If I’ve been a little bit quiet recently – and you’ve been missing my updates, please keep up with me at;
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chobham-Parish-News-and-Village-views-an-Independent-page-about-Chobham/293009477493260
I do try and update this page too.
The Parish Council meetings are on the last Thursday of every month- press and public have the opportunity to speak at the beginning of every meeting and it is always good to hear views and issues.
The minutes for the meetings can be found here; http://www.chobham.net/parish/minutes/council-min.php
The agenda for meetings can be found here; http://www.chobham.net/parish/agendas.php
The Parish Council meetings are on the last Thursday of every month- press and public have the opportunity to speak at the beginning of every meeting and it is always good to hear views and issues.
The minutes for the meetings can be found here; http://www.chobham.net/parish/minutes/council-min.php
The agenda for meetings can be found here; http://www.chobham.net/parish/agendas.php
Don’t forget that the last Thursday in the month is parish council meeting night- this is your chance to meet all the Councillors (or at least the ones that attend) and share your issues during the public forum section. If you’ve never been before – its an interesting insight into who we are, how the council works and the type of decisions we are able to make.
Also this week sees the start of the Chobham flower festival- I was in the church last night and it is really beginning to look and smell amazing. Try and pop along.
Hot topics continue to be traffic, building, traveller sites and parking. What are your views on this?
There is the opportunity to meet the planners from Surrey Heath on Monday 7th October- they are coming to discuss Surrey Heaths’ plans for the Allocation of gypsy sites ( you may have read that our local MP Michael Grove at the deep cut enquiry recommended the allocation should all be based in Chobham) – this is a public meeting so do come along and listen to their plans.
With the demand for housing ever increasing and the returns of development within this area very high, it is not surprising that Chobham and the surrounding areas are under constant attack from investors and developers.
The application for development with DERA has now been withdrawn for the Surrey Heath section, but the development within Runnymede has been resubmitted (with minor changes) and the effect of the development will be felt very keenly within Surrey Heath- Surrey Heath will receive no income from the developers but will bear the brunt of the impact from the development. Please make sure that you register your support or objections on the Runnymede web site asap.
Bagshot Road is under threat again from a site that has had multiple applications- this time it’s a development, within the green belt, of not one but three houses! There is a foot path that runs through this land and this land is an important marker between West End and Chobham. Details of this planning application can be found by entering 13/0578 on the Surrey Heath web site planning application search page.
http://isharemaps.surreyheath.gov.uk/custom/planning/default.aspx
Please make your objections heard!
On a positive note, don’t forget that on Saturday 14th September you can come and find out about the Chobham Neighbourhood plan and have the opportunity to share your vision for the future of Chobham.
I appreciate that this seems unlikley given the current mildness (even if there is no sunshine) however, the Met Office have issued a Yellow WIND Warning (Medium Likelihood of Low Impacts) for tomorrow with winds gusting to 50 mph inland but as high as 60 mph along the coast. This warning has been extended further east compared to yesterday’s alert and now covers most of London & SE England. This may lead to some disruption to transport and damage to trees.
The wind will ease during Thursday evening and then we will see sunshine and showers through to the weekend.
The warning can be viewed on Hazard Manager or through the Met Office website at http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/warnings/.
THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
will be held
at
7:30pm on Wednesday 8th May 2013
in the
Parish Pavilion, Recreation Ground, Station Road, Chobham
under the Chairmanship of
Mrs Carol Gregorious, Chairman – Chobham Parish Council.
AGENDA
1. Chairman’s Welcome
2. Apologies for Absence
3. Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 2nd May 2012 to be approved
4. Chairman’s Report
5. Planning Matters
6. Parish & Other Matters – Open Forum
The meeting will be followed by:
Special screening: “Surrey on Film 1914-1953 – A Community in Peace and War” by the Surrey History Centre
Light refreshments will be served after the meeting.
Hope to see many of you today supporting our local clubs and societies at the carnival. This will be my 21st year participating in the festivities- my days of being on a float may be over for now but my son will be helping on the gate and I am on and off the Stand launching the chobham neighbourhood plan.
I love the carnival- come rain, freezing weather, or like today wonderful sunshine, it is my favourite village day. A little like the Archers and the shipping forecast it is a quintessentially British tradition.
