Be Prepared…..  What plans do our Councils have for emergencies? Virus, Flood, Catastrophe?

Be Prepared….. What plans do our Councils have for emergencies? Virus, Flood, Catastrophe?

Be Prepared….. What plans do our Councils have for emergencies? Virus, Flood, Catastrophe?

Did you know that our Councils have dozens of Policies that the Staff must devise and the Councillors must understand, agree and know how to carry out?

For Example – what is Cranleigh’s plan in the event of a Pandemic – a virus spreading quickly?

Please go to their Website and read the Policy.  The more people who think about “trouble” and have ideas about what they would do themselves and what Councils would do the better.

Go to Cranleigh Parish Council and the document is  here

 

Cranleigh Society update

Cranleigh Society update

1st February 2020 and all is well…….  let’s put our energies into things that really matter now rather than worrying about the National and International political landscape – it’s out of our hands for now.

Our councils are settling into their roles now, and the declaration of a climate emergency by the 3 councils that affect us means things will change.  For them to reduce their carbon footprints they have to look into all they do.  This might include not sending contractors all over the area to fix and maintain things such as our verges and commons.  They might decide to have less meetings where they need light and heat!  who knows?  They are certainly looking into the best uses for all buildings and also at the gas boilers throughout the borough.

If you are interested in keeping up to date with what Cranleigh Parish Councillors and staff are doing – the Clerk Beverley keeps a good record in the minutes of meetings and the messages on the web site.  You can access all this here – we attend some of the meetings and recently were pleased to see 2 police attend too.  The Friday Night project at the Leisure centre was discussed – they would benefit from a couple more volunteers – anyone interested in interacting with youngsters aged 11-15? Plenty of youngsters benefit from having the club and they are pretty well behaved too.  The Council are installing public toilets at Snoxhall Pavilion which should be good news for all who use the area.  Did you ever read the latest version of Cranleigh’s Neighbourhood Plan – see their web site.

Waverley Borough councillors are finding all sorts of financial problems associated with the planning applications that have been passed.  Also they seem to prefer to be cautious about giving planning permissions – great for the environment, but we do wonder where their next £s will come from if not from the builders! They have slowed down on efforts to rebuild Cranleigh leisure centre – which has had to net the cladding as it had become a danger.  The car park was cordoned off while the work was completed last week. If the activities of our Borough council interest you have a look here

As you will no doubt realise the services provided to us all are divided between the 3 councils and Surrey County Council is responsible for the major aspects of our lives such as the removal of rubbish and recycling, rebuilding and maintaining schools, and roads and so on.  Our County Councillor is Andrew Povey – andrew.f.povey@surreycc.gov.uk – and he is looking into improving Cranleigh High Street – there is a small pot of money from the developers – we don’t yet know what can be afforded and what will benefit Cranleigh the most.  The project to build Cranleigh a new Primary School has stalled at the moment – we are watching SCC meetings to try to see what they will do next. You can look up for yourselves here

Looking forwards there continue to be – very slow – moves afoot to clean and clear and reshape our local watercourses and  rivers to improve natural habitats and to ease potential flood waters. Surrey Wildlife Trust has very few people and very little money but they are great people with big ideas.   How has your winter been so far?  Any flooding?  If so please do record dates and depths and tell Cranleigh Parish Council – or us. Cranleigh cemetery certainly has problems that CPC are hoping to address soon.  We don’t have any updates about Thames Water’s management of our fresh water supplies and sewage removal.  We have yet to talk to our new MP Angela Richardson, about the Flood Forums too.   The Wey & Arun Canal trust are working very hard – there’s very few of them and little money – but the aims to reopen sections of the canals are fabulous as it all helps with wildlife as well as providing for humans to enjoy nature.  There is a special event 23-25 May we hope to support.  Do check out their web site here

We continue to meet and monitor all we can – Facebook forums and Twitter too – If you are keen to get involved in promoting Cranleigh as a great place to live, work and play, please get in touch, and also join us at our Monthly socials – these take place at The Three Horsehoes pub, by the obelisk, on the 2nd Wednesdays each month, from 6:30 pm.  Good pub food is available, some come and go early, some later – do join in and get to know us, tell us about you and how we can defend our village against problems, improve it and make it simply the best.

