Onslow bus service safe under Surrey proposals

The number 18 Onslow circular bus service is safe under proposals published by Surrey county council following a review intended to save £2 million across Surrey. This follows a consultation where Onslow residents wrote in to make the case for the importance of the number 18 bus service to our community.

The proposals produced by Surrey county council will now go out to a second consultation but no changes are proposed to bus services affecting Onslow directly. You can read the proposals here and you can find out how to respond to them here.

Commenting on the news, local Onslow Liberal Democrat campaigner George Potter said:

“This is very welcome news. Since the number 18 bus is subsidised by the county council there was a real worry it could have been hit by the planned £2 million of cuts to the transport budget but under these proposals it’s safe for at least the next financial year.

“It is disappointing that there are no improvements proposed to the number 18 route – such as more buses at times of day when people might need to use it to get to work or a Sunday service – but these are things we can try and lobby for in the future.

“For now everyone in Onslow who responded to the consultation deserves a big thank you for helping to keep our bus service – especially Onslow Village Residents Association who did a lot of work to encourage people to respond to the consultation.”

 

Thank you!

The results of the local elections are in and Onslow has elected Tony Phillips and David Goodwin as Liberal Democrat councillors for our area (along with Adrian Chandler for the Conservatives).

We all just want to say a big thank you to everyone who voted for us in the local elections. Your support and trust means the world to us – and to those who didn’t vote for us this time we’re determined to try and win your trust by the time of the next election.

The next priority for all of us in the Onslow Lib Dem team is to keep on working hard for local people, particularly over the local plan, and to do our best to help local people with any issues they’re facing.

The national result was very disappointing for the Liberal Democrats but here in Guildford we managed to retain 9 seats on Guildford Borough Council meaning we stay as the official opposition. And we’re determined to hold the Conservative administration to account on behalf of the people of Guildford over the next four years and to fight for the policies of our local manifesto which you voted for.

Finally, with the new Conservative government already announcing attacks on support for the disabled, human rights and massive new assaults on civil liberties it’s more important than ever that there is a strong liberal voice in Britain to fight for what’s right.

That’s why it’s been absolutely incredible to see that over 11,000 new members have joined the Liberal Democrats nationally since the election with our membership in Guildford increasing by 20%. So if you believe in our values and that Britain needs a strong liberal voice now more than ever the why not join us?

New £15 million roof repair scheme for places of worship

All places of worship serving Guildford, including churches, mosques, temples, gurdwaras and synagogues, can now apply for a new £15 million fund available for the repair of roofs and guttering.

The coalition government announced the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund in the Autumn Statement and grants between £10,000 and £100,000 will be available to listed places of worship of all faiths and denominations across the UK, where roof repairs are deemed to be urgent and necessary.

Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Kelly-Marie Blundell said: “Places of worship play a huge part in many people’s lives in Guildford and this fund will help ensure some of our most significant buildings remain open as safe and sustainable places in our communities.

“I hope that some of them will be able to take advantage of the extra money available.”

Local businesses missing out on rates cut

Hundreds of local small and medium size businesses are missing out on business rate discounts which they’re entitled to.

The cost of the discounts is paid entirely by national government but unfortunately Conservative-run Guildford council have been useless when it comes to letting local businesses know that they’re eligible for these discounts.

For example, any retail business with a rateable value (e.g. the official estimate market rent) of less than £50,000 a year can get a £1,000 discount on the business rates they have to pay. There are over 900 businesses in the borough eligible for these discounts but only a fraction of them have applied for them.

Another scheme is that small businesses with a rateable value of up to £12,000 can get up to a 100% discount on rates until March 2015 but again, many small businesses don’t know that they can claim this discount.

There are also discounts for empty new build business premises and for businesses moving into premises which have previously been empty.

But since the council hasn’t written to businesses to let them know if they’re eligible for these schemes it will only be a minority of businesses which have applied for them. So a useful government scheme which could be helping small companies in Guildford, particularly on our high street, and creating jobs isn’t working anywhere near as well as it could be because of Guildford council failing to give people information about it.

This, in many ways, is typical of the council – all too quick to chase after you if they think you owe them money but utterly silent when it comes to letting you know how you can get back money you’re entitled to.

Now, as a Liberal Democrat I believe in standing up for small and medium size businesses, not just big business. Because of that I’ll be going round as many local businesses as I can in Onslow to let them know about these schemes.

But it really shouldn’t be me doing this – it should be the council. I think it’s such a shame that the Conservatives aren’t doing more to help local businesses claim the support they’re entitled to.

For more information about any of these schemes and how to apply then please click here.

Local Plan Fiasco

Guildford Borough Council’s Conservative administration have been forced to take the Local Plan back to the drawing board.

Following widespread public objections, the draft local plan for Guildford, which proposes building 2,500 homes on Blackwell Farm in the greenbelt north of the Hog’s Back, will be consulted on for a third time following May’s local elections. The first consultation took place over the summer and resulted in 18,000 comments from 6,500 individuals.

The news comes following a Lib Dem freedom of information request which revealed that the bungled plan to build 13,040 has already cost the taxpayer £250,000.

Guildford Liberal Democrats previously voted against the draft plan going out to the original consultation on the grounds that it was flawed and premature.

Onslow Lib Dem councillor Tony Phillips commented “Guildford Lib Dems voted against the draft Plan going out for consultation, it just wasn’t ready. We thought the consultation was premature and sadly we have been proved right. It cost a lot of money to run this consultation, and local taxpayers are going to have to foot the bill again next year.”

We’re now calling for two key changes to the Council’s approach to the Local Plan, to make sure that the Council gets it right this time:

  • The proposed housing target needs to be evaluated. It would lead to massive traffic congestion, environmental degradation and unnecessary loss of precious Green Belt countryside.
  • The Local Plan should be produced bottom-up: the Borough Council must consult and involve all Borough Councillors and the communities they represent in the preparation of the next draft.

Onslow Community Safety Wardens

Recently I found myself trying to contact the Community Safety Wardens for Onslow in order to try and solve a problem facing some local people. Unluckily, however, I soon found out that there was nowhere online giving details of who our wardens are.

After a trip to the council offices this afternoon I was able to find out who the wardens were and hot to contact them. While I’ve been promised that the lack of online contact details for them will be looked into, there details are also below just in case.

And, if you don’t know what the Community Safety Wardens do, they’re part of the Safer Guildford Partnership which is a scheme to make Guildford a safer place to live by tackling issues like crime and anti-social behaviour.

If you need to contact the wardens, here are their details:

Tracy James

Call: 07767 457 822 Email: tracy.james@guildford.gov.uk

Richard Musgrove

Call: 07876 578 431 Email: richard.musgrove@guildford.gov.uk