New car parking charges

Apologies for my delay in posting this update but I thought I would share information with you on the Borough’s new car parking charges which came into force on 14th January.

Up to 1 hour – 50p
1 – 2 hours – £1.00
2 to 3 hour – £1.50
3 to 4 hour – £2.00
4 to 5 hours – £2.50
5 to 6 hours or all day – £3.50
 
The cost of season tickets remains unchanged at  £400 per year or £120 per quarter.

Runnymede Borough Council’s car parking charges continue to represent excellent value for money when compared to other areas in Surrey.  Runnymede will continue to charge only 50p per hour for parking as opposed to £1.30 in Surrey Heath’s Main Square and parking all day in the Borough will cost only £3.50 as opposed to £11.00 across the border in Spelthorne, £15.00 in Epsom and Ewell, £9.60 in Woking and £10.00 in Windsor and Maidenhead.

Heathrow – and Runnymede – needs a third runway

Over the past few months, there has been a considerable amount of discussion about the future of Heathrow Airport and whether or not a third runway should be constructed.  The expansion of the airport has sparked a great deal of debate not only across the political spectrum but also inside my own party with Spelthorne MP David Wilshire (whose constituency lies on the boundary with the airport) supporting expansion whilst Boris Johnson, our London Mayoral candidate, opposes the proposals. 
 
I am in favour of the expansion of Heathrow and believe it is not only in the interests of Runnymede residents but crucial for the economy of our local area.

Reading a speech made by Clive Soley, the campaign director of the pro-expansion lobbying group Future Heathrow, I was stunned to hear that one is able to fly to 21 British cities from Amsterdam, 17 from Paris and only nine from Heathrow.  The increasing lack of available landing slots at the airport places the future of the airport in peril at a time when airports such as Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam are expanding dramatically.  Soley further claims that, without expansion, Heathrow will decline from being Europe’s second largest airport in 1990 to eight largest in 2010 in terms of the amount of destinations served.

Heathrow Airport’s runway capacity has not been increased since 1946 and is currently operating at 99% of its operating ability. 

John McDonnell, the MP for Hayes and Harlington, appears to be basing his opposition on the grounds that the homes of 700 of his constituents would be demolished in order to make way for a new runway.  Whilst I understand that he is simply standing up for his constituents in a way any Member of Parliament should, he is missing the bigger picture.  Unpopular as it may be to say this, the demolition of 700 homes is a price worth paying to guarantee the economic future of London and the South East. 

Whilst I am not able to quote exact figures in terms of employment and investment in Runnymede Borough, only a fool would disagree with the assertion that a large part of our local area’s attractiveness to inward investors is our proximity to Heathrow.  In addition, thousands of local people are amongst the more than 70,000 people who are employed at the airport.

The government simply cannot afford to allow Heathrow Airport to lose its competitive advantage to Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Madrid.  Nor can thousands of Runnymede families.

Crime figures – good news for Runnymede

I thought it may be of interest to share a copy of this encouraging report from Inspector Roger Nield regarding the current crime rate in Runnymede Borough.  I am sure that this crime reduction is not unrelated to the excellent work of the Council’s Safer Runnymede scheme which provides excellent CCTV coverage in town centres across the Borough, including St Jude’s Road in Englefield Green.  This report follows on from a report to the Leisure and Environment committee late last year indicating a that “fear of crime” in the local areas has also fallen during the past eighteen months.

Inspector Nield has offered the following background note:

Runnymede’s crime reduction over the past five years is proving to be the best in Surrey. Below are given the BCS comparator crime figures with Runnymede highlighted. In order to add some context to the current reduction figures for this Borough I would point out that the projection is that we will comfortably exceed our target of -11%. We are in fact sitting on a crime reduction figure of -16% and the projected figures for the current (financial) year end suggest we may achieve between -18 to -21%. In any event our partnership approach including the long term projects such as Junior Citizen appear to be paying dividends.

This is against the backdrop of some significant increases: Thorpe Park attracting 1.7 million visitors to the borough last year, the outstanding contribution Runnymede makes to Surrey’s income and international events the borough hosts such as the BMW golf tournament at Wentworth.

In fact in the past year alone our total notifiable crime has fallen by 11.6 percent which means almost 500 people have not become the victims of criminals from within or without the borough. I would highlight that we have seen a drop in vehicle crime of 40% and a further year on year reduction in burglaries of 13%. Violent crime, always a concern, is stable but this is in the light of excellent results lat year.

