Category Archives: Uncategorized

Early this morning, people across a wide area of Surrey and Sussex were woken by a bang and felt buildings shake and furniture rattle as yet another earthquake was recorded in Newdigate. This was the 21st earthquake in the ‘swarm’ that started last spring and, at 3.1 magnitude, the largest so far.

At the full Council meeting on 7 February 2019, Reigate & Banstead Council adopted a Climate Change motion tabled by the Green Councillors. The Climate Change Motion commits the Council to greater and more urgent action on climate change, in light of the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming published in October 2018, which stated that […]

At the Reigate & Banstead Council meeting tonight, the Green Councillors are tabling a Motion on Climate Change – and asking questions on the future of children’s services in the Borough with proposed closure of all our Children’s Centres; the future of Earlswood Common when Reigate Golf Club closes; Green Belt protection and provision of affordable housing.

Surrey County Council agreed its new budget meeting today. This included an amendment from Green county councillor Jonathan Essex requiring the Council to request business cases for further capital investment to increase school places in Surrey for children with special educational needs and disability (SEND) and to assess the viability of bringing more residential care […]

Councillor Hal Brown, Councillor Jonathan Essex, Green campaigner Ruth Ritter and five volunteers tackled the litter on Whitebushes Common on Sunday 27 January. After stretching through brambles, wading across muddy ditches and contorting aching body parts to reach awkward corners of undergrowth, an impressive pile of bin bags was generated. A tyre and even a […]

Helen Hockenhull, the Planning Inspector appointed to examine Reigate & Banstead Council’s ‘Development Management Plan’, has provided feedback following last year’s hearings. You can read her Post Hearing Advice Note here – it’s the last download on this page. She said the plan requires major modifications, the most significant of which is to remove the […]

How do you think Surrey County Council should invest its money? Surrey is consulting on proposed changes to some of its vital services: Children’s Centres Concessionary bus travel Libraries and cultural services Special educational needs and disability Community recycling centres If you have views on these, please share them with the Council by 4 January 2019.

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 […]

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 […]