A message from Nick
Some residents recently received a letter from the Lib Dem Candidate. The letter suggests that I and by implication, Paul Johnston, did nothing during our time as councillors. He goes on to suggest we lost the seat because we were complacent, a charge I am not willing to accept as Paul and I have always believed that ward issues came first and what we did in the Guildhall on our respective portfolios was additional. I do not believe we ignored anyone or any issues during our time.
I do not intend to lower myself to his level. However, should you disagree with the contents of the letter, I would be most grateful if you would share your views widely with your neighbours and friends as they, the Lib Dems, have clearly decided to only say negative things in direct mail and try to stay “Nice” in more open forms.
His statement about Newent House is grossly misleading. We were advised by experts in the field that Newent House was coming to the end of its life as a care home and Day Care facility. They suggested building a new Care Home and Day Care Centre next to the new health care centre on the old Surbiton Hospital site. This would have then released the current location with spare land attached to build a new school, which would also be adjacent to the Children’s Centre and the Surbiton Nursery School and close to the Fish Ponds Park and Alexandra Recreation Ground. For us it was an option we would have been prepared to explore but it was rejected by the Lib Dems. Sadly only last week, one of the Doctors at Oak Hill said to me that this option would have been the best and improved the quality of lives for the Elderly in the Borough as well as solved the future generations education needs.
If any of you would like to talk through any of the issues raised please feel free to call me.
Thank you
Kind regards,
NICK
07753 787358
Fantasia repeated: Out of Focus 5
Before the local election of 2010 we had occasion to comment on a Focus leaflet in which the then Lib Dem candidates claimed we had neglected the ward and they had been so frightfully active over so many years.
Marvellous to relate, they think you’ve forgotten so they’re at it again. Some of them were out today delivering their slightly rehashed version of the same old thing.
As they have repeated their allegation, we have pleasure in repeating our comment on it:
The latest fantasy to emanate from the ‘Surbiton Hill ‘Focus’ team’ (founded 2010) apparently lays out how these three invisible persons have ‘a record of achievement’ for the people of Surbiton Hill stretