Library at risk: petition
Cllr Karen George was once again featured in both this week’s Surrey Comet and Guardian in her protest against Kingston council’s plans to sell off Surbiton library and learning difficulties centre. She is rallying residents to join a protest opposing the plans. Cllr George – Conservative Cllr for Berrylands believes the plans have been in the pipeline for a long time, accusations denied by the council.
She said “We must act now and let the council know exactly how we feel about shutting down our libraries”.
She will be at Surbiton library on Saturday May 19th at 2.30pm gathering signatures for a petition against the sale.
Ward roadworks latest update
from RBK Highways:
Brighton Road: Severe disruption expected!
- The Bridge has been successfully replaced by Network Rail.
- 13 April to 11 May: NOW EXTENDED TO 25th MAY in order to bring forward overall completion dates of all works and, due to the recent inclement weather, allow Network Rail to complete their ancillary works. Southern Gas Networks will take possession of the closed road to replace the old cast iron mains in Brighton Road with new polyethylene pipes. Gas mains replacement.
- During the closure,
- Kingston Council will improve the public highway under the bridge.
- BT will replace a sunken cover. (Completed)
- Thames Water will install a meter on the main to monitor leakage on their network. (Completed)
- Networks Rail will complete ancillary works (Signage, re-pointing of brickwork, pigeon-proofing, etc)
Oakhill: from the northern end to the junction with Oakhill Road.
Footway widening and entry treatment. Works is being undertaken by the Council’s contractors. The estimated completion date was the 2nd of May. Due to adverse weather these works have been extended by another 2 weeks until 18th May.
Planned Works about to start (moderate to severe disruption expected)
Tolworth
Kingston Road (A240):
TfL to carry out carriageway re-surfacing works at night (21:00 to 05:00) under a road closure with diversions. Works commencing on 17th May for 11 nights.
Library in danger?
There are alarming reports in the Surrey Comet and elsewhere that there is some kind of threat to the future of Surbiton Library. Most worrying is the seeming unwillingness of prominent Administration members like Cllr. Liz Green of St. Marks Ward, to deny that closure is a possibility. This is coupled with the all too characteristic silence of the Lib Dem councillors for Berrylands and Surbiton Hill.
A few years ago there was some talk of relocation of the facility into a new ‘community hub’ structure as part of the hospital site redevelopment, along the lines whereby the Chessington Library forms part of the Hook Centre. However that all seemed to bite the dust at least two years ago.
All I can say is that year in, year out, when I was representing the ward, Surbiton Library was just about the best performing such facility in the Borough in terms of footfall and lending. With colleagues I often held surgeries in the adjacent small hall on Saturday mornings and these produced some of the most fruitful meetings with residents, not only from Surbiton Hill, who came to meet us.
If there is a threat to the Library it should be resisted and the Administration should be pressed to make its plans clear now.
cornerHOUSE May newsletter
You can access the latest newsletter from Surbiton Hill’s own community theatre here .
Pinocchio gone walkabout?
I am intrigued to find that at 6.30 this evening there will be a meeting of a body called the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Panel (of RBK). It’s in Sutton, so perhaps it’s joint with Sutton, though the RBK website doesn’t make this clear.
RBK’s representation seems to consist of two Lib Dem cllrs and no-one else. One half of this duo is none other than our very own non-resident, citizen of Elmbridge, non-RBK Council Tax paying councillor, Neil Houston.
Last week was a good week for………
Tony Arbour, who was re-elected to the GLA for the fourth time. Tony’s constituency includes Kingston, Richmond and Hounslow Boroughs and he manages to get round them all and keep abreast of local affairs over this vast area. He used to represent Surbiton on the GLC, when it still existed.
It was also a good week for
Boris Johnson, re-elected Mayor of London. I had the pleasure of meeting Boris a couple of times as he visited Kingston, Chessington and Surbiton on the campaign trail. Because Boris was re-elected it was a good week too for the people of Greater London, whose Council Tax will be kept under the firm control Boris has maintained throughout his first term, ending the profligacy of the Livingstone years.
It was a bad week for
our old friend Pinocchio. Why? His mayoral candidate came fourth and his local candidate was scarcely visible and his candidate in the Coombe Hill by-election came third, behind Labour (and over 1000 behind the Conservatives!) What is more, his famous Focus Team,( you know, the one that’s supposed to work for you all the year round) was nowhere to be seen throughout the local campaign. I counted 6 communications from the Cons, one from Labour (posted), nothing from the Greens, one from UKIP (also posted with stamps at least 30 years old and having half-penny denominations) and one very late, rather desultory Focus leaflet from the Lib Dems which suggested I should find out about their candidate from a website. What about the people not on-line, eh?
Ah well, mustn’t gloat – not much anyway.
Surbiton Forum 