2012 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 7,200 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 12 years to get that many views.
Voting in Berrylands
Some residents in Berrylands may find it hard to get to a polling station on 28th February, the day of the by-election. One station has been moved from the Berrylands pub to a hall on King Charles Road, for instance.
If you are faced with this problem and don’t already have a postal vote, this link will take you straight to a form you can print off and send in. You need to send it to The Electoral Registration Officer, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Guildhall, High Street, Kingston upon Thames, KT1 1EU.
Lib Dems bring back Council Tax rises!
Kingston Council has ignored the Government and will raise Council Tax by 1.99% this February – just short of the 2% increase which requires a borough-wide referendum.
The Conservative group believe that the rise is unacceptable – most councils in Britain are freezing Council Tax and Kingston already has the highest Council Tax in the smallest Borough of London, loading a greater burden onto the people of Kingston.
This increase is a mockery of the Government and the local residents with the 0.01% drop below the need for a referendum.
According to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for London, Local Government and Planning Brandon Lewis – There is “no excuse not to” freeze Council Tax this year.
Kingston Conservative Group defends the Government recommendation of a 0% rise in Council Tax and argues for the need to make tough decisions to find savings within the current system.
Leader of the Kingston Conservatives, Councillor Howard Jones said “We have to expect this from a Leader of the Council who boasts he came into politics to spend public money, not save it”.
What Colour would you like your Street Lights?
Article by Peter Kelk:-
I have now had occasion to attend two Surbiton Neighbourhood meetings as well as the Development Control Committee on 22nd January.
The Development Control meeting was well run, well structured and as a result I think reached the right conclusion. I compliment the chair of this meeting for her management of what could have ended up being a very difficult meeting. In addition given the attendance and correspondence this was clearly a matter of huge interest and concern to residents in the borough and beyond.
On the following day 23rd January I decided to go to the Surbiton Neighbourhood meeting to see what goes on when there isn’t a “burning issue” on the agenda. I assumed (perhaps naively) that on the day the Council published its intention to defy the Coalition Council Tax freeze increasing it by 2 percent the meeting was bound to be be interesting – I was mistaken!
Much time at the meeting was devoted to the design and colour of new street lights for Surbiton town centre (£290,000) which had generated some resident interest and then various “improvement schemes” which seemed to revolve around painting more yellow lines and adding to or amending parking restrictions at the request of residents or local businesses.
Rather innocently I put up my hand and asked why we needed new street lights at all given the cost and especially as the new ones won’t even be cheaper to run than the existing ones. The response given was that they are rusting .If I have understood correctly the current lights are in their twenties having been put up in the early 1990s. For a street lamp twenty seems too early to retire (and many seem far older in other areas) and interestingly in the discussion between councillors about whether the new ones should be black or grey there was reference to a lamppost life of 35 to 40 years.
Given there’s no energy saving and that many residents seem to like the existing ones could we not make the street lamps retire later like the rest of us and find a better use for £290,000? We should also insist that when they are replaced they use significantly less energy than the existing ones.
Filter beds plan turned down
Report and photo by Alex Ritson:-
Approximately 180 people packed into the Council Chamber of the Guildhall last night at which the proposal to build luxury floating homes on Surbiton’s historic filter beds site rejected. Almost all of the people in the public gallery were opponents of the plans.
Council officials split the public debate ahead of the vote into five sections – history, river sports, ecology, metropolitan open land and any other business. Both the opponents and the scheme’s backers were given five minutes to speak on each. The main opposition arguments were these.
- The scheme would destroy most of one of the most important and revolutionary pieces of public health engineering in the world.
- It would have greatly narrowed the river at what was already one of its narrowest sections, making river sports difficult and dangerous.
- The proposed nature reserve was tiny, and the developers had already done everything they could to destroy the wildlife on the site.
- The site was Metropolitan Open Land – the equivalent of Green Belt – and should never be developed simply to make luxury homes.
- The developers had written their own letters of support for the scheme, and then persuaded other people to sign them.
These claims were rejected be the developers, Hydro Properties, who had commissioned various reports from experts who contended that each of these claims in turn was wrong. Their main argument was
- that the site was a hostile and dangerous place to which the public had no access.
- Building the luxury homes and a restaurant would generate an income which would allow at least a small part of the site to be opened up to the public.
- A small brick building left over from the original development would be converted into a history centre, in which schoolchildren from future generations could learn about the importance of the site.
Councillors questioned both sides closely and critically. One major issue which Cllr. Ken Smith (Con) and others raised concerned the requirement for developers of luxury homes to provide 50% of the site for affordable housing, to be used by Surbiton’s less affluent residents. Hydro didn’t want affordable homes on its filter beds site, and instead intended to make a payment to allow for affordable homes to be built somewhere else. Councillor Smith suggested that as the floating homes were likely to cost a million pounds each, this should equate to a contribution of around £32 million pounds. Why, he asked, was the developer instead proposing to give barely £260,000 pounds for affordable housing – barely enough to buy an ex council flat in Kingston?
Councillors voted unanimously and regardless of party to refuse planning consent, prompting applause and cheers from the floor. The one argument advanced by Hydro in support of the development that everyone agreed with was that the filter beds have been disused for far too long.
Editor’s note: This may not be the end of the matter. It is open to Hydro either to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate against the decision or to make a fresh application with a modified plan. If they do the former an enquiry will be launched similar to the ones on Sunrise homes reported elsewhere on this site. If they do the latter the process just concluded will be gone through again. A new application may try to address the specific reasons for the rejection of this application.
Local campaigner Mike Head chosen
Local Conservatives have chosen long-term Berrylands resident and campaigner, Mike Head, to be their candidate in the by-election to fill the vacancy caused by the sad death of Cllr. Frances Moseley.
Polling day in the by-election will be on Thursday 28th February.
Mike is married with two sons and has lived in Berrylands for the past 30 years. He has served as Chair of Governors of Grand Avenue Primary School and Vice Chair of Governors of Richard Challoner School. He has also in the past supported and helped with local scouting in Berrylands.
He works with several organisations that focus on fundraising for local charities.
An enthusiastic sportsman, his interests include golf, skiing, cycling and football.
He has been actively involved with the Conservative party over the past 20 years. Mike says:
“I got involved with local politics because I care. I care about where I live and want to be sure that, like me, the residents of Berrylands can be proud of their local services and their environment.”
Surbiton Forum 