County Notes from County Councillors John Beckett and Eber Kington
Cuts to local highway funding
In the last edition of the Resident we wrote about the cut of 78% in the Local Committee’s highway funding budget from £355k to £77K, and the effect this is having on our ability to respond to local needs. At the June meeting of the Local Committee Eber proposed that a letter be written to SCC’s Cabinet Member for Highways expressing our concern at the cuts and calling for them to be reversed. This was agreed by the majority of councillors, but the two Conservative Epsom and Ewell County Councillors on the Committee actually voted against. John, as Chairman of the Local Committee, did write a strongly worded letter about the issue.
In addition, Eber ensured that the local highway funding issue was put on the agenda of June meeting of SCC’s Environment and Infrastructure Select Committee. He spoke against the 78% cut and persuaded the Committee, which has a conservative majority, to support a recommendation that expressed “concern” about the cut and which called upon the Cabinet to review the policy.
At this point in time (July? August?) we do not know what the SCC Cabinet will do, and they have not in the past shown a willingness to listen. However, they do have the option to restore the funding in 2018/2019. Let’s hope they do.
Streetlight Switch-Off
This was another issue we included in the June Resident. Unfortunately SCC’s Cabinet show no signs of moving on this policy either. This is despite the Inspector of Police in Epsom Ewell confirming in June that car related crime has risen by 400% since the streetlight switch-off was introduced.
At the July SCC Council Meeting Eber made a Member Statement on the issue, reading out a poem from the 19th Century which referenced the outcry that occurred the previous time the ‘Local Board’ switched off of the gas supplied streetlights in Epsom and Ewell. Responding to SCC Leader David Hodge’s claim in the meeting that he is pursuing 21st century policies Eber said “my residents refuse to accept going back to the 19th century for inspiration for council policies is either right or reasonable in a modern civilized society”.
Verge Cutting
Verge cutting is a SCC responsibility which is undertaken by EEBC. In 2016/2017 SCC provided funding for seven cuts, to which EEBC added funding for a total of 12 cuts a year. SCC has subsequently announced that they will only fund four cuts in 2017/2018, reducing their contribution by £36K. Given this additional cost an option would be to return the service to SCC. However SCC would only cut the verges four times a year and, recognising that regularly cut verges is a service valued by residents, RA Borough Councillors have agreed to allocate additional funding to retain 12 cuts a year.
However this does serve to further illustrate SCC’s increasing withdrawal of funds from some of our basic but valued services.
County Councillors John Beckett and Eber Kington
0 Comments