Author Archives: admin

Redhill East Green County Councillor Jonathan Essex has today criticised Conservative-run Surrey County Council for making huge cuts to the Reigate & Banstead Local Committee budget, at the same time as the County Council announced a projected £24m overspend for the current financial year.  

Surrey County Council is consulting on proposed changes to Surrey’s community recycling centres. The Conservative-run Council says that its proposed option is to close the recycling centres in Dorking, Warlingham, Bagshot and Cranleigh, and to end the daily allowance of waste that can be disposed of for free. The proposals include reducing opening hours at the recycling centre […]

This Thursday, you have a chance to vote for a councillor to represent you on Surrey County Council for the next four years. Our Redhill candidates have been campaigning hard – to hold our seat in Redhill East, and to win in Redhill West and Meadvale, where we came second last time. Please vote for […]

Greens called for Surrey County Council and Surrey Wildlife Trust to release the budget plan and vision for Surrey today. This followed meetings at County Hall where concerned residents sought reassurances over the future of the Trust, its resources and the implications of Surrey County Council withdrawing its funding.

Green county councillor Jonathan Essex has repeated his call for Surrey County Council to scrap its unpopular charges for disposal of waste at Community Recycling Centres. This follows a meeting at County Hall where a petition signed by more than 7,000 people calling for the charges to be scrapped was discussed with the Cabinet Member for […]

David Hodge, leader of Surrey County Council, told Conservative colleagues that he had reached a “gentleman’s agreement” with senior cabinet ministers that persuaded him to cancel a threatened 15% council tax rise. According to media reports, in a secret recording of a Conservative group meeting on 7 February, Hodge revealed there had been a “series […]

On 9 February, Councillor Steve McKenna moved a Motion calling on Reigate & Banstead Borough Council to agree that publicly-owned sites should deliver higher levels of affordable housing than is required for the Borough as a whole. The Motion also asked the Council’s new Property Company to invest in affordable housing. See the Motion on the Council […]

Commenting on the Conservative budget that was passed by Surrey County Council today, Cllr Jonathan Essex, Green County Councillor for Redhill East, said: “Today’s budget debate was a sham, with the Conservatives choosing to suddenly drop their proposal for an unaffordable and unfair council tax rise of 15%. But no new money was announced, so perhaps […]

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council is consulting on new development management policies that include potentially allowing up to 1,400 new homes to be built in the Green Belt. You can view the Council’s proposals and submit your comments online – or visit an exhibition to see the plans and meet planning officers. Details of both are on this […]

Jonathan Essex, County Councillor for Redhill East, will move a Motion at the Surrey County Council meeting on 12 July, inviting the Council to respond to the challenges posed by the result of the recent EU referendum. The text of the Motion is as follows: