For all of you wondering what on earth we have all been doing on the technical points you will be able to find eight letters here which can be sent to Peter Ainsworth now either by signing one at either Lingfield or Dormansland school after school or on Saturday after the march. These letters outline the technical arguments we have formulated after all our research and are we believe the strongest points to make. However as we have maintained all along if you have other views or opinions please put them on the consultation paper when you send in your response to Surrey CC.
There is also a list of paragraphs making the points in a shorter fashion. These also summarise our main points and they can be used or adapted when making your responses on the consultation. You will note that I am using the consultation word a lot. We have done a lot of work and we have I believe formulated some persuasive arguments. However the strength of feeling in our community will be judged by Surrey County Council on the number of responses they receive and therefore it is VITAL to make sure that you and any adults in your family or friends or acquaintances complete a response form. This can be done on-line or you can come along to school on Saturday afternoon after the march and complete one which we will send off for you. We are also sending out over 5000 to households in the district and we have a team of people door knocking.
You will also have seen reference to Andrew Crisp on the website. A group of us are in consultation with Andrew who is the councillor responsible for schools in Surrey and we are working with him and Oxted School to try to find alternative solutions. This is a work in progress and is only another string to our bow. This cannot replace the feedback to Surrey County Council from the community.
In addition to this we have a barrister considering our arguments at the moment and we will keep you posted on his comments. The barrister wanted a considerable amount of information before he could proceed and solicitors/barrister have fairly long breaks over the holidays which is why I am unable to report back yet.
You may have gathered form the above that a lot of work has been going on. I know a lot of people want to know how they can help and now is the time. We would ask everyone to take 10 consultation papers which you can get from the schools and get your friends and families (over 18s) to complete them and then return them to school. This is now the most important thing to do over the remaining three weeks - consultation, consultation, consultion.
Also Tuesday 5th February, 10.30am at County Hall, Kingston - as many people as possible (in orange t-shirts) to protest at the full Council meeting and to present the two petitions.
Hope to see you at the march on Saturday 1.45pm at school
Cath Hearnden