DATES

PUB MEETINGS – 12 FEBRUARY; 11 MARCH, 8 APRIL

We also meet Monthly at one of our houses – 24th Feb, 1st April.

We hope you enjoyed reading this post – please do add your comments!  We read them.

Not all the green fields are going – yet!

Our fields are saved – so far! And even the trees ……

At the Waverley borough Council Joint Planning meeting on 27th November the councillors and all others spoke well and represented every view. On balance they voted to say no to HC-One & CVHT‘s planning application – the 60 bed Care Home Application with 20 community beds and health workers’ accommodation block – for reasons of  “over-development & traffic & against the Local Plan” – in essence we don’t want the field filled up and the traffic increased, but we do feel upset that their isn’t a viable way to bring beds back to Cranleigh now.

They also voted to say no to the housing on the 2 Cranleigh Primary School sites – 91 dwellings and the loss of many trees – reasons – “over-development, loss of trees, loss of village look and feel (we think)”.

They voted for the Knowle Country Park and its lake – this will go ahead and is nothing but an asset all the while it has a vibrant and caring management team – how the future will go remains to be seen but we are lucky – so long as we understand that a body of wild water is a dangerous place!  We will witness digging to provide the lake, then planting on a mass scale. The Ancient Woodland is to be preserved too – yippee.

All the councillors and visiting speakers did their best for Cranleigh.  If you follow this link you can read all the agenda pack and additional documents – here and the minutes will be published there as well.

As for the replacement Primary School project – this is not over at all.  Surrey County Council Cabinet has already approved building the new school with nursery on fields that are currently Glebelands school’s.  On December 18th their Planning and Scrutiny committee will look at this again.  see here for details and watch same space for the agenda items and agenda pack.

Surrey County Council –
Venue:   Ashcombe Suite, County Hall, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2DN. 
 Wednesday, 18 December 2019 10.30 am, Planning and Regulatory Committee.

Our representative on this committee is Dr Andrew Povey – you can contact him here –

Phone:  01483 267 443  Mobile:  07881 655166         Bus. email:  andrew.f.povey@surreycc.gov.uk

Waverley Planning Committee news

Waverley’s Joint Planning Committee will meet on 27th November to discuss 3 major plans – 

WA/2018/1966 CRANLEIGH NURSING HOME – applied for by CVHT with HC-One – the Officers recommend refusal on planning grounds. 

WA/2017/1389 resite and build new PRIMARY SCHOOL – the Officers recommend this is Granted!  They believe all their planning issues have been addressed. 

WA/2019/1168  & WA/2016/2207 Knowle Country Park details – the Officers recommend this is Granted. 

If you want to go to the meeting you can, you can also ask to speak – see the web site for details.

for the AGENDA PACK – 150 pages – click here

Cranleigh Leisure Centre – not much news

On 30 Sept we asked Waverley BC what about Cranleigh Leisure Centre rebuild?  Waverley BC committed to investing in Cranleigh’s Leisure centre – in July 2018 – using money raised by taxing new developments as they are built (across the borough) 

They paid a consultancy company to produce a report. We don’t have the report but this is the company that produced it here

We asked what role can the public play in the future plans for Cranleigh Leisure centre; approval of the siting of the Cranleigh LC was again made a “published plan” item in September by the Executive…. but what consultation has there actually been apart from the presentation to Cranleigh Parish Councillors in the spring? We see no reference to the potential sites. What are the options for where it might be built? What consultations have taken place?

 Waverley had little to say – Any future plans regarding the leisure centre will be shared with the public when the project progresses.  Siting is largely led by land ownership and planning restrictions and the desire to keep the centre centrally located.  At present potential options have been viewed through these restrictions in consultation with Cranleigh Parish Council leisure working group. You can see the documents and latest statement here 

We went on to say – CCS would like to see  consultation with the community – WBC replied that something will be published very soon – the executive will decide by Jan 2020.

