After large parts of the Basingstoke Canal were covered in green gunge from the summer to the end of the year Cllr Ann- Marie Barker is calling for the local waterway to be kept gunge free. The gunge (technically known as duckweed) covered the canal around parts of Horsell, near the town centre and beyond for more than half of 2014.

Lib Dem County Councillor Will Forster has succeeded in getting Surrey County Council to agree to construct a raised pedestrian walkway under the Prey Heath Road railway bridge.

Councillor Will Forster said, "Safety under the railway bridge on Prey Heath Road is appalling. Ever since being elected, I've been campaigning for the Council to protect pedestrians on Prey Heath Road. I'm really pleased that the Council has now committed to fund and install the walkway in the 2014/15 financial year.

The Conservatives running Woking Borough Council are set to increase parking charges again.

In April 2013, the Council increased parking charges in the Town Centre's car parks by as much as 20%. The ruling Conservatives are now planning to implement a further increase by October 2014.

Second parking charge increase in 18 months.

Thanks to your overwhelming response to the Goldwater Lodge petition, Councillor Denzil Coulson and the Lib Dems successfully forced the Tories to make a decision regarding the future of Goldwater Lodge. They agreed to fund the £915,000 shortfall needed to cover the repair costs not covered by the building's insurers.

Following a packed meeting of local Liberal Democrat members, Chris Took has been selected as Woking Liberal Democrat's Prospective Parliamentary candidate for the 2015 General Election.

Chris succeeds former Woking Mayor Rosie Sharpley, who secured 2nd place in the 2010 election against current Woking Conservative MP.

Lib Dem Borough Councillor Liam Lyons has asked Woking's Local Transport Committee to review the traffic lights along Guildford Road and Victoria Way. This was following complaints from a number of residents who regularly get caught in peak time traffic jams.

Cllr Lyons, one of two Lib Dem borough councillors for Mount Hermon West, has asked for the phasing of the lights to be looked at, in particular the pedestrian crossing by the Market Square, which seems to be out of sync with the other lights along the A320.

A drop in the number of people claiming jobseekers allowance in Woking is another welcome boost to the economy, Ann-Marie Barker said today.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has reported the UK has seen the largest annual fall in the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance in more than 15 years.

There is such a thing as a free lunch

More than 350,000 children were offered a free two course meal last week to celebrate the Great School Lunch.

The 20th annual National School Meals Week took place from 4th to 8th November and is the biggest healthy eating awareness week aimed at children in England and Wales. The event is organised by LACA, the lead association for catering in education, which work with schools to promote healthy school meals in primary and secondary schools.

Around 92,000 of the most disadvantaged two-year-olds are now receiving up to 15 hours a week of free childcare, just weeks after free pre-school education was introduced.

Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg welcomed today's figures which show that after one month of the launch of the scheme, around 70% of the identified 130,000 children are already benefitting from free childcare. This is up from 20,000 children accessing free early education in 2010.

VINCE CABLE HAILS LIB DEM SUCCESSES IN GOVERNMENT IN WOKING SPEECH

Woking Liberal Democrats were delighted to welcome Dr Vince Cable to Woking on Saturday 26 October.

Vince told local Liberal Democrats and guests about departmental achievements to date. These include the growing number of apprentices, the setting up of the Green Investment bank and businesses working in partnership with the government.