A huge thankyou to the carnival association for all their hard work and tireless preparation.
See you there.
As I am gently settling into my new role- I must confess that the battles I am fighting are not those I expected to be fighting when elected. – More on that when matters are resolved!
On Tuesday 30th April there is the planning meeting when the Parish Council will review six planning applications. Residents attended the Parish Meeting this week to raise concerns about one application in particular and were advised to return on Tuesday to voice their concerns- it would be nice if the applicant also turned up to argue his application and add balance.
There are six applications being heard on Tuesday 30th- all start 13/ – they are 067, 062, 0231, 0254, 0213 and 0251. Further details of all applications are on the Surrey Heath Planning web site. Do make sure that your voices are heard by your Parish Council.
For information your Parish council meeting was attended this week by myself and councillors Gregorious & Tedder ( very regular attenders- certainly been at every meeting since I started) and we were joined by Councillors Head and Taylor. Apologies were received from all the others I think, excepting Councillor Chivers (I’m yet to see him at a Parish Council meeting).
One of the items discussed at this meeting was Highway priorities- if there are any issues that you think I should be aware of please don’t hesitate to contact me. Another was the type of lights that we should have within the conservation area- your council is looking to improve rather than just ‘replace’ .
On other matters- our intention to formulate a Neighbourhood plan has now been agreed and is due to be submitted to SHBC. The steering group is still in need of additional support – remember a neighbourhood plan shapes the growth and direction of decisions about Chobham and has ‘teeth’ as it is supported by Government legislation. This is your plan- make sure that you are heard and properly represented!
On other matters- the County Council Elections are rapidly approaching- unfortunately no Independent candidate to vote for this time. The nominated candidates can be found here; http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/566552/Surrey-Heath-Statement-of-Persons-Nominated.pdf
It will be an interesting election this time, as the boundaries have changed, most candidates are canvassing hard- Michael Gove has been spotted in Chobham (he knocked on my door and asked if I was in- I wasn’t – but my son who can vote was – however they didn’t ask him which way he was intending to vote!) . I don’t think there will be any surprises- but you never know!
I do know that we will miss having a ‘local’ candidate- Lavinia Sealy has been very active in our local community and I am not sure how much difference it will make to local issues not having a local candidate representing us at County Level. Lets hope whoever is successful is as proud of our village and as anxious to support our initiatives as I am!
Tesco’s is due to open on Wednesday- I have chased Surrey CC on the yellow lines I secured earlier this year and have been assured that they are approved and are on order with the contractor. Lets hope that they are here in time to avert the chaos that will be caused without them.
I’ve had a busy day today! A trip to the other side of Liverpool for work (up and down in a day is never conducive to a happy mind- a point I mention for a reason!), catching the end of the CRAG meeting (the strange name for the group that meets regularly to try and ensure that we don’t end up being washed away in our back gardens) and then back home to review documents in preparation for the Parish meetings coming up over the next week.
One of the areas councillors have been asked to look at is Surrey CC Congestion programme. If you are interested in looking yourself, click on the link below;
Apart from infuriating me by suggesting that DERA is a done deal (good to know what we’re up against) they talk in one document about measures to avoid the cause of traffic congestion- they go on to mention that the area from the A319 (that’s Chertsey Road to you and me) to the A3046 (Station Road) is a particular problem in another document.
Now the fun bit and the thing that links all this together is that they CLEARLY state in the documentation that a single accident that affects any one of the key routes is enough to cause serious congestion. ‘Congestion in Surrey costs the economy an estimated £550 million per year’- is the opening statement on the page linked to above, yet today, when talking at the CRAG meeting it was obvious that improvements to ditches and key waterways that would prevent flooding, freezing, road closures and accidents that affect these roads- are not being done!!!
The reports also go on to describe their traffic plans for Surrey Heath – amazingly these plans ignore the areas highlighted within their own report and focus on other areas all together. What a staggering lack of joined up thinking. Maybe the sustainable alternatives will help, I’ll catch a bus out of the village- oh hang on, I won’t, because the service is so infrequent hardly anyone uses it!!
So, how does this link to the opening statement about the sort of day I’ve had- maybe I’m not irritated for a very clear, justifiable reason- maybe its just because I’ve had a bad day!!
Please do comment on Surrey County Councils plans! Once again, link below!
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