Our only key increases are where we would like to see them: In the reporting of domestic violence and in drugs offences. In the former we are delighted that we can confirm that more vulnerable victims trust the police and partners and report incidents. With the drugs issues this shows good community intelligence and proactive patrolling that has led to better enforcement.

However none of this should make the partners complacent. Burglary whilst at a low level is a pernicious crime and efforts must be made to reduce it still further particularly any distraction type burglaries that are often perpetrated on vulnerable citizens.

So whilst recognising the challenges to come I do recommend the above excellent news to you and hope that you will find this document of interest.

To download a full copy of the report, including the comparative crime rate figures for other Boroughs in Surrey please click here.

Egham Hill – flooding update

A team from Runnymede Borough Council has investigated the steady flow of flood water that appears to be flowing onto the road from the vacant site next to Bentley towards the lower end of Egham Hill and have concluded that the source is a leak from a burst water pipe. 

Three Valleys Water have been notified and it is hoped that source of the leak will be identified and dealt with as soon as possible. 

Flooding on Egham Hill

During the heavy rain over the past couple of weeks, I have been concerned by the amount of water which appears to be flooding causing across the pavement and onto the road and pavement in front of the site from the vacant site next to Bentley on Egham Hill.

As a result of the poor site drainage, a slippery layer has formed on the pavement (around two metres in width) which could potentially be hazardous to the many pedestrians who use this main route into Englefield Green from Egham.    

I have contacted Council officers who have confirmed that there are planning conditions relating to the drainage of this site and have referred the matter to the County Highways Department.  

Update on murder investigation

Further to my post on January 1st, David Angel, who was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Gabrielle King on 27th December has been remanded in custody by Woking Crown Court.  He will appear next at the Old Bailey on 8th April.  Given the sensitive legal nature of trials, I am told that it is unlikely that further information will be placed in the public domain until the commencement of the trial. 

‘Englemad’ Appeal – Runnymede’s submission

One of the most important issues I have been involved in as a councillor over the past few months has been that of the proposed Englemede development on Tite Hill.  

Despite the fact the two planning applications lodged by Premier Properties were unanimously declined by the Planning Committee, the developer has nonetheless decided to take issue with the Borough Council’s decision and refer the case to the Planning Inspectorate, essentially alleging that the Council has been negligent with regards to the way their application was processed. 

From my limited experience of the planning process, both of the applications (which involved the demolition of the current dwelling and erection of new flats and houses in the back garden) deserved the rejection they received. 

I thought it may be of interest to residents to share with you a copy of Runnymede Borough Council’s Planning Department submission (click here to download) to the Planning Inspector explaining RBC’s position with regards to the failed applications and why the Council’s decision should not be overturned. 

I hope, in the very near future, to be able to tell you that the appeal has been dismissed.  Watch this space.   I have been informed that planning appeals usually take around three months to complete, so we should expect to hear the result towards the end of March.

Council Tax: the joke’s on us!

Flicking throught the background papers for this yesterday evening’s meeting of the Corporate Management committee – the committee that deals primarily with Runnymede Borough Council’s finances – I was greatly amused to read the following gem contained in a statement by John Healey MP, the Minister of State for Local Government:

“10 successive years of above-inflation grant increased from this Government - confirmed in the new spending period – and tough capping action, have helped bring down council tax increases.  Keeping council tax under control remains a priority for the Government… We will… protect council tax payers from excessive increases”

Is John Healey talking about the same Government whose policies towards local councils have, since 1997, caused the average council tax bill to rise by 92% – three times higher than the rate of inflation and twice the increase in average earnings? 

Statement on murder in Englefield Green

The Safer Runnymede Community Partnership have issued the following statement regarding the murder that took place in Englefield Green on 27th December.

I know that there has been some confusion and significant discomfort locally regarding this tragic event.  I hope this statement clarifies the current position.  I have asked to be kept informed of developments and will post any further information I receive on this website.

“A man has been charged with murder following the death of a woman in Englefield Green.The body of 36-year-old Gabrielle King was discovered in her flat at Heronfield, Englefield Green, Egham at 5:45pm on Thursday 27 December.

A special post-mortem carried out at the Royal Surrey County Hospital on Friday (28 December) revealed that the cause of death was blunt force injuries to the head, face and neck.Unemployed David Angel, aged 44 and also from Englefield Green, was arrested at around 11pm on Thursday night. He has remained in custody since and has been interviewed by officers from Surrey Police’s Major Crime Investigation Team.

Shortly after 10:30pm last night he was charged with Ms King’s murder and will appear at Woking Magistrates Court this morning.”