When Sandy and I first joined the Liberals in 1982 the most charismatic and indeed successful local politician was Dorothy Buckrell who has died after fighting cancer for five years. A Byfleet stalwart, she was our County Councillor for 14 years. Just as importantly she was a tremendous recruiter for the party, somebody who succeeded and was for many a role model.

Earlier this month Woking Borough Council agreed to implement all the recommendations of an independent review into the decisions and Council processes behind the Woking Football Club development.

This review heavily criticised the way the Conservative-run Council is managed and made more than 20 recommendations for improvement.

The Lib Dems are calling on the Government to raise Carer's Allowance by £1,000 a year to help support 1,250 unpaid carers in Woking during the coronavirus pandemic.

The party's leader, Ed Davey, who has promised to "be the voice of the 9 million carers in our country", has written to the Prime Minister urging him to recognise the "challenges that have been made even harder by coronavirus."

The Lib Dems have called for teachers to be vaccinated against covid after the Government admitted schools were the epicentre of high community transmission.

Daisy Cooper MP, Lib Dem Spokesperson for Education, has written a letter to Ministers Gavin Williamson and Matt Hancock to ask them to vaccinate teachers as part of category seven.

Lib Dem Councillor Will Forster and the York Road Project has written to the Government calling for those working with homeless people to be treated as a priority group in the coronavirus vaccination programme.

Since the start of the covid pandemic the Project have had to move from their small premises into the HG Wells Conference Centre and its adjoining hotel to meet the Government guidelines on social distancing.

Paul Kennedy, the Lib Dem candidate for Surrey's Police and Crime Commissioner, is urging residents to respond to the latest proposal by incumbent David Munro for a 5.54% increase in the police element of Council Tax, and is calling for better value for money for taxpayers.

The proposal corresponds to an annual increase of £10 for Band A households, £15 for Band D, and £30 for Band H properties, on top of any increases by Surrey's local authorities like Surrey County Council and Woking Borough Council. The increase is the maximum permitted without requiring a local referendum of Surrey residents.

Serious managerial incompetence by senior Tory Councillors is identified in the independent inspector's "Report on Woking Football Club and Associated Development - 15 December 2020". The report clearly identifies many very important issues for all Woking voters.

Woking Borough Council granted a £250 million loan to a property developer and has been found to have inadequate paperwork to support the deal, not having taken appropriate legal advice and kept secret information that should have been in the public domain. In this podcast we ask how did this happen and who was responsible for such an extraordinary scale of incompetence. Ann-Marie Barker, Leader of Lib Dem Group on Woking Borough Council and a Goldsworth Park Councillor, suggests answers to these crucial questions.

Jobs for Tory pals and weak management of Woking Borough Council officers by the Conservative leadership. 

Independent LGA (Local Government Association) reports in 2015 and 2019 highlighted poor management practice and managerial incompetence by the Woking Tories. These reports have been hidden and ignored.  In our latest podcast Adam Kirby and Dale Roberts probe the details in Woking Spotlight.  

The Lib Dems have condemned the Chancellor for failing to introduce a comprehensive plan to save jobs after it was revealed that almost 3,000 people in Woking are currently on Universal Credit.

Lib Dem Treasury Spokesperson Christine Jardine criticised Rishi Sunak's "constant chop-and-change approach" urging him to put in place a proper plan to protect jobs as the Government still struggles to get a grip over rising cases of coronavirus.

The Conservatives running Surrey County Council have launched a consultation on plans to cut school funding for pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN).

They plan to abolish the "additional SEN funding" which goes to 67 primary and 2 secondary schools in Surrey. Beaufort, Goldsworth, St Hugh of Lincoln, West Byfleet Infant and West Byfleet Junior Schools in Woking would all be hit by the changes.