Liberal Democrat Leader Charles Kennedy today launched the Liberal Democrat Pre-manifesto - the first important stage in the manifesto process, which will take the Party into the General Election.
Under new Liberal Democrat proposals police chiefs would sign contracts with local communities setting out how many officers they would deploy. The "minimum policing guarantees" would set funding levels for local police for a rolling three-year period. The guarantees are part of the party's new plans to tackle crime. The plans include using money earmarked for the government's ID card plan to hire an extra 10,000 front line police and 20,000 community support officers.
Conservative run Surrey County Council has rejected proposals by the Liberal Democrats that would improve consultation and involvement of residents in the Council's decisions.
Plans by Surrey County Council to impose on-street parking charges across the County were thrown into chaos last night when Guildford Local Committee unanimously rejected putting the plans for the Borough out to public consultation.
At the Annual Meeting of Mole Valley District Council, the votes of the Ashtead Independent group were decisive in electing Conservative James Friend as Council Leader - even though his party is not the largest on the Council. James Friend then announced a coalition between the 2 groups to form a joint administration.
Surrey County Council's Conservatives delivered a kick in the teeth to local residents and businesses when they voted against accepting the on-line e-petition with 26,289 signatures calling for the County Council to abandon plans for on-street parking charges, in what was clearly a heavily whipped vote.
