Tuesday 9 June 2009

Answering Your Questions - Part 2


Why have you pinned your colours to the Conservative party?

I am a local resident who happens to believe that the Conservative party is the closest to my personal values. As a member of your and my community I am keen to be involved with a party that brings new ideas and ambitions to the borough’s outer lying areas such as North Cheam and Worcester Park. And lastly but importantly, when we as residents opposed the planning permission for the Sainsbury Local development in Central Road, I interacted with all our local Councillors and experienced first hand the Conservative Councillors real commitment to the residents they represent.What are you going to do to make a difference?

What are you going to do to make a difference?

I am not a stock politician. I am a Hampton Road resident, I run a local business and have children in several local schools. I share many of your concerns. I believe that a local ward councillor should be a champion for our area in Sutton’s Civic Offices. Too often, politicians become mouthpieces for the Council when speaking to residents rather than the other way around. Taking the correct approach can highlight the real problems in the area and attract attention and remedial action. As part of a resurgent Conservative Council group, I will be able to champion action for our area in their manifesto for the 2010 local council elections.

What are you going to do to enable my wife to drive her small Mini on the streets now that the current council have installed even more speed bumps making it almost impossible for her to go down a street without scraping the bottom of her car?

Speed bumps have long been the default option in the Council’s attempt to slow traffic. The new ramps in Church Hill Road have already been marked where cars have bashed the surface as they pass over. Firstly we need to look at other measures to bring traffic to a sensible speed. We can start removing speed bumps as we resurface roads, if a majority of residents wish us to do so.

What are you going to do to improve recycling collection so it happens more than once every other week?

Recycling is a complicated topic, largely dictated by European and national legislation. Changes were made to our waste collection system last year to try to reduce the amount going to landfill. This is because the council has stringent targets set by Europe and will be massively fined if it exceeds them. Of course, these will be passed on to the council taxpayers. Collecting food waste separately for composting, as is being trialled in parts of the borough, removes this from the brown bins, so reducing smells etc. However, it will be difficult and expensive to increase the frequency of collecting recyclables. One thing that may improve the situation is to introduce more small recycling centres, places that people can walk to and drop off small amounts of recycling. As well as the main centres like the ones at Sainsburys and Staines Avenue, the Council could encourage new developments to include shared facilities. Last year’s u-turn on the £35 per bag green garden waste charge suggested that the council had lost sight of what services residents wanted.

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