The Borough Council's capital programme for 2012-13 will include a £200,000 investment in barrier-controlled car parks. Car parks at Depot Road, Upper High Street, Hook Road, Hope Lodge and the Town Hall will be converted to barrier-controlled with drivers paying on exit.
With the Queen's Diamond Jubilee now just a few months away, we have announced that the Council will be holding a number of public workshops to help local neighbourhoods who want to celebrate the occasion by holding a street party.
The ludicrousness of Borough Council decisions associated with Licensing and Planning matters was exposed at a meeting of its Environment Committee on 23rd January. The meeting agreed that Epsom Town Centre should become the focus of a Community Safety Action Plan for one year, yet only a week earlier an Epsom-based club gained permission to extend its licensing hours from 2am. Even more surprising is that the Police and the council's own Planning Department had objected to the extension - the Police on the grounds of potential disturbance to residents and the Planning Department because it had already refused permission for the same establishment to extend its hours of operation. Epsom Town centre ranks amongst the highest areas for alcohol related disorder in the county. It regularly stands in the top 16% in the country for incidences of crime per 1000 of population. The premises which was granted the extension is not, in itself, known to cause crime or disorder issues but an ever-increasing population of
Urchfont Manor has been sold cheaply to a private developer. The community asset previously owned by Wiltshire taxpayers was virtually given away by the cash-strapped council's Conservative administration. In their announcement of the sale the Conservatives focus on the possible retention of the woodland and cricket ground for community use, which has appeased local opinion and deflected any possible adverse reaction from a compliant local press.
Labour run Blackburn with Darwen Council were accused by the Liberal Democrats of not take scrutiny of their decisions seriously.
Here are just six examples of the effect Liberal Democrat MPs are having in government: