Will Forster

Thanks to Woking being a Cycle Town, every so often we get a new round of improvements to make the Borough more cycle - and pedestrian friendly. The pedestrian crossing on Kingfield Road opposite Woking Park was built thanks to this program.

I am a member of the Woking Local Committee, which approves or rejects any of these new facilities. On top of the normal new bike stands and cycle lessons in schools - last night’s Local Committee was asked to allow the paths under Victoria Arch and between York Road and De Lara Way over the railway lines to become shared used routes for both cyclists and pedestrians.

As the County Councillor for those areas, I thought - and said strongly - that this plan was totally wrong. Pedestrians, especially elderly and disabled people as well as mums (or anyone else for that matter) with pushchairs and dog walkers should not be forced to share those narrow routes with cyclists.

The proposal for Victoria Arch was to eat into the main road way to create a slightly wider shared used path. The A320 is the busiest road in Woking and Victoria Arch is already a bottleneck for traffic, making it smaller would make the situation worse. This widening would cost £60,000 yet there are plans for 2 new tunnels just either side of the Arch to separate out the people from the traffic - making the area safer, less congested and more pleasant to go through. Let’s get on with building those tunnels!

The planned shared use route linking De Lara Way and York Road was to widen in parts the footpath, but the link is on a large hill with many side entrances and a very narrow bridge over the railway line. If this shared use was put in place - the blind corners by the narrow bridge would make it scary at best, down right dangerous at worst to anyone using the route, let alone for the most vulnerable.

I said all that, and being a politician much … much more on why those shared use routes are wrong - I made that stand as the local councillor not knowing what the response of the other councillors of the committee would be. I was pleasantly surprised that they respected my opinion that the vulnerable should be cared for and these shared routes not be forced on the community. Those shared use routes were rejected of all.

I am one of the two councillors in Woking that doesn’t drive, so I know first hand that safety for cyclists and pedestrians is not high enough a concern for those in authority - which is why I back Woking as a Cycle Town. However, the program of making Woking a more welcoming place for cyclists and pedestrians has to be a program that makes Woking more welcoming for all cyclists and pedestrians - not just some. Proposing ideas that don’t equally welcome all sadly shows our all important cycling program has got lost.

As expected the part closure of Victoria Arch has caused total chaos in Woking for almost a week now - and it will continue for at least month. Roadworks have unfortunately become part and parcel of traveling.. but wait, has someone found a solution to the problem?

Roadworks, or more specifically the lack of coordination or publicity about them is what residents write to me the most about. Sadly utilities companies have a legal right to dig up the roads - until that right is taken away or at least limited, we will continue to face mass disruption. What’s more - locally in Surrey the County Council gets notices of almost 40,000 separate roadworks each year, but they don’t have enough people to monitor or advertise them.

London has already done so, and Kent is planning to - introduce roadwork permits, where a utility company buys a permit from the local council before they dig up any road. If a company started digging up a road without a permit they can be fined £5,000 and £2,500 could be forfeited if a roadwork that breaks the rules of their permit. All this would force utilities companies to think carefully before any work is done - and make sure roadworks are carried out as quickly as possible.

All that sounds great, so what’s the catch? Surrey County Council would only have to do 2 things: 1) Ensure that no roadwork occurs without a permit and that all roadworks with a permit stays to the rules in that permit. Although the Council itself maybe worse off by employing a few more people to watch the utilities companies - that cost would more than be saved by the wider county economy not being disrupted by unnecessary roadworks. 2) County Hall would have to ask the Government for these new powers. Surrey Council has a bad habit of not talking to the Government - they failed to apply for new powers under the Sustainable Communities Act, that could have meant for example Surrey could have kept business rates generated in the county rather than them being spent centrally.

So it’s true, there is a better way of handling roadworks - but we need those in authority to have the vision to reach out for the new solutions out there in the wider world outside County Hall. I won’t be holding my breath.

Like many people, I was disappointed with the news that Cadbury had been takeover by Kraft.

Cadbury is - soon maybe was - a national institution which provides thousands of jobs in the Britain, and I feel there is a real danger its takeover by Kraft will lead to job losses. Whilst it is for shareholders to accept or reject offers to purchase their shares, Cadbury shares have been rapidly bought up by hedge funds that are keen to accept the Kraft offer, regardless of whether it is in the long-term interests of the company.

In the age of global capitalism there is nothing that really could have been done to stop the takeover of Cadbury, but the Government - namely Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson said they would support an independent Cadbury. Kraft is borrowing £7 billion in order to purchase Cadbury, partly from the Royal Bank of Scotland - a state owned bank. It is wrong for a state owned bank, funded by taxpayers, to support a deal that is not in the best interests of the UK economy. Especially after the Government said this won’t happen.

