TREES TREES TREES!
As residents of Surrey we are fortunate to live in a very attractive County. Lots of trees help to make it as lovely as it is.
Surrey County Council (SCC), as part of its climate change plans, has set a target of facilitating the planting of 1.2m trees over the next ten years. This represents one tree for every resident!
It’s a very important ambition as some trees are lost each year to disease, old age or due to land development.
If you have any suggestions for where new trees could be planted please email [email protected].
NEW SCHOOL PLACES
Some children have extra needs and SCC is pleased to help with the education of such children. In particular, the number of children with autism has grown considerably over recent years.
In order to accommodate these children in appropriate schools, a large expansion of these special school places is required. In total 900 new places are to be built, either by expanding existing schools or building new ones.
Currently some children are having to be placed in independent schools or schools outside of Surrey. These are more expensive than our own schools, so there will be a cost saving to the council tax payer by virtue of this important capital investment.
REUSE or RECYCLE
Getting rid of our household waste is a huge problem and cost. It is in our interest to reuse items and materials as much as possible to minimise waste. This is both a cost saving and beneficial for the environment. Some of our larger recycling centres now have reuse shops that sell items to the public.
If it is not possible to reuse then the next best option is to recycle the materials. The market for some materials rises and falls over time so there are sometimes changes in which materials can be recycled but it is still really important to recycle as much as we can. The council has a number of recycling centres open to the public.
The County Council has the responsibility to dispose of our waste and the largest proportion of non-recyclable waste now goes to incineration, this does produce energy so there is some benefit. Little now goes to landfill.
County Council Snippets!
1) County Hall, the main administrative offices of the County Council in Kingston on Thames is closing at the end of this year. New offices in Reigate have been purchased.
It was a quirk of a previous local government reorganisation that left SCC with its main offices outside of the county so it is nice to finally be moving back ! The new offices are much more modern and suitable for today's work environment.
2) Did you know that you can now borrow e-books from the library? Check out the SCC website for more information.
3) Highways keep busy, just look at these statistics:
Andrew Povey
County Councillor for Cranleigh and Ewhurst
