Holby Blue comes to Englefield Green

The BBC drama series Holby Blue will be filming at Coopers Hill Lane from 7pm on Wednesday 31st October for 48 hours.

On the days in question, a power generator will be running between 6:30am for thirty to sixty minutes but we have been assured that it is quieter than a car engine and will be located behind the trucks as as to act as an additional sound barrier.  A telephone contact number will be provided to local residents in case of any problems. 

They will accommodate car parking needs for the tennis club and football club who will be meeting during this period.

Brunel Feedback

I thought it may be useful to share a copy of Oracle Homes’/John Thompson & Partners feedback document following on from their consultation weekend on 12th and 13th October.  The document gives a useful oversight of some of the issues highlighted by the residents during the course of the weekend and their initial thoughts as to the future of the site.

Please click here to download a copy of the PDF.   Please be aware that, because of the size of the file (4MB), it may take a few minutes to download.

Dan Lockton has written up an extremely interesting commentary on Oracle’s proposals on his blog which is well worth a look.  EGVRA (the Englefield Green Residents’ Association) have also put together a blog at http://egvbd.blogspot.com/.

A ‘Community Forum’ will take place on Tuesday 20th November at 7:30pm in the Pillar Hall at the Brunel Campus where residents will have another opportunity to express our views regarding possible developments on the site.

Englemede application #2: rejected

For the second time in six months, the Planning Committee has unanimously dismissed Premier Homes’ planning application for the Englemede site on Tite Hill.  

From the Englefield Green councillors team, myself, Marisa Heath, Pat Roberts and Mike Kusneraitis spoke out against the application to construct ten new flats (in two blocks) and two detached homes on the site.  The committee was also addressed by Andrew Slipper, a Tite Hill resident and around thirty other residents sat in the Public Gallery throughout the meeting.

Despite the overwhelming objections to a new housing development on the site from local residents and the fact the development has been turned down by the Council on two separate occasions, this is not the last we have seen of this application.  Premier Homes has not just got a Plan B for the site (as debated last night), but a plan C, D, E, F… 

Binge drinking

I was rather concerned to hear this morning that Runnymede has been jointly ranked with Harrogate in a study from Liverpool John Moores University as the British capital of where alcohol consumption is ”at levels which are hazardous to health is rife”.

According to the survey, 26.4% of Runnymede men in the Borough aged over 16 regularly drink between 22 to 50 units per week with women drinking 15-35 units per week.

Seven of the top ten binge drinking “hotspots” in the UK are located in Surrey: 

Runnymede: 26.4%
Harrogate: 26.4%
Surrey Heath: 26.0%
Guildford: 25.5%
Mid Sussex: 25.5%
Mole Valley: 25.5%
Leeds: 25.3%
Elmbridge: 25.3%
Waverley: 25.2%
Woking: 25.0%

Whilst the media are always keen to characterize inner-city northern towns as hotbeds of binge drinking, only 8.8% of Manchester, 8.1% of Liverpool and 7.1% of Hull residents were classed as “binge drinkers” as compared to Runnymede residents.

Studies like this are, to use a terrible word, “sobering”.  As a Borough, we’re often at the top of league tables for the right reason.  This is not a league table we should be proud of topping - or personally contributing to.

Despite this ranking, the Chief Executive of Runnymede Borough Council, Tim Williams wisely points out that Runnymede “has done markedly better than the regional figures for alcohol related crimes, for alcohol related violent crimes, and for working age people who claim incapacity benefits due to alcohol-related circumstances”, something that ”should return a greater measure of evidence to support the claim that Runnymede provides a good quality environment with low unemployment and it has a stable economy”. 

So, what do you do?

People often ask me how much work being a Borough Councillor involves.  The honest answer is that it really does vary from day to day, week to week.

Here’s a brief overview.

Roughly speaking, you can divide your workload into three different entities which I will describe as ‘political’, ‘chamber’ and ‘constituency’. 

On the ‘political’ level, members of the Conservative group are all expected to attending regular group meetings (such as the one being held on Monday evening) a few days before main council meetings where we discuss our priorities for the weeks ahead and any grievances we may have whilst also organising events such as the dinner the Englefield Green branch is holding with John Whittingdale MP on October 23rd for local party activists.  Beyond this, the six Councillors for Englefield Green keep in touch as much as possible about issues facing the village and regularly meet in person to discuss issues such as putting together our ‘In Touch’ newsletters.

