News and views from Shweta Kapadia - your candidate in Long Ditton

Ember centre update

The following is what Councillors Kapadia and Fairbank reported;

Date petition delivered to Council : 24 Feb 2009

No. of signatures 2142 collected in one week.

Ember Centre: Following pressure from Councillors and Residents, including a petition containing over 2,100 signatures, the Tories have now said that they will reconsider the future of the Ember Centre which provides social, recreational and educational facilities for retired people including a number from Long Ditton. They will continue to consider alternative locations including the present location.

What was particularly disturbing about the proposal was that very little, if any, consultation or analysis had been carried out and there was virtually no consideration of the affect of the closure and relocation on residents, particularly the elderly. All that had been considered was the small cost saving. The Tories including Long Ditton Cllr Tim Grey had claimed that proposals for the new location were: "As good as, if not better than the existing services" and that the proposals are "well thought through". It therefore came as a surprise to your FOCUS Lib Dem Councillors that the Leader of the Conservative Administration had not visited the Vera Fletcher Hall or the proposed new location until the day before he was prepared to push this through at February's Council meeting.

Whatever the proposals were, "well thought through" is certainly not what they were.

Councillor Kapadia together with Residents' Association Councillors and local residents deliver the petition to the Civic Centre

Highways and Parking

In a recent report Tory controlled Surrey was ranked 75th out of 76 Highways' Authorities and Elmbridge's roads rated the worst in Surrey. It is well known that Surrey has failed to adequately manage the performance of its Highways contractors and as a consequence, the condition of some of our roads is now quite dangerous. Following the damage caused from this year's freezing weather conditions to our already heavily patched local roads, Barry Fairbank and I drove through most of the roads in Long Ditton identifying the larger potholes which were reported to Surrey County Council. We continue to report the worst of the potholes.

Surrey has a policy whereby only the larger potholes are repaired (4cm deep or more) as a matter of urgency (!?).

More Parking Restrictions in Long Ditton: Surrey County Council has, at last, produced proposals for parking restrictions on Fleece Road, Alston Close, Howard Street, Windmill Lane (between Effingham Rd and Portsmouth Rd), Ditton Reach, and Prospect Rd.

These proposals come not a minute too soon. For years I have been lobbying SCC to consider the plight of local residents who more often than not have been unable to park near their homes - a situation which was exacerbated by a 150% Rise in charges at Southbank Car Park from January 2009, when all-day parking charges rose from £1.60 to £ 4.00 (150% increase) & Season Ticket charges rose from £182 to £ 405 (122% increase). Cllr Timothy Grey, the Tory Councillor for Long Ditton voted in favour of these increases. He defended it by saying that the car park was in danger of being closed altogether, and the high charges would help keep it open. It was not in imminent danger of being closed. Once Cllr Grey, Barry and I opposed closure in response to a consultant's review, it was never even considered by the Council. On the contrary closure is easier to justify if no one uses the car park. At the time, in FOCUS we predicted that the car park would no longer be used much as it was being used. We have been proven right and now the Tories have proposed a bit of a 'U' turn by announcing that businesses could get discounted rates.

Kingston Hospital

Ed Davey MP and Cllr Shweta Kapadia at Kingston Hospital

Liberal Democrat MPs Edward Davey, and Susan Kramer submitted a petition against the closure of Kingston Hospital's A&E and Maternity Departments. I signed the petition as did many residents of Elmbridge for whom Kingston Hospital is their local hospital. It is unthinkable, that in an emergency we would need to dash to St George's in Tooting. 



More recently, to highlight the plight of patients when hospitals close vital services, Nick Clegg, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, visited Kingston Hospital to meet some of the patients and doctors and nurses. He considers it quite unacceptable that so much money is being wasted in the NHS on bureaucracy at the expense of patient care. I was fortunate to be able to discuss the matter with Edward Davey and Susan Kramer during Nick Clegg's visit to Kingston Hospital. I have made them aware of the strong opposition there is in Long Ditton and other areas of Elmbridge to the proposed closures.

Planning and Development

Development in Long Ditton: It is crucial that development is in keeping with the character of the area and causes little or no harm to neighbours. Although, the Council is required to build a large number of homes and there is a shortage of affordable homes in the Borough we must protect our Green Belt and open spaces as well. I am committed to ensuring that all development is sympathetic to its surroundings.

The Core Strategy: Barry Fairbank and I together with the Hinchley Wood Councillors arranged a public meeting to seek the view of local residents on Elmbridge's Plans to 2026. The meeting was well attended - it was standing room only, so I do not understand why Cllr Grey, Long Ditton's Tory Councillor, insists that the meeting was a secret! Far from it, the Residents' Association knew and a FOCUS advertising the meeting was distributed to every household in Long Ditton.

Long Ditton residents expressed concerns about backland development, the infrastructure, the Green Belt, high densities, etc. I reported all of these to the Council.

Elmbridge Borough Council

Democracy under attack at Elmbridge At a recent meeting of the Council the Tories voted to reduce the number of Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Committees from 3 to 1, a proposal that nearly all Liberal Democrat and Resident Association Councillors were against. Although the single O&S Committee will meet more often, the number of meetings will be significantly less than the total number of meetings held by the 3 Committees.

It is therefore likely that adequate in-depth scrutiny will be compromised and some functions or decisions of the Council may not get scrutinised at all. Opposition members across the Council see this as a move by the Tories to control the Overview and Scrutiny process and to restrict the ability of opposition groups to call the Tory Administration to account and to participate in policy review.

The Finance Standing Panel which was set up to allow Councillors to scrutinise the budget setting process in real time was also abolished by the Tories, and yet the Conservatives talk about devolving power, increasing accountability and strengthening local democracy?

The Arts in Elmbridge

The Arts Development Officer's post has been frozen and there is uncertainty about the budget for the Arts in Elmbridge. Once again the Tories will not give clear answers about how Elmbridge's Arts activities will be managed in the absence of a dedicated officer nor will they clarify whether the existing levels of spending will be maintained.

There was no protest from the Tory back bench about the Arts Development Officer's post. Rather surprising, given that the Conservative Councillor for Long Ditton, Cllr Tim Grey is keen to see the Arts used to combat anti social behaviour and crime. I am not sure how he thinks the Arts are going to be developed throughout the Borough without and Arts Development Officer.

My Beliefs and Interests

Protecting and enhancing the environment, particularly through the Planning process is of particular importance. Through my work on the Planning Committees and the Local Development Framework Working Group I am able to have some input into future development plans for the Borough.

Provision of adequate affordable housing in the Borough poses a challenge. The Planning process is a means of increasing the provision of affordable housing but at the moment not enough development proposals in the Borough qualify for provision. I do believe the Council should not miss opportunities to maximise the amount of affordable housing that developers are required to provide. Clearly the Government's housing targets will put pressure on the Borough's Green Belt, which I am committed to protecting as best I can.

The Arts My interest in the Arts is well known. I know first hand of the immense joy it brings, and the wonderful sense of achievement in creating even a small work of art. The benefits are so well proven so well documented that they need no repeating. I have advocated and supported the Arts through my work with Arts Council England South East and the R C Sherriff Trust.

The Community. We need to support the elderly and our youth. I have expressed concerns at many of the cuts which will affect the services we provide to these sections of the community. Whilst cuts are inevitable in the current economic climate, I am opposed to cuts which disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our community.