Up to 600 homes specially designed for older and disabled people will be created in Surrey within a decade under plans unveiled by the county council. The authority has revealed it aims to free up sites on its land for extra care housing – homes with support staff on hand – and team up with … Continue reading
Leader David Hodge told a meeting of today’s Cabinet that Surrey County Council “simply can’t cope” with the scale of funding cuts at the same time as helping the vulnerable and providing extra school places. He warned that without extra support from the government the council faces making “difficult decisions” to ensure it continues to deliver … Continue reading
Chancellor Philip Hammond, the MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, has officially opened a new building at Manby Lodge Infant School. The expansion is part of Surrey’s county-wide programme to meet a rise in demand for school places and ensure children continue to have the facilities they need for the best possible education. Linda Kemeny, Surrey … Continue reading
Surrey trading standards officers have uncovered a batch of 200 toy playsets destined to be sold as Christmas presents despite packaging which poses a suffocation risk. Officers ordered safety tests on a sample of the products – imported from China via Heathrow Airport – after becoming suspicious because the toys were incorrectly labelled. The tests … Continue reading
County council Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Health Helyn Clack used today’s Full Council meeting to set out the progress made with Surrey Heartlands’ health devolution proposals.
Tens of millions of pounds to provide support for people with a learning disability have been “wiped clean off our books”, Surrey leader David Hodge told today’s Full Council meeting.
Fully electrifying the North Downs Line will boost the government’s coffers by nearly £190 million. Upgrading the train line, which runs between Reading and Gatwick through Surrey, will generate an additional £89m a year in corporation tax and an extra £97m annually in income tax. News of the potentially massive financial boost for the government … Continue reading
Following the launch of a consultation on proposed fire service changes in the Spelthorne area, Kay Hammond, Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Associate for Community Safety Services, said: “As residents of Spelthorne are aware, we’re planning to close Sunbury and Staines fire stations and open a new one at Fordbridge – the best possible location for … Continue reading
Free training courses for voluntary groups More than 5,700 voluntary, community and faith sector (VCFS) groups are being offered training courses by Surrey County Council. The courses, which are also run by the authority for its own staff, are a mixture of e-learning and classroom based activities and help the VCFS deliver even more support … Continue reading
Applications for places at Surrey secondary schools next September have reached a new high. Surrey County Council received 11,392 secondary school applications by the 31 October closing date* – 260 more than last year. The number of applications has risen steadily in recent years, with 1,343 more applying this year than in 2012. The increase … Continue reading
Surrey County Council is on course to save £3.5 million after spearheading an initiative to replace scores of networks with just one. The authority handed BT a seven-year contract to create a single computer and communication system for a host of public services in Surrey and Berkshire in 2012 using cloud technology. Now Surrey has … Continue reading
Schemes to cut congestion at one of Surrey’s busiest roundabouts and expand a secondary school have been delayed after leader David Hodge urged MPs to help the county council “avoid damaging cuts”. The Cabinet put decisions about investing in improvements at Runnymede Roundabout and 250 extra places at Salesian School in Chertsey on hold until … Continue reading
Half of Surrey children go to school within five miles of a London borough – and miss out on £30million funding compared to pupils in the capital. Surrey receives £450 less per pupil from the Government than the average for London boroughs bordering the county even though schools either side of the boundary serve virtually … Continue reading
Listen to BBC Surrey talk to Linda Kemeny, the county council’s Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Educational Achievement, and Professor Paul Hogg, Vice Principal of Royal Holloway, University of London, as well as robotics students at Royal Holloway, about plans for Surrey’s first university technical college. Audio courtesy of BBC Surrey
Fly-tipped rubbish dealt with in Surrey has dropped by more than half compared with a year ago, new figures from Surrey County Council have shown. Some 206 tonnes of fly-tipped waste were collected by district and borough councils in October compared with 469 in the same month last year – a drop of 263 tonnes. … Continue reading