CCS has however been advised that the sites being reviewed are

  1. remodel of current site
  2. redevelop and enlarge current site
  3. new build in the adjacent car park

By the way – At a meeting of WBC on 5 November they agreed to a new The Communications and Engagement Strategy  – this “seeks to improve and modernise the Communications and Engagement service at the Council. It will require a significant shift in terms of operations, expectations, prioritisation and culture. When executed, it will not only provide better value for money for the Council, but will also help to improve relations with stakeholders by ensuring their views are heard and it will be vital in supporting the delivery and success of important council initiatives and priorities”.

Great to see that the current administration knows the Communications and Engagement isn’t good enough – but is deciding to ensure our views are heard enough?  We really need to have ways to show that local knowledge and views are genuinely understood, taken into account and explained back to the public – especially to show where our views have a positive impact on decision making that meets with the public’s approval.  If the aims include cutting the expensive delays and problems caused by people not understanding the council’s ways – there is a lot of work to be done!!

Parking In Cranleigh

Parking In Cranleigh

WBC have meetings called Overview and Scrutiny Committee – Environment – the one on Monday 18 Nov at 7pm will look at Parking across the borough.

On September 30th we asked Waverley BC about CAR PARKING in Cranleigh – we pointed out that residential roads are being used for parking for some longer periods – what does WBC think about this? We stated that their CAR PARKS are prohibitively expensive for those at work all day/week/month on top of other costs for low paid workers. But the tiny roads around the garage (such as Overford Drive) aren’t the answer – they are clogged. Ideas?

Waverley BC answered – The Council has commissioned a Strategic Review of off-street parking which is about to start. The brief for this includes a review of how the Council can support local economies in the four main settlements and how it can be tailored to the individual needs of each of those settlements. A proposal has been received from the Cranleigh Chamber of Commerce suggesting how parking charges can be modified to address the parking issues for local employees and this proposal will be fed into the review. Managing on-street parking is the responsibility of Surrey County Council (SCC) and we would wish to discuss with SCC how on- and off-street parking may complement each other better in future.

WBC asked Cranleigh Society if Cranleigh people would want yellow lines or parking metres etc?  How would Cranleigh residents feel if their “rates” went up to pay for cheaper or free parking?  Do let us know.

They are also looking at enforcement across all problems including parking, dog fouling, litter etc.  Liz Townsend mentioned that Snoxhall car park  (beside the park and Youth Centre) is cheaper yet under-used.  We think people may not realise it’s there or again, don’t want to pay – on principle even.

We have the following ideas to put forward to WBC and SCC

CRANLEIGH VILLAGE CENTRE – PARKING PROPOSALS

  • A Full Cranleigh Parish Council Meeting on 18 April 2019 considered whether the Council should support the Business Improvement District (BID) Feasibility Report prepared by The Mosaic Partnership which was commissioned by Waverley Borough Council. This provides a framework for tackling the regeneration of the commercial centres of Farnham, Godalming, Haslemere and Cranleigh.
  • Cranleigh Parish Council agreed to organise a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce to discuss the BID.
  • The Feasibility Study identified a specific issue related to parking in Cranleigh. The Study states ‘The majority of businesses expressed concern about the availability of parking for workers, particularly those in the retail sector and are unable to afford the current charges’
  • Cranleigh Civic Society has received many complaints from residents who have reported long term parking in local residential roads near the village centre. These cars are likely to be owned by people working in the village centre who either object to paying or who cannot afford the car parking charges for a whole day period. The congestion caused by such parking severely affects the lives of residents in these roads and often inhibits deliveries and visitors to their properties. They create hazardous blocks to sight lines.
  • Having assessed the situation the Civic Society would like to propose the following possible solution.
  • A survey of Village Way and Stocklund Square car parks has established that while both are well used by shoppers there are quite a number of parking spaces in both car parks which remain vacant all day. If these spaces were to be occupied by local workers on week days and Saturdays it would hopefully reduce the numbers of cars parking in residential streets or on Cranleigh Common. A full WBC day’s parking in either car park would cost £6.40 so we would suggest that a significant reduction on this amount should be considered. Permits to be displayed in car windows might be issued by the Parish Council as sanctioned by the Chamber of Commerce.
  • We also propose that both car parks should be free at schools drop off and pick up times to enable wise parking by those needing to get to the Primary Schools.

We have recently observed the installation of posts all along the Common which stops parking on it.

thanks for reading all the way down – do let us know your views please.