Speed camera: could this be the answer?
The question was posed today whether the installation of a speed camera in the vicinity of the Ewell Road/Kingsdowne Road junction might be the answer to the problem of accidents in the area (see below). Another suggestion is for a speed ‘table’ similar to the one at the other end of Hollyfield Road, where it adjoins King Charles Road.
Please let us know what you think.
‘No Smoking’ after 1st. July
Follow this link to see how the new regulations about smoking in public places will affect Kingston very soon.
Too much tax?
This week’s Surrey Comet has the following story http://www.surreycomet.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.1484729.0.councils_2m_surplus.php
This will be of interest to Council Tax payers everywhere. It would seem on the face of it that the Lib Dems’ highest Council Tax in London need not have been quite so high after all.
In the face of these figures Scrutiny Panel members on Tuesday this week were at something of a loss to understand why the Lib Dem Executive has voted to save an estimated £100,000 this year by restricting Social Service help to only the top two tiers of need of the four tiers established by the government, on the basis of rather flimsy evidence. The Panel referred the decision back to the Executive for deeper thought.
As it happens £100,000 is just a few thousand more than the annual cost of producing ‘Livin’ (sic) Kingston’. A matter of priorities?
Another accident in Ewell Road
A local resident has sent us this picture of the accident that occurred near the junction of Ewell Road, Kingsdowne Road and Hollyfield Road last weekend. This is the third rather spectacular accident in this area this year. We cannot know for sure as yet what definitely caused it, however it is clear that something is causing the place to become something of an accident black spot.
Paul Johnston has already had discussions with Council officers about what may be done to improve safety in the area. After this latest incident he has contacted them again and also involved Tony Arbour, our local GLA representative (Ewell Road is the A240 and Transport for London has a major interest in it.)
We will report progress through this site.
New green bag scheme
A resident raised the question at last week’s Neighbourhood Committee of the operation of the new hessian bag scheme for collecting green waste.
Instead of the plastic bags one could buy for 75p from the Library, one now has to ring a number at the Environment Dept. and have a green hessian sack delivered at a cot of £35 (£20 for pensioners and disabled). This bag is reusable and designed to be used for one year after which it will be collected and recycled. For next year you will need a new bag, probably differently coloured, costing as above.
The resident pointed out that he had been charged the full annual fee for his bag when the scheme only came into force on 1st April and he has learnt that his bag will not be usable after 1st January 2008, so he will only have got 9 months use having paid for 12 months.
That this is indeed so was confirmed by the Executive member for Biodiversity and Sustainability, Cllr. Liz Shard (LD St. Mark’s Ward), who went on to point out that a bag bought next January for 2008 use may not actually be usable after September 1st. when a new waste contract comes into force. This could leave residents paying charges for two calendar years but only receiving 17 months-worth of service for their money.
Latest on Surbiton Clock Tower in Claremont Road
NickKilby reports:-
On Monday night at the first meeting of the “Friends of the Coronation Clock Tower”, Cllr. Ian George (Con. Alexandra Ward) and I with Tony from SCARA discovered that we were too late to raise money from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help restore the clock tower.
What made this news worse to hear was that a clock tower almost identical has successfully received £46,000!
Yet again the Surbiton Neighbourhood Lib Dems under Yogan Yoganathan and David Berry have let everyone in Surbiton down!
Surbiton Forum 