I spent Bank Holiday Sunday reading Surrey County Council’s new draft strategies for electric vehicles and for addressing the air quality and climate impacts of transport.
What do they all say? Here’s a quick summary of the new strategies, together with a few of the points I submitted in response to the consultation.
The Green Councillors have tabled three questions to tonight’s meeting of Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. The usual procedure is that the Council Executive member with the relevant portfolio will read out an answer, then we will have the right to ask a supplementary question.
If you’d like to hear the answers, you can watch the webcast here: https://reigate-banstead.public-i.tv/core/portal/home
The meeting begins at 7.30pm.
Cllr Jonathan Essex, Green County Councillor for Redhill East, has criticised Surrey’s Conservative Councillors for preventing the mentioning of Heathrow expansion during a discussion on air quality across the county.
Cllr Essex moved an amendment to a Conservative motion at Council on Tuesday 10 July, calling for the County Council to support local authorities opposed to Heathrow expansion because of local air quality and noise impacts.
Last night, the House of Commons voted to approve the Government’s Airports National Policy Statement [1]. This paves the way for a third runway at Heathrow, and signals the government’s intention to fly in the face of international climate change agreements, as well as ignoring those calling for public transport connections, air pollution and noise pollution to be addressed first.
Green County Councillor Jonathan Essex has today criticised Conservative-run Surrey County Council for planning to reduce youth services, including youth workers and youth clubs, in Reigate & Banstead and across the county.
At a recent County Council meeting, the Conservative Cabinet admitted via a written answer that the number of hours of youth service provision each week in Boroughs and Districts across Surrey are planned to be reduced.
Last week, Surrey County Council passed a motion which I had tabled to tackle the scourge of single-use-plastics.
The motion follows campaigns across the country to reduce the use of single-use plastics after programmes such as the BBC “Blue Planet II” series highlighted the damage they cause to oceans and marine life.
Green County Councillor Jonathan Essex is calling on Surrey County Council to become a ‘single use-plastic-free’ authority by the end of 2018.
The call follows campaigns across the country to reduce the use of single-use plastics after programmes such as the BBC Blue Planet II series highlighted the damage they cause to oceans and marine life.
East Surrey Green Party submitted a response to Reigate & Banstead Borough Council’s Development Management Plan (DMP) Regulation 19 consolation.
We do not believe that the DMP in its current form is sound.
The DMP doesn’t set any density targets. If it required higher density at development sites (with different targets depending on the type of area), and by completing its Brownfield Site Register, including other sites known to be developable in the urban areas, the Council could meet its housing targets without needing to build on Green Belt land.
We have produced a briefing for those who wish to respond to the Council’s consultation on its Development Management Plan.
It contains information and suggestions for points to raise about four aspects of the DMP:
The deadline for responses is 5pm on Friday 23 February 2018.
As Councillors meet this week to decide on Surrey County Council’s budget, the Greens have come up with an alternative way of doing business.
Instead of accepting Government cuts, Surrey Greens are calling on the Tory majority on Surrey County Council to fight back.
