Congratulations Sam Gyimah

Great things are expected of you. Look after ALL your constituents.

Candidates

Well done to John Orrick on the Hill and Sally Marks in the Valley. The people of Caterham have chosen two excellent representatives.

As we enter the last days of a long campaign to elect the county councillor for Caterham Hill and Chaldon it is probably worth taking a few moments to consider what the election is about and what it will decide.

In my view there are several issues that sum up the choice for the voters, but what they all boil down to is proper management and value for money. These are the areas where I believe the current administration has failed.

Take roads for example. Is it better to repair a pothole once properly or to have to return, often within weeks, to fill it again? Surface dressing can be very effective in prolonging a road’s usable lifecycle but only when the sub-structure is good. Far too many local roads look like a relief map of a mountain range for surface dressing to be effective. At the current rate of repair Surrey’s roads will take decades to be finished.

The area that most concerns me, however, is the appalling and complacent reaction to the “worst possible rating” of one star given by Ofsted to Surrey for their care of the vulnerable. This ranks us alongside Haringey, Doncaster and Milton Keynes as the worst four councils in Britain. The report was first known about over a year ago, three months before its publication in July 2008. Yet, as recently as March, Mole Valley Council (also Conservative controlled) had to write to complain of “serious concerns” about the service. Only last week the Surrey Mirror carried a lengthy article about the “near collapse” of the service in Reigate and Banstead and the worry of strike action from beleaguered social workers unable to cope with the enormous workload. Instead of managing properly SCC have hired agency staff and overspent the budget by £14m. Far worse than that has been the shameful attempt to get judicial review of the report. Thankfully the judge threw it out at the first hurdle or many tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money could have disappeared into this black hole of vanity. Just accept the report and take immediate actions to put things right.

There are many other examples of waste including drawing up plans to extend a local primary school before realising that the other schools had sufficient provision to meet demand. Since 1990 the Surrey Pension Fund has been at the lowest level of funding allowed– surely at some point the gap could have been narrowed?

Realistically Surrey will remain under Conservative control after the elections as they currently hold 59 of the 80 seats. It is their serial failure and complacency that makes me feel they need a wake up call – I hope Caterham Hill and Chaldon give them one. It is time for a change!