The Labour Government foolishly raised expectations of the country - but more importantly the workers of Cadbury, that Kraft’s bid would fail. Then after their quick popularist press release had been sent out - they failed to follow through their promise and let taxpayers’ money be used by an American company to buy out a British company. Not a good day for a Labour Britain, literately.

With the snow and ice, the planned closure of Victoria Arch has been postponed - for the third time.

From 8pm on Friday 22nd January no northbound traffic will be able to use Victoria Arch for 6 to 8 weeks. Access to pedestrians and cyclists on both sides of the tunnel will not be affected so will stay open, nor will any southbound traffic coming from Woking Town Centre. The Council is advising motorists to follow the stated diversion route via Triggs Lane and Wych Hill Lane.

This closure is to allow the Southern Gas Network to finish the works that took place in and around Guildford Road before Christmas. The Victoria Arch closure will, of course lead road chaos in and around Woking - but what’s worse is the same company has roadworks on Maybury Hill by the Lion Works and EDF are digging up the pavement on Triggs Lane, the official diversion route away from Victoria Arch. I am chasing the Council to coordinate this roadworks, so Victoria Arch is only closed after the other routes in Woking are open, will keep you posted.

Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg launched my party’s General Election campaign this week with honest pledges and a promise to bring real change to Britain.

At the last General Election, the Lib Dems stood out as a very distinctive with plans for free personal care for the elderly and free university education by scrapping tuition fees - with my over £10,000 student debt in mind, I clearly think the latter is very important. However with the deep recession and huge deficit the Lib Dems are saying, very simply and honestly that those promises maybe unaffordable at the start of a Lib Dem Government. So my party is making 4 key pledges:

1) Fair taxes - a commitment to make the first £10,000 you earn tax-free. People earning less than £10,000 will pay no income tax, and everyone paying the basic rate will receive a £700 per year tax cut. This will be paid for with a mansion tax on homes worth above £2m, and by taxing income and capital gains at the same level.

2) A fair start for all our children - We will cut class sizes and introduce a “pupil premium” which will mean an extra £2.5bn to help improve discipline and provide extra tuition where needed. This will be paid for by stopping tax credits for higher-income earners.

3) A fair and sustainable economy that creates jobs. We will make Britain the world leader in the green economy. We will save £3.5bn on current expenditure and invest in public transport, home insulation and social housing.

4) Fair, transparent and more local politics. We will introduce a fair voting system to end “safe” seats. We will return powers to local communities and councils, and ensure that MPs can be sacked for breaking the rules. We will stop tax avoiders standing for Parliament, sitting in the Lords or donating to political parties.
The party has also committed to recruit 3,000 more police officers, scrap university tuition fees within 6 years, increase pay for the armed forces and restore the link between pensions and earnings. We will pay for these things by scrapping ID cards, cutting back on Defence bureaucrats, and abolishing Government Offices in the regions.

Sadly, the recession has meant that we have had to move away from some of the things we’d like to do - but Labour have failed in their 13 years, both the economy and politics are broken. The Tories can’t be trusted - they pretend to offer change, but all they do is offer more of the same that has failed us. That’s not change, that’s more of the same. I am proud to be a Lib Dem, we are the only party that can give Britain the fresh start it needs.

Surrey’s Environment and Economy Committee yesterday refused to sign up to the national 10:10 climate change campaign to commit to cut carbon emissions by 10% in 2010.

At the October meeting of the County Council the Lib Dems proposed the carbon cutting motion calling on the Council to act. At that meeting, the ruling Conservatives refused to debate the motion and referred the issue down to the Environment and Economy Committee. Once sent to that Committee, the motion was deferred twice before tuesday’s decision to dismiss the 10:10 campaign.

I was the councillor who formally seconded the motion at the Full Council meeting in October and I also adopted the referred motion at committee level - so I am thoroughly disappointed in the decision. But I am more than disappointed - I am also very surprised that the Surrey Conservatives have refused to sign up to 10:10. Council Leader Andrew Povey came to power at County Hall saying that the authority should “spent more time thinking about sustainability and climate change”. Why would the Leader of the Council say he has strong views on climate change - then fail to act on them?

Franny Armstrong’s 10:10 campaign has been so successful that it has become a mass movement of tens of thousands of businesses, people and organisations. The Lib Dems have signed up and asked all local councils under it’s control to adopt 10:10 - and they are doing so, Lib Dem Edinburgh became the 100th council to commit to a 10% carbon cut in 2010. The Conservatives nationally also urged it’s councils to sign up. But so few have - why are the Surrey Tories ignoring David Cameron?

The Conservatives might have spray painted themselves green - but the new look is wearing off. What Conservatives such as Andrew Povey and David Cameron say before taking office, is very different to what they will do once in power. I fear that if the Conservatives win the next General Election, Britain may become ‘the dirty man of Europe’ again the country was when the Tories were last in Government. People today, especially the young may lose their jobs, their homes and possibly even their lives due to climate change. That’s why its important to act on climate change.