On Monday 21st May, the Leader of Surrey County Council, Cllr. David Hodge, was the guest speaker at Caterham Valley Parish Council’s Annual Parish Meeting.  

 

With Surrey County Council coming under fire recently for the poor condition of many of its roads, Mr Hodge used the public platform to explain how the shortfall in government funding has made it impossible for the council to maintain the roads to a satisfactory standard.  

 

Mr Hodge said:  “With Surrey having the highest number of adults with learning disabilities in the country, the government decided they would pass the responsibility to the council, so 85% of the council tax we receive is spent on adult social care.”

 

Mr Hodge explained that in addition to repairing potholes, the council has to maintain its bridges, drainage, street lights, signs and lines, street furniture and take care of winter maintenance.  

 

The petition, entitled “Fairer Funding for Surrey’s Roads”, that Mr Hodge is urging everyone to sign, states:  “We call upon the government to reform the Fairer Funding Formula to ensure there is enough money for road repair and up-keep. The current method for calculating the grant for such work unfairly penalises Surrey. The calculation should give more weight to traffic flow and level of usage.”

 

Only the length of roads and the  number of bridges form the criteria to calculate the amount of funding received from government, but Surrey has a much higher volume of traffic compared to other counties.  The petition currently has 5,500 signatures.  At 100,000 signatures the petition will be considered for debate in parliament.  

 

To sign the petition visit https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/217930.