I may have made it home OK, but I did not complete my reports from the field. I’ve got two more to finish up. This report is about our visit to Surrey County.
This is the Surrey County Hall. It is a historic building. The palm-like trees out front made me think, for just a moment, that I was pulling up to some sub-tropical embassy somewhere instead of a County Hall in South London. It is a historic structure. It was first opened for business in November 1893. It has beautiful stained-glass windows throughout. Here’s a sample:
Interestingly, the County Council is moving County operations out of this building. The building is full of asbestos and is difficult to heat, cool, and manage in the modern age. They are building a new County Hall that will be open sometime next year.
Another reason the County Council decided to build a new County Hall is that the current Surrey County Hall is no longer located in Surrey County. It is located in the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames, which was in Surrey County when the County Hall was opened in 1893. But a later boundary change implemented by the national government adjusted Surrey County’s political/geographical boundaries so that Kingston was moved out of Surrey County. So, now the County has a chance to moved their County Hall back into their County. And understandably, they’re going to do just that.
We met with two representatives of the Surrey County Council. That’s Councillor Andrew Crisp on the left in the lavender tie and Councillor John Carruthers on the right in the grey suit and green tie. They are both Conservative Party members. The Surrey County Council is a Conservative Council. The Council has been in the hands of the Conservative party for over 100 years in Surrey, with a brief four year break in the late 1990’s.
Councillor Crisp was the reason for our visit to Surrey. He is a participant in the ReadMyDay national project. Councillor Crisp is a talented blogger in his on right. He sees his blog as a way to engage with a citizenry that is becoming increasingly reliant on electronic means of communications. Councillor Carruthers was a bit skeptical of the whole idea of communicating via weblog, but I think he was coming around by the end of our presentation. Maybe not all the way around, but closer.
Councillor Crisp treated us to a wonderful meal of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding in the Council Dining Room on the upper level of the County Hall. Their dining hall open to Councillors-only and their guests. The food was great. The atmosphere was very formal and very British.
It was a productive visit to Surrey.
