Pauline Searle Liberal Democrat County Councillor for Guildford North and Borough Councillor for Stoughton added her concerns to those already expressed in the Surrey Advertiser about Surrey County Council's 'Business Development Review' (BDR) plans to save £50 million, which will see many youth clubs close or merge across the County.
The threat to the YoYo Drop-in Centre for young people in Epsom Town centre was discussed at the recent meeting of SCC's Epsom & Ewell Local Committee. They unanimously passed a motion proposed by Cllr Colin Taylor calling upon SCC's Executive to re-consider their BDR review's proposal in the light of possible alterations to the facilities at the Lintons Youth Centre.
As well as Libraries and Youth Clubs, other Surrey County Council services threatened by the Tory BDR proposals include the Surrey History Centre, where the reduction in funding may seriously affect the quality of the service, and Surrey County Arts, which currently provides 278,000 music lessons annually. Proposals include increased tuition fees, even though tuition fees in Surrey are already 30% higher than the national average whereas some 42% of local authorities do not charge any tuition fees.
Tory plans to sell off part of the site of two local schools, The Mead Infant and Auriol Junior, have been stopped by the Department for Education. Conservative-controlled Surrey County Council had intended to help fund renovations and new buildings needed at the schools to replace old temporary classrooms by selling part of the playground at The Mead and part of the school field at Auriol for housing development.
The old "tunnel" or "subway" alongside the railway footbridge linking Stones Road to the Longmead Estate and Miles Road has been saved for future use when the footbridge reaches the end of its safe life. The railway arch forming the subway, which was installed in 1859 when the railway line was built, has been closed since 1911 and was about to be filled in permanently by Network Rail. However SCC's local committee in Epsom & Ewell has accepted the recommendation from SCC's structural engineers to strengthen it instead.
Residents threatened by the proposed closure of Ewell Court Library turned out in force to lobby the recent meeting of SCC's Epsom & Ewell Local Committee. The were not disappointed, for the committee unanimously passed a motion proposed by the Mayor and seconded by Cllr Colin Taylor calling upon SCC's Executive not to confirm their Business Delivery Review's proposal to close Ewell Court Library.
