Polling District changes
Next Thursday the Policy and Resources Committee of RBK will discuss quite radical changes to the election arrangements in Surbiton Hill.
At present there are two polling districts, named M and MA, with the border between them running along the middle of Ditton Road, with the even numbers and everything north of them in M and the odd numbers and everything south of them in MA.
Under the new plans there will be three polling districts, M, MA and MB with more complicated boundaries, obviously. This link takes you to a map in PDF format.
Polling stations will be at M: St. Matthew’s School, MA: St. Matthew’s Church hall. and MB: The Corner House at the Douglas Road/Ravenscar Road junction.
News from the cornerHOUSE
Celia Harding writes:
News about the cornerHOUSE autumn season !
A great run of staged events :
- Club Roguesque offers mature music in a specially devised club setting. Sultry singers and a knowing MC make for a hot evening. The show runs from 21 to 24 September. A few tickets remain for some nights
- The Times described Barbara Nice as “ a hybrid between Victoria Wood and Mrs Merton “ and we are delighted to welcome Barbara in her show Hiya & Higher as a comedy special on Friday 30 September
- Bymoonlight is the company presenting East for one night only on Saturday 1 October. This particular production of Steven Berkoff’s famous play has already had acclaimed runs at Kingston’s Rose and the Wimbledon Theatre. Lots of familiar cornerHOUSE faces involved. This will be a n extremely important and popular night. [ Update – all tickets reserved; returns only ]
- Little Sister Blue is an acclaimed local musical force which has entranced audiences at the cornerHOUSE. They return on Saturday 15 October for a full evening, bringing with them friends to make for a very full programme of relaxed and enjoyable music.
- Jack The Ripper is the latest vehicle chosen by cornerHOUSE regulars Upstage for their own brand of drama. Running from 26 to 29 October the company will bring the macabre tale to life in Douglas Road.
For all information on these shows including how to book, go to www.thecornerhouse.org
Free events
We are holding a gala on 6 October for Ashley Richardson’s new exhibition at the cornerHOUSE. Come and meet the artist, see the works, have a drink and a chat. A free event, including a free drink. The exhibition will be up from 1st to 29th October and can be seen at any time that the cornerHOUSE is open.
The popular bar night series continues on 14 October with live music, the ever popular book exchange, inexpensive drinks and great company. You are very welcome.
Updates on two cornerHOUSE traditions :
- the annual canvas exhibition and competition will be culminating in January, so now is the time to get your artists smocks on and create a master-piece. As ever , canvases in the required size are available at any cH event.
- Scripts for the One Act Play festival, to be staged next April, are now being actively sought. The deadline is 30 October, so get writing now !
Situation Vacant
You’ll be aware that everything at the cornerHOUSE happens because a team of volunteers are working hard behind the scenes to make the place happen. We are approaching a serious gap in our volunteer strength as our treasurer, Anna MacCafferty, has to stand down to attend to a major project for another voluntary organisations. From 1st January we will have no one to manage our accounts, balance our books and supervise our cash. We are therefore very keen to hear from anyone who can offer us help in this area. Anna has said that she is very happy to sit alongside anyone who volunteers to show them the ropes and provide a comprehensive hand-over.
All correspondence to info@thecornerhouse.org
Victoria Road – urgent notice!
from RBK Highways
Due to predicted adverse weather conditions, the works programmed for Tuesday 20th September were CANCELLED.
These works have been re-programmed for tonight (Wednesday 21st September 2011) from 8.00pm till 6.00am. The predicted weather forecast is for dry weather and hence the contractor will be able to complete the resurfacing of carriageway tonight.
Surbiton festival on the 24th September 2011 will go ahead as planned.
So now what?
Are we disappointed about the by-election result? Yes, of course we are and for four reasons.
- Whatever Mr. Davey and his party may have said in the campaign, the voice of Surbiton Hill will be even more muted in the future than it has been since May last year. Anyone who saw Nick, Janet and myself in action knows that we were always determined fighters for our constituents. What one gets from the new councillors is a willingness to accept whatever answer officers palm them off with and/or handwringing about ‘Im not very experienced in these things!’
- Mr. Ayles, too, is ‘not very experienced in these things’ and has evidently done little in 25 years to rectify that state of affairs.
- The Lib Dem victory will be taken by them as validating the strategy of disinformation which characterised their campaign throughout.
- Nick Kilby’s election would have added strength to the Council as a whole. He was without doubt one of the ablest Councillors on either side of the Chamber during his four year stint, as honest Lib Dems would concede – and there are some!
So what now? We shall continue to do the best we can to help any residents of the ward who want our assistance – as we have since May 2010. We shall continue our constructive scrutiny of our opponents. We may even help them if they ask us to – but we will not go away!
On-line E petition: please support
from Cllr. Andrea Craig (Canbury Ward)
Last Friday was the ‘seven hour’ licensing hearing for the Old Gala Bingo Hall site “Kingston Arena”. We will know the outcome later this week and whoever loses will appeal through the courts. That very evening, an appalling attack occurred on the corner of Richmond Road and Canbury Park Road involving multiple youths who had left Oceana’s nightclub and a larger group followed 3 men and a fight broke out. The attack left one of the victims with serious head injuries and a broken jaw.
Our police force are being seriously stretched each weekend in the town centre and on that evening the officers who attended the scene were from Wimbledon and had been drafted in to help support the Kingston police officers.
I have been campaigning hard, alongside local residents, with the full backing of the police force here in Kingston for a Cumulative Impact Policy to be put in place in the town centre. The policy would strengthen the council’s licensing policies, which currently are not nearly robust enough. In Canbury, Tudor and several other wards we feel the direct effects of this lack of policy, with antisocial behaviour and violence spilling onto the streets after the night clubs shut, vandalism to vehicles but also many people tell me they don’t go out in Kingston late at night any more as it has become so unpleasant to do so. Even local students are saying that enough is enough.
This policy will give the council the ability to refuse a license application on the basis of its cumulative effect on the area rather than the four licensing objectives that currently are considered.
Please, please sign the residents petition below and forward this on to your family and friends in the area so we see a positive reduction in the Crime and Disorder in the town centre and to help protect ourselves, our friends and families and also other visitors to the town centre.
http://epetition.kingston.public-i.tv/epetition_core/community/petition/1586
This incident didn’t happen in Surbiton, however it could. So please support this initiative.
Bye-election result
In spite of the most hard fought campaign in the ward’s recent history, the turn out of voters in the bye-election was the lowest in its recent history, at 31.6%.
This undoubtedly helped the Liberal Democrat candidate secure election with a majority of 102.
The figures were
Lib Dem 997
Nick Kilby (Con) 895
Labour 349
CPA 171
Green 81
Ind 21
Surbiton Forum 