October 2006                                                                           No 98                              

Guildford wins again

 
What a fantastic borough we live in. Guildford won a Silver-Gilt Award in the South East in Bloom Awards and was judged the best in the large town/small city category. 

We also won:

· Silver-Gilt and Best Country Park for Riverside Park.

· Discretionary Waterwise Award for our efforts on water preservation.

· Community Action Award: Park Barn & Westborough Open Space, Guildford

The judges’ summary comments were: 

"A very well presented tour and excellent accompanying literature.  The Castle Grounds and town centre were as impressive as they were colourful.  As regional participants, Guildford has not become complacent in their approach and involvement in South East in Bloom so new initiatives are very much evident whilst established sites are still managed with enthusiasm.  Guildford is, yet again, one of the highest achievers in the competition".

Some of the winning blooms in the town centre
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Sutherland Memorial Park, just outside the ward in Burpham, has been named one of the best parks in England and Wales for the third year running after national charity, the Civic Trust, awarded the park a much coveted Green Flag award. 
The award scheme is the national standard for parks and open spaces.  Winners of the award must be welcoming, safe and well maintained with plenty of involvement from the local community. It is evidence that our parks are improving and shows our dedication to providing clean, green and secure open spaces for all our local residents and visitors.  

This initiative is part of the council’s commitment to improving residents’ local surroundings, by focusing on issues that matter most to them such as a cleaner, safer and greener environment.

 

 
Detailed plans for the Friary 

Extension have now been approved
 

Protect local gardens and character

Under planning rules introduced by John Prescott, gardens around homes are no longer classed as ‘green space’. Councils must now follow rigid Whitehall guidelines demanding that new developments cram in as many buildings as possible.

As a result, local communities and local councillors are increasingly powerless to stop suburban gardens being ripped up and the plots replaced with soulless blocks of flats.

Roads. such as those in the Cranley Road area, have been subject to repeated planning applications, and there are ongoing applications in various parts of the ward.

These planning rules are making it more expensive to buy a family home, whilst pokey flats often lie unwanted and unsold. New regulations on the horizon threaten to make the problem even worse, and the Labour Government is spending taxpayers’ money on proposals for ‘urban densification’ which could even involve the compulsory purchase of gardens.

Whitehall tax inspectors are also drawing up plans for the forthcoming council tax revaluation, and Gordon Brown is intending to levy higher local taxes on houses with home improvements, conservatories, patios or attractive gardens.

Green spaces are now under real threat from Labour’s bulldozers, growing suburban sprawl and ugly ‘densification’. Local communities should be able to stop blocks of flats being dumped in neighbourhoods if out of character with the area.

For David Cameron’s action plans see opposite. To find out more & sign the e-petition at www.conservatives.com/gardens.

 

          

 
Council’s target-smashing performance secures place in country’s top 25% of local authorities

 

Residents are benefiting from highly efficient and cost effective services that are amongst the best in the country – that’s the clear message from the latest set of best value performance indicators published for the council. They show that the services provided by the Guildford Conservative on the Borough Council have not only exceeded local performance targets but that on average they have also exceeded the national estimated top quartile figures, putting the council well into the top 25% of all local authorities. Independent town hall watchdog, the Audit Commission, has graded Guildford as among the best performing councils in England.

Services from all areas of the council have performed to a high level with the majority of indicators exceeding targets, including:

· Clearing 95% of fly tips within one day, beating the target by 5%.

· Improvement in the number of working days lost to sickness. On average, Guildford council workers were off sick for 6.2 days, substantially lower than the national average of 8.48 days and the Surrey District average of 9.09 days.

· For over a year Guildford council has consistently exceeded targets for the percentage of local households that are served by kerbside collection of recyclable waste. The current indicator shows that 97.5% of all households within the borough are served by a kerbside recycling collection.

The performance indicators are a real testament to the hard work of everyone at the council. But we are not complacent and we will continue to stretch ourselves to build on the great achievements that we have already made.

 

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