No not the beast in Revelation, the majority in my sixth successive win, virtually double the previous figure on a lower turnout and with more opponents. Can you wonder I’m feeling elated.

Throughout Epsom & Ewell people have resisted the siren call “It’s time for change - vote Conservative” and wisely continued, as they have since 1997, to opt for parties opposed to the Tories running one-star Surrey.

Elsewhere in Surrey the Lib Dems have started their come-back, with gains in Reigate, Spelthorne, Tandridge and Woking, despite losses in Godalming and Guildford.

The message for Gordon Brown is stark. Labour have retained just one seat in Surrey and came bottom of the poll here in Epsom & Ewell South-West.

I was recently invited, along with all other candidates for the Surrey County Council elections, to endorse CPRE Surrey’s “Manifesto for Surrey” which you can read here.

I was happy to confirm my complete and whole-hearted support for all 10 points of this document. But of course I am a member of the Epsom & Ewell branch of CPRE, which I joined when it was formed.

It is not yet clear what CPRE intend to do with the responses received.

With all the publicity about MP’s Expenses attention is also turning to Councillors. Personally I don’t claim any expenses. You can use these links to check the Allowances & Expenses paid to Surrey County Councillors for 2008-2009 and also for 2007-2008.

Allowances are what a councillor gets paid for doing the job - for Income Tax purposes they are treated as a salary. I only get a Basic Allowance - but as you can see many other councillors get additional “Special Responsibilty” allowances. Expenses are mainly travel expenses.

Two explanations: For 2008-2009 I am listed as “John Taylor”. In 2007-2008 they deducted an additional special responsibility allowance paid to me in error in the previous year.

An interesting general conclusion is that Lib Dem councillors cost the taxpayer a lot less than the Tories do - but then they are in charge.

It has been announced that, subject to the approval of parliament, the Surrey Police Authority (SPA) will be capped. They will have to refund £1.6 million (about £3 on average per council tax payer) at a cost of a further £1.2 million for re-billing. The news broke just hours after the SPA meet held in public last Tuesday, when I heard the chairman Mr Peter Williams say they were still awaiting the government’s decision following representations made to ministers by the SPA.
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Around this time last year, the Tories running county hall were preparing for the Ofsted inspection of Children’s Services and dreaming that Surrey was about to be declared an ‘excellent’ County Council - despite having taken very little notice of the valid criticisms levelled back in 2003. Staff on the front line could have warned them, had they asked, but no. So Ofsted’s findings in the Joint Area Review came as a shock.
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In this year’s budget the Tories included bus service cuts as one of the ways of paying for a lower council tax increase than in previous years. More than 10% of the subsidy will be cut next year.
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Sadly, there is little evidence that he would. In 2008, Surrey failed its Ofsted inspection of safeguarding services for Children, which were inspected during the Joint Area Review. Safeguarding, along with provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, was found to be ‘inadequate’.
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Surrey County Council’s most popular move, since the introduction of Local Committees to oversee Highways works, has been the provision of Community Gangs working in consultation with local county councillors, to deal with potholes, loose kerb stones and paving slabs, over-hanging vegetation, minor repairs and repainting etc.
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A Liberal Democrat “Opposition Day” motion to withdraw the new guidelines for Gurkha settlement immediately and bring forward revised proposals that extend an equal right of residence to all Gurkhas has been passed in the House of Commons.

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Surrey Liberal Democrats at County Hall have been denied the opportunity to debate the failures of the Tory administration and the millions of Council Taxpayers’ money wasted. The ruling Conservative group refused to allow the debate saying that they did not have enough information to debate the subject adequately.

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