At last week’s meeting of the Council, Cllr Rolson Davies Executive Member for Health and Adult Social Services explained the likely impact of the Government’s Queens Speech proposals for ‘personal care at home’ bill on local authorities such as Kingston.

Last night’s Full Council meeting (19/01/10) has been described as one of the “most embarrassing spectacles of local Conservative incompetence we have seen in a long time.”

Events included:

The Leader of Kingston Council, Derek Osbourne has responded with “disappointment” to the news that the Minister of Culture and Tourism has approved the introduction of car parking charges in Richmond and Bushy park, despite strong opposition from residents and local Liberal Democrats.

Kingston’s Executive Members for Transport, Planning and Economic Development have responded to Mayor Boris Johnson’s ‘draft London plan’, raising their concerns that his “vision for London” has ignored the needs of outer London boroughs such as Kingston.

A bid to create a new community sports and social centre on Norbiton's Cambridge Road Estate was approved last week by the Council's Executive members, who received vocal support from neighbourhood residents’ associations and ward councillors.

The Executive of Kingston Council this week welcomed the opening of The Noble Centre in Blagdon Road New Malden, a community centre dedicated to Promoting Independent People Services (PIPS) for the Borough's elderly and disabled residents.

Sir,

In last week’s paper you published a letter from Conservative Member of the London Assembly Tony Arbour, claiming that the Tory Mayor of London Boris Johnson is “on the side of council payers… especially those on low or fixed incomes”.

At this week's meeting of the Executive, Lead Member for Housing Cllr Penny Shelton welcomed the news that the Royal Borough has been awarded with an impressive £800,000 grant towards the cost of new-build social housing.

Kingston has topped the league tables for its GCSE results last summer! 68.2% of pupils in Borough schools gained 5 or more A*-C GCSEs including Maths and Engalish. The national average was 50.7%.

You can read the general guide to results, and check the performance of any school, on the BBC website.

Figures released by the Liberal Democrat party reveal that 3,425 vulnerable pensioners living in Kingston and Richmond could be missing out on government benefits designed to help elderly people in bouts of freezing weather.

For the second year in a row, the Royal Borough of Kingston has been shown to have the lowest incidence of crime in the whole of London. According to the Metropolitan Police Service’s official statistics, crime in the borough also fell a dramatic 3.2% on the previous year’s levels.

The Leader of Kingston Council has written to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) outlining the serious programme of action which the Liberal Democrat-run local authority has taken to help local businesses, especially in the retail sector, during the continued recessionary climate.

Kingston’s Executive Member for Economic Development has written to the Communities Secretary querying the methodology of the recent staunch of ‘Real Help Now’ funding to selected local authorities and has accused the Government of “snub[bing] the businesses and workers” of the borough’s retail sector.

The Leader of Kingston Council has welcomed the news that one of the Borough’s proposals under the Sustainable Communities Act has been shortlisted for consideration by the Communities Secretary.

Kingston’s Executive Member for Transport Cllr Bob Steed, has publicly criticised the London Mayor’s “insulting” decision to withdraw free travel on New Year’s Eve for parts of the capital without Tube services, on top of the increased cost of TfL fares to local residents in 2010.