Conservatives on Surrey County Council have refused to amend the Surrey Structure Plan to delete the proposal to build new housing in the green belt north east of Guildford. Liberal Democrats believe that keeping this proposal in the plan, even as a last resort will set a very dangerous precedent that may result in further threats to Surrey's green belt.
It appears that Lib Dem pressure to make the Tory administration think twice before they propose any further cuts to bus services in the County, may be bearing fruit. No further cuts have been made to bus services and Transport Consultative Groups have been set up. The Conservative administration was persuaded that the review of public transport taking place after the drastic cuts made last year should be widened to include all transport provided within Surrey, and the Task Group is soon to announce the findings.
Surrey County Council did not reply to the government's recent consultation on school transport. Despite the Liberal Democrat motion to Council (see "Liberal Democrats Speak Up for School Transport" 11th June 2004) noting that a response should be given by June 25th, the matter was instead referred to the Executive and hence missed the deadline.
The lack of youth workers has contributed to the failure to deliver the expected services for our young people. Added to this, Connexions, a new service for young people, after a year of operations has also failed to be a visible service.
The Lib Dem group proposed a motion at the County Council meeting on 15th June to urge the Government to retain free school transport. However, the Conservative administration at County Hall refused to debate the subject in time to respond to the Government's consultation's deadline of 25th June.
The Liberal Democrat group have called on Surrey County Council's Conservative administration to allow Local Committees to run their own local Youth Services. The Lib Dems are also demanding an explanation about the budget for the Youth Service this year.
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