment and the quality of car park management. It is an important endorsement of the safety of the car park and good news for those parking in the town.
Epsom Town Centre Business Improvement District
The Borough Council has been supporting Epsom businesses who were seeking to create a Business Improvement District (BID) in Epsom town centre. A vote in favour, involving all businesses in the area, was successful and will allow for an additional business rate levy to be charged which will bring an additional £1.5 million of investment in the town. The businesses themselves will decide how the money is spent, but it will be focused on improving the retail and commercial life of our town much to the benefit of residents and those visiting the town to shop.
Market Square Improvements
Residents will be aware the highway work currently being undertaken by Surrey Highways to reconfigure the route through the town centre and reduce congestion. In the near future work will start on the redevelopment of the town centre market area. The Borough Council is funding this work and has allocated £476,000 to the project which includes new paving, pedestrian areas, seating and tree and green landscaping. In addition, the Evocation of Speed horse statue which previously stood in Derby Square will be relocated to the market square.
Community Improvement Fund (CIF)
Another Borough Council initiative is the Community Improvement Fund (CIF) which has seen the transformation of shops in the Borough’s three main retail centres (Epsom, Ewell and Stoneleigh Broadway). Businesses are able to bid for funding to assist them in improving their shop fronts, but they can also make joint bids to improve the general area around the shopping parades themselves, making the area a more attractive place to do business and to shop.
Councillor Eber Kington
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