Kingston and Surbiton Conservatives

Councillors

Conservative Councillors for the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames

This website gives residents the chance to find out more about the work of the Conservative Group on Kingston Council and the facility to contact us if you need help or information.

The May 2006 elections saw the Conservative Group increase from 15 to 21 Councillors. We gained the biggest share of the popular vote but, due to electoral boundaries, the Council remains in Lib Dem hands.

The current political make-up is 25 Liberal Democrat, 21 Conservative, and 2 Labour.

The Shadow Executive

Cllr Howard Jones	Cllr Janet Bowen-Hitchings	Cllr Patrick Codd	Cllr David Cunningham	Cllr Paul Johnston	Cllr Nick Kilby	Cllr Dennis Doe


Cllr Mick Amson	Cllr Geoff Austin	Cllr Mary Clark	Cllr David Edwards	Cllr David Fraser	Cllr Ian George	Cllr David Glasspool


Cllr Adrian Holder	Cllr Richard Hudson	Cllr Eric Humphrey	Cllr Ken Smith	Cllr Robert-John Tasker	Cllr Frank Tompson	Cllr James White
Click any Councillor to find more information about them

The 'Decision-Making Process'

In May 2000, the Council replaced the traditional Committee system with a new system that used a Cabinet-style decision-making process, Overview Panels, and the existing Neighbourhood Committees. After the elections in May 2002, the Liberal Democrat Council introduced an Executive in place of the Cabinet, but the system adopted in May 2000 is largely intact. The Executive proposes action on issues within its responsibility and along with the Neighbourhood committees are the only genuine decision making bodies. Decisions of the Executive and Neighbourhood can be called in and sent to the Scrutiny Panel.

The Executive

The Executive comprises the Leader of the Council and six Executive Members (all Lib Dems), who are each responsible for a portfolio of services. The Executive produces proposals on matters within its responsibility. It does this after considering reports from officers and considering the views of fellow Councillors, local residents and interest groups. The Executive meets every three weeks and the meetings are open to the public.

Executive Member	Responsibility
Cllr. Derek Osbourne	Leader of the Council
Cllr. Penny Sheton	Housing & Adult Services
Cllr. Simon James	Transport, Planning & Regeneration
Cllr. Ian Reid	Improvement & Performance
Cllr. Rolson Davies	Health & Community
Cllr. Patricia Bamford	Children & Young People's Services
Cllr. Liz Shard	Sustainability & Diversity

Scrutiny Panel

The role of the Scrutiny Panel is to hold the Executive to account by carrying out a scrutiny on items that are due to come before the Executive. The Panel also carries out a regular performance review of the Council’s services and functions. Members can draw important matters to the attention of the Scrutiny Panel by using the Council’s Call-in procedure. All decisions that have been 'called-in' will be dealt with by the Panel.

There are 16 Councillors on the Scrutiny Panel which is chaired by the Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Howard Jones. It was originally intended that the Scrutiny Panel would have an in-built Opposition majority to underline its role in holding the Executive to account. Unfortunately that is now not the case, but the Leader of the Council has indicated that not all Liberal Democrat Members will attend meetings to ensure that the original intention of the Panel being Opposition led can be retained.

The Scrutiny Panel generally has meetings scheduled on a monthly basis.

Scrutiny Panel
Cllr. Howard Jones (Chair)	Cllr. Sue Baker	Cllr. Steve Mama
Cllr. Paul Johnston (Vice-Chair)	Cllr. Vicki Harris
Cllr. Janet Bowen-Hitchings	Cllr. Chrissie Hitchcock
Cllr. David Cunningham	Cllr. Don Jordan
Cllr. Dennis Doe	Cllr. Ian McDonald
Cllr. Nick Kilby	Cllr. David Ryder-Mills
Cllr. Patrick Codd	Cllr. Y. Yoganathan>
	Cllr. Kevin O'Connor

Neighbourhood Committees

Each of the four Neighbourhoods is made up of the Councillors representing the electoral wards in that Neighbourhood. The Neighbourhoods are responsible for local issues such as traffic, parking, planning applications, parks and open spaces and local libraries. Neighbourhood meetings are held in local venues, so that residents can come to meetings. Local people are able to ask questions, present petitions and give their views on the issues at hand.

The Neighbourhood (co) Chairmen are:
Kingston Town	Cllr. C. Hitchcock
Maldens & Coombe	Cllr. David Edwards	Cllr. Eric Humphrey
Surbiton	Cllr. David Berry	Cllr. Yogan Yoganathan
Chessington	Cllr. S. Baker

Other Bodies
Development Control	Planning Applications large applictions not for Neigh.
Grants & Awards Panel	All Grant applications over £1000
Licensing	Deals with new licensing powers
Senior Staff Panel	Makes appointments to senior officer posts
Standards Committee	Deals with the conduct of Councillors

Copies of all agendas can be viewed and downloaded from the Royal Borough of Kingston Council website at www.kingston.gov.uk