Prey Heath Road under the railway bridge near Worplesdon Station will be closed this Sunday, 5th September between 9.30am to 3.30pm.

The closure is to allow a company called Centurion Site Services working on behalf of Network Rail to inspect the railway bridge. As always with legal notices to close a road for even a few hours, Surrey County Council have legally allowed the road under the bridge to be closed for 3 months - don’t worry that’s just procedure.

Many rural businesses in Surrey including those in Mayford and Sutton Green can now apply for much needed financial support.

The Surrey Hills Leader Grant Scheme is joint venture paid for by the European Union and the Department for Environment - and run by the Surrey Rural Partnership, to support farmers, community and tourist enterprises across rural Surrey.

In this tough economic climate, businesses especially new ones need support - rural areas often being pretty remote and expensive face even greater challenges, so targeted help for enterprises in rural areas is well overdue. Lib Dems have long campaigned for this sort of measure, with support our for a Keynesian jump start to our economy and special consideration for rural communities - the Lib Dems have a higher proportion of our MPs representing rural seats than either the Conservatives or Labour.

Only applicants within this pre-set area are eligible, within Woking Borough this just includes the villages of Mayford and Sutton Green - but across Surrey the bid area roughly follows the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. To apply go here for an expression of interest form.

Despite a one year reprieve to school bus services - Surrey County Council have announced the details of the school bus cuts coming in next September.

My County Council colleague and Surrey Lib Dem Spokesperson for Schools covers the news very well here, but I can quickly say that County Hall will be axing the School Specials that run locally to Christ’s College, George Abbot, St John the Baptist and Woking College at the start of new academic year in 2011.

Although we all know big public sector cuts are on their way - I can’t think of many cuts that are as environmentally damaging and short sighted as this decision which almost completely abolishes school bus services.

The creation of the proposed Surrey Save Credit Union is now one big step closer - now that the money is ready in the bank to pay to register the group for a Financial Services Authority licence.

I feel that the proposed Credit Union is vital to tackle the problem of the 1 in 4 of Surrey residents that live in financial stress - and all the problems this causes, that I have previously campaigned on here.

Hopefully with the Financial Service Authority licence under it’s belt in early 2011, that will bring complete protection to it’s savers - the Surrey Save Credit Union should be fully operationally in the summer of 2011 and bring the fight against financial exclusion that destroys lives and damages our economy.

I have previously blogged here that Walton Road was to get much needed repairs - yet the planned dates for work on Walton Road in late July, came and went. Only on 18th August did Surrey County Council begin to start resurfacing and the work is under a daytime road closure too.

Also - a quick warning that Goldsworth Road between Bridge Barn and Woking Town Centre will be affected by periods of road closures on 25th and 26th August for surface dressing or ‘microasphalt’ techically to ensure that road doesn’t completely fall apart. I hope that County Hall manages to keep to this dates - since these road repairs are needed asap and so unnecessary roadworks don’t happen just after the school holidays, again.

I will be traveling around South-East Asia for 6 weeks between 25th July and 5th September, on a much deserved holiday.

So my blog updates will be none to non exist for some time in August. I will respond as quickly as I can to any casework on my return, but if there is anything urgent please contact one of South Woking’s Borough Councillor list below.

For Mount Hermon West:

Cllr Liam Lyons on cllrliam.lyons@woking.gov.uk and 764050
Cllr Ian Johnson on cllrian.johnson@woking.gov.uk and 776609

For Kingfield, Westfield and Barnsbury:

Cllr Derek McCrum on cllrderek.mccrum@woking.gov.uk and 772735
Cllr Steward Brown on cllrsteward.brown@woking.gov.uk and 07847 059959

For Mayford and Sutton Green:

Cllr Simon Bellord on cllrsimon.bellord@woking.gov.uk and 767865

Many thanks - and enjoy the summer!

At Tuesday’s Council meeting, the Lib Dems called for the County Council to fund reduced speed limit schemes already approved by Surrey’s Local Committees.

Reducing speed limits will help to reduce traffic speeds - it’s a fact that reductions in traffic speeds reduces casualty numbers and the severity of cashes. Investing a relatively small amount in reducing speed limits now saves a huge amount of money in the long term let allow the human cost since the average cost of implementing a reduced speed limit is £10,000, which is about 1/10th of the average cost of just one road accident at about £100,000.

Although I would like to lower several speed limits, the ones we were fighting for this time were half way through implementation before County Hall pulled the money. So if these reduced speed limits are not implemented soon the money spent so far will have been wasted, for example since speed surveys are time limited.

It really doesn’t make sense to waste money by not finishing these schemes. The County Council decided to kick this Lib Dem call into the long grass by sending to the Transport Select Committee - if implementation is delayed it would mean starting the lengthy process again with duplication of costs and wasted officer time, as well allowing the speeding to continue in the meantime.

Woking Borough Council has at last produced a much needed update on the Hoe Valley Scheme here.

The newsletter, which will be delivered to nearby homes in Barnsbury, Kingfield, Westfield and Wych Hill Lane mainly gives residents an update on the plan for the Hoe Valley Scheme but also announces an open day on Wednesday 18th August at the Girl Guides building on Westfield Avenue held between 3.30 and 9 pm.

During the election chaos I forgot to post about one of my motions to council. So belatedly here it is, at a recent County Council meeting I argued that since 1 in 4 of Surrey residents live in financial stress and 30,000 are financial excluded - meaning they have no bank accounts savings or insurance - the Council should support the proposed Surrey Save Credit Union.

People that are financial excluded turn to loan sharks, whose interest rates are in the 1000s so the loan is never paid off. Credit Unions have a track record of breaking the chain that leads vulnerable financially excluded people turning to loans sharks by giving them a safe alternative to loans at fair rates if interest.

Surrey is well behind the curve on this - we are the only county in the country not to have a Credit Union. So I proposed that County Hall look into ways of helping Surrey Save - like putting some of the Council’s savings with the Credit Union, sharing buildings and/or training volunteers. Nothing committal to ensure the Credit Union would get at least some support from the County Council - but this was still not acceptable to the ruling Conservatives. This motion was rejected and sadly the County Council will not be helping the proposed Surrey Save Credit Union.

I am disappointed County Hall refused to support in any way the Surrey Save - but I am also confused they didn’t want to support the Credit Union. Before David Cameron previously called Credit Unions a “vision of social progress” and local Guildford, Mole Valley, Waverley and Woking Councils all Tory run backed Surrey Save. Also, County Hall and Trading Standards have worked together on a project targeting loan sharks.

Maybe the Conservatives at Borough, County and National levels have never meet each other?

Earlier this year the Conservatives running Surrey County Council refused to sign up to the 10:10 campaign, which aims to cut carbon emissions by 10% in 2010 - the amount scientists say is needed to avoid run away climate change. However since that refusal the Lib Dems have made the Tories sign up nationally to 10:10 as part of the coalition agreement.

So I thought I would have another go at getting them to do the same at County Hall by asking at the recent Members’ Question Time, and they yet again they refused - the Council’s Cabinet would not even agree to follow my personal example and sign up as individuals.

Clearing voting blue doesn’t mean going green - but as with mixing the colours, when the country voted blue and yellow on 6th May the Lib Dem yellow makes the Tory blue go green and that’s only how the Conservatives go green.