ANOTHER fine mess Surrey Heath Tories have got us into!

9.49.40pm GMT Sun 13th Feb 2005

The Same Story from Surrey Heath Tories!

"Some Surrey Heath residents might have thought, "So what?" when the Audit Commission recently judged their Borough Council to be the worst in Surrey," writes Surrey Heath Council Liberal Democrat Leader, David Whitcroft.

"Following the recent disclosures about apparent Conservative plans for the 2005/6 budget, they should now understand the full significance of the Audit Commissions criticisms.

The Conservative Leader of the Council, Moira Gibson, admits that the Budget approved by her Executive is 'unsustainable' and blames an unusual set of circumstances for the predicament. These circumstances include:

1. A reduction in car park income. The income from Camberley car parks has been falling for some years and instead of producing a sensible Parking Marketing Plan aimed at reversing the trend - as repeatedly urged by my Group - the Leader has shrugged her shoulders and done nothing - but wring her hands whilst watching the income fall! Her assertion that 'we're not sure why' season ticket holders have cancelled their subscriptions early is a terrible admission that neither she nor her administration has a clue about what is going on in the Borough's main town.

2. The refurbishment of the Arena Leisure Centre which will cost £352,000 whilst the facility is closed. To read the Conservatives' comments it might be supposed that this closure is a big surprise which is, of course, nonsense. The closure has been known about for years and the Council has failed totally to plan adequately for the impact of the refurbishment.

3. Delays in starting the development in Park Street. The current planning issue raised by GOSE provides a convenient smokescreen for Miss Gibson. The main reason for delays in the development, however, is the failure of the Conservative administration to enforce the developer's own timetable which resulted in more than a year's delay in getting the Development Agreement finalised. This delayed the submission of the Planning Application and has resulted in the Council losing rent on Park Street properties for much longer than should have been the case.

The Audit Commission criticised Surrey Heath Borough Council for its lack of effective Strategic Planning and for failings in Performance Management. This latest debacle with the budget - which sees the Conservatives proposing to raid the General Fund Working Balance to the tune of some £560,000 (after years of blathering about how important it is to maintain high balances!) - proves the points made by the Audit Commission perfectly.

Surrey Heath Conservatives have no idea how to forward plan. Their financial strategy was developed in 1991, 14 years ago, and it is clearly totally inadequate to deal with the needs of Surrey Heath in 2005."