LIB DEMS TAKE CONTROL OF THE COUNCIL EXECUTIVE

It was smiles all round on Thursday when Cllr Sue Smith arrived at Woking Borough Council surrounded by her jubilant team to take control of Woking. The promise to residents is an attitude of openness, transparency, accountability and genuine consultation - not deciding first and then consulting. At the Council meeting that followed Sue outlined the Lib Dem programme for the year which includes introducing Neighbourhood Forums with genuine commitment to putting local people at the heart of decision making stating "what we can do is bring a different attitude to government".

Sue Smith's first speech as Council Leader in full:

"Traditionally in Woking Borough Council there have not been that many dramatic policy divisions and I hope that this will continue and that we can all continue to work together for the good of Woking residents.

In particular I hope that the Conservatives in opposition will not disavow the policies they supported in office.

Nevertheless, when on May 4th residents elected the Liberal Democrats as the largest party of this Council - they voted for a change. We cannot wave a magic wand and change everything - nor would we want to - what we can do is bring a different attitude to government.

An attitude of openness, transparency, accountability and genuine consultation - not deciding first and then consulting. And transparency includes the management structure of this Council, with members knowing precise lines of responsibility.

There will however be new choices to make and we want local residents to help to make them.

One of our priorities will be to increase neighbourhood engagement with local government. We intend to introduce neighbourhood forums, meeting with partner agencies to enable local residents to influence policy; to consult with users of Council facilities where important changes are proposed, and to increase opportunities for residents to speak at meetings. We want to build on the success of initiatives which build local capacity such as the Lakeview Working Group. To this end we will task a portfolio holder to oversee and participate in extending this success to other areas like Old Woking for example.

Residents have told us that they want to see a visible difference in our town so:

We intend to clean up the Arch and the subway.

We hope to reinstate Woking in Bloom - drought laws permitting!

We will take a hard line on litter and graffiti and keep our contractors up to the mark.

We will continue and extend our environmental policies by introducing doorstep collection of glass for recycling, looking to introduce a system of recycling for commercial waste and also taking positive steps to encourage green cars and car sharing.

We want to support our communities by working more closely with the police, combining resources to make residents feel safer and we want to actively promote ways of increasing the health and well-being of our residents particularly the young.

Provision of affordable housing and adequate accommodation for existing tenants with growing families as well as the homeless must remain this Council's first priority.

And in all that we do we will insist on value for money and an awareness on the need to preserve a fair balance between taxation and services. We hope that the current review of local government finance will give us fairer taxation options and free us from the increasingly onerous demands of central government (normally without the funding to match).

Liberal Democrats are by instinct decentralist. We think local government should be just that - local."

The new LIBERAL DEMOCRAT COUNCIL EXECUTIVE is as follows:

Cllr Sue Smith - Council Leader

Cllr Philip Goldenberg - Deputy Council Leader, Housing and Planning

Cllr Richard Sanderson - Finance

Cllr Ken Howard - Environment

Cllr Rosie Sharpley - Health and Well-Being

Cllr Ian Eastwood - Leisure and Sport

Cllr Rob Leach - Culture and Community Development

Liberal Democrat Councillors on the other Council Committees are as follows:

OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE (Total 15 members)

Cllr Denzil Coulson (Vice-Chair)

Cllr Anne-Marie Barker

Cllr Bryan Cross (Deputy Mayor)

Cllr Gareth Davies

Cllr Neville Hinks

Cllr Ian Johnson

Cllr Derek McCrum

Cllr Richard Sharp

PLANNING COMMITTEE (Total 15 members)

Cllr Ian Johnson (Chair)

Cllr Derek McCrum (Vice-Chair)

Cllr Bryan Cross

Cllr Gareth Davies

Cllr Tina Liddington

Cllr Anne Roberts

Cllr Richard Sharp

LICENSING COMMITTEE (Total 12 members)

Cllr Ann-Marie Barker (Chair)

Cllr Neville Hinks (Vice-Chair)

Cllr Ian Eastwood

Cllr Norman Johns

Cllr Tina Liddington

Cllr Anne Roberts

STANDARDS COMMITTEE (Total 8 members)

Cllr Gareth Davies

Cllr Ian Johnson

APPEALS COMMITTEE (Total 3 members)

Cllr Neville Hinks