Chinese meal on Sunday 31st August at the air-conditioned Beijing Restaurant, High Street, Horsell, GU21 4SY at 6.30pm. .

It should be a great night. A chance to socialise and celebrate our recent success. Family and friends welcome. Meal is only £30 per person. Full bar available separately. There will also be a raffle for our campaign fund.

The Lib Dems have called on Woking Borough Council and other public authorities to move the local aggregates yard out of the town centre.

The Borough Council has started work on a £115 million project which would transform the area around Victoria Arch. The Council has already demolished much of 'The Triangle' of buildings in the A320 gyratory, and is planning to widen Victoria Arch and create a dual carriageway either side of the railway bridge.

My Lib Dem colleagues and I have called on the Government to double the Warm Home Discount for existing recipients and make it available to 168 more pensioners* across Woking. The measure would prevent pensioners being forced to "choose between eating and heating this winter", say the Lib Dems.

The call comes amid fears that local residents, particularly 1,222 pensioners on low incomes, could be at risk from the energy crisis this winter.

The Lib Dems have called Surrey County Council's draft County Deal for Surrey bid a 'power grab'.

The County Council is currently putting together a bid for more powers from central government as part of a County Deal for Surrey. However, there is growing concern that the County Deal bid is a simple power grab to enable the Council to become a unitary authority by the back door.

The Lib Dems have questioned Surrey County Council's process of selecting a new highways maintenance contractor which has resulted in the three final bids coming from companies all with a history of failing Surrey residents.

The Council's Cabinet met yesterday and agreed to award the contract to either Amey, Kier or Ringway. Initially the contract will be for 10 years, but a possible extension could take it to 21 years with a total value of about £2.5bn.

Parents of almost 150,000 children in Surrey would receive vouchers worth £200 a year to spend on catch-up classes and educational activities, under plans announced by the Lib Dems.

The policy would empower parents to help their children catch up after months of school closures and disruption during the pandemic. The vouchers could be spent on a range of activities including tutoring in reading, writing and maths, music lessons, swimming classes or other physical education.

The Lib Dems have published figures showing that 16,872 of State Pensioners in Woking are set to be impacted by the Government breaking its manifesto promise and suspending the triple lock on pensions.

The state pension triple lock is a rule that means the state pension must rise each year in line with the highest of three possible figures, inflation, average earnings or 2.5%.

Joint Waste Solutions are to suspend Green Waste collections in Woking for an indeterminate time, likely into 2022. Previously the hold on collections was due to end on 10^th September, leading many residents to fill up their green waste bins in anticipation service resuming.

These residents are now left with overflowing bins of rotted garden waste at a busy time in the garden, through no fault of their own. As a very minimum a final green waste collection should be put in place to clear these bins.

The local Lib Dems have slammed local Conservative MP Jonathan Lord's choice to break their promise to the electorate and vote for a 1.25% rise in National Insurance.

The changes, which go against the Tories' manifesto promise not to raise taxes, will mean hard-pressed local families and small businesses will be left paying hundreds of pounds more in tax each year.

Local Liberal Democrats have been shocked to learn that Woking's garden waste will not be collected until 2022.

The service has been suspended several times over the summer, with the latest hold on collections due to end on 10 September. Currently, garden waste bins are not being emptied and bulky waste collections are not available.

Conservative Cllr Kevin Davis, wrote to councillors on 8 September announcing the suspension of the service for an indeterminate time, likely to run into 2022. He advised that garden waste subscribers would be informed by letter and that they have the option to cancel and receive a pro-rate refund. Subscribers will be compensated for missed collections but how that will be done is not yet known. Amey, who provide the service to Woking and other Surrey boroughs, are taking some action to resolve the crisis and are training 9 new drivers, but this process will take time.

"Residents have overflowing bins, or extra bags of green waste at a busy time in the garden. They can take their green waste to the Community Recycling Centre, but this is at an extra cost for those whose vehicle is a van, unavailable to those without a vehicle and may be challenging for older residents or those with a disability," said Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Ann-Marie Barker "I have heard reports of green waste dumped on local commons and open spaces".

"We have had no update on the bulky waste collection service offered by the Council. With that service unavailable I am concerned we may suffer even more fly-tipping locally" continued Cllr Barker.

Cllr Barker has asked the Council:

- For an update on the suspension of bulky waste collection services - to be told SERCO are doing a good job of collecting fly tipping

- To ask Surrey County Council to a) offer assistance for older residents or those with mobility issues at Martyrs Lane and other recycling centres.b) relax rules on vans at recycling centres, for those bringing garden waste.

- To provide information on reimbursement for missed collections promptly.

"We all know a number of factors have caused this crisis," said Cllr Barker. "With the pingdemic over and the summer holiday period ended, the lack of drivers is clearly impacted by a backlog of HGV tests due to Covid; but it is likely those shortages could have been managed if we hadn't lost so many European drivers who were driven home by Brexit."