The ‘chamber’ element of the role is essentially the time you spend in the Council Chamber in Addlestone discussing issues relating to your committee assignments.  In my case, I sit on the Economic Development committee which deals with issues as broad as regeneration and car parking charges and the Review Board, the scrutiny committee which can ‘call in’ decisions made by any other committee of the Council which we feel may need to be reconsidered or monitored more closely, such as the abolition of the ‘Out of Hours Noise Service’.  Beyond Committee meetings, there are also regular ‘Full Council’ meetings (such as this Thursday evening) where all 42 members of the Council meet to decide upon Council Tax levels or other important issues facing the Council. 

The ‘constituency’ side of things is probably the cost time-consuming of the three elements but by far the most rewarding and wide-ranging element of the role.  On Saturday morning, for example, along with the other Councillors from Englefield Green and Geoff Woodger, the Chairman of the Planning Committee attended the Brunel ‘Community Planning Weekend’ before heading off to do our monthly surgery with Cllr Marisa Heath whilst on Tuesday evening I will be attending a further consultation about the proposals for the Brunel site and on Wednesday I will be speaking at the Planning Committee on behalf of local residents to speak out against the latest proposals for the Englemede site.  Also included in this category is the time local Councillors spend dealing with letters, e-mails and phonecalls from local residents about issues such as housing benefit and local footpath lighting. 

I hope that answers the “what do you do?” question!

Englemede - the battle continues

Back in May, just a few days after I was elected as a Borough Councillor, I made my “maiden speech” in the Council Chamber on the issue of the proposed development at Englemede on Tite Hill.  The application was unanimously rejected by the Planning Committee and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief.  The development was intrusive, unsightly and utterly out of keeping with the surrounding area.

Sadly, the developers have returned with another proposal which is, in substance, little different to that which was previously rejected.  As of today, sixty three objections to the new plans have been received by the Council from a total of eighty one properties in the area surrounding the site. 

Possibly the most compelling argument I have heard against the Council granting the developer permission to construct “two detached 2/3 story frontage blocks each comprising five two bed apartments [and] two detached two storey, four bed dwellings” on the present site is that of the “undesirable precedent” it would set for the local area. 

Tite Hill is an attractive, peaceful road which would be scarred beyond belief if we were to set a precedent that allowed all the road’s large and attractive family homes and gardens to be turned into flats or, perhaps more worryingly, the site for ‘in fill’ or ‘garden-grabbing’ developments.  According to figures unearthed by Conservative MP Greg Clark, up to 22,000 new houses are built every year on land that was previously used as a garden, a figure Englefield Green doesn’t wish to contribute to. 

Whilst central government’ s planning laws will ultimately force the Planning Committee to grant permission at Englemede for an application which may not be entirely to your taste or mine, this application has thankfully been recommended for rejection by the Council’s Planning Department on the following grounds:

“The proposal, by reason of the height, scale, bulk and position of the apartment buildings along the road frontage, relative to their neighbours, would be detrimental to the townscape character and visual amenities of the street scene which is recognized to be of high quality and would fail to respect or improve the character and quality of the area…

“…the proposal, by reason of the height, scale, bulk and position of the apartment buildings along the road frontage and the two detached buildings in a backland location and with limited separation between the front land and backland development represents a cramped development, out of character and out of context with the surrounding area…”

I will be at the Planning Committee on 17th October to speak against the proposal.  I hope to see you there.

If you would like any further information about the application, please do get in touch with me.  

Don’t lose your vote!

The 3rd December deadline for the publication of this year’s Electoral Register for Runnymede Borough is rapidly approaching.

According to the Borough Council’s Electoral Services department 33,567 forms were initially sent out of which the 65.7% (slightly up on last years figure of 64.22%) have been returned including 1,800 postal vote applications.  11,336 residents chose to return their forms by post with 7,585 responding via telephone and 2,975 using the internet.

According to the BBC, the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) are already gravely concerned that up to one million voters could miss out on the chance to vote if Gordon Brown chooses to call a snap general election.  The Chief Executive of the AEA said that “the register is the main difficulty of itself. It was last published on 1 December 2006, so it by then [the time of a possible November election it] will be 11 months old and a lot of people who have moved since last December will unfortunately not be on the register for this election”.

Have you returned your form yet?

If you didn’t receive a form or have any questions about registering to vote, postal votes or proxy votes, please either Rob Curtis on 01932 425650 or rob.curtis@runnymede.gov.uk or myself.