Tomorrow, I will chair the first in a series of ‘Woking Debates’ – where local people come together to debate key topics. These monthly debates will take place at Christ Church in Woking town centre, on Saturdays between 11 am to 12.30 pm. Tomorrow’s debate is about health and social care – the adequate funding […]

As the Mayor of Woking, I recently ran a Christmas Card competition which saw children from my former school, Horsell Church of England Junior School, take part. Over 40 pupils from Horsell’s Junior School submitted potential designs for me to choose my favourite.  The winning design will be used for the Mayor’s Annual Christmas Card, which […]

Despite it pouring with rain, I was pleased to visit West Byfleet Infant School recently to help a 6 year old pupil, Harry Harris, and his classmates plant trees in the school field as part of the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy initiative. The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy will hopefully be a network of forest conservation initiatives to […]

On the same day as the Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer said in the Budget that austerity is coming to an end, Tory-run Surrey County Council announced that it will consult the public on plans to cut bus passes, Children’s Centres, Community Recycling Centres, libraries and services for people with special educational needs and disabilities. […]

The Lib Dems and I have expressed concerns for the future of Surrey’s Children’s Centre provision in the light of the sudden departure of one of their leading champions and advocates from the senior team at Surrey County Council. The departure comes after plans to reduce provision were announced by the Conservative administration earlier this […]

My Lib Dem colleagues at County Hall and I have criticised the ruling Conservative administration for recruiting a new “Business Manager” post, on a salary of more than £43,000, when at the same time planning hundreds of staff redundancies and millions of pounds of cuts to front line services. The advert, which has appeared on […]

My Lib Dem colleagues at County Hall and I are calling for Surrey County Council to make urgent financial preparations following a recent judgement in Bristol in which a group of parents successfully challenged Bristol City Council’s decision to make deep cuts in special educational needs (SEND) provision.  Parents in Surrey have launched a similar […]

County Councillors in Surrey have agreed that children’s mental health and special needs provision should be the subject of detailed study in partnership with universities and others so that current and future demand for these services can be met. Two members of the Lib Dem Group at County Hall moved an motion during yesterday’s Full […]

Earlier today, I was pleased to join residents of Kingsmoor Park in Westfield and children from Westfield Primary School to unveil three large wooden totem sculptures carved by the community under the guidance of local artist Ruth Wheeler. As part of the finishing touches to Thames Valley Housing’s Kingsmoor Park development, the housing association in partnership […]

My Lib Dem colleagues at County Hall and I are calling for urgent improvements to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, known as CAMHS, in the county. Surrey County Council currently commissions these services from Surrey and Borders NHS Trust, but there has been strong criticism of the long waiting times for routine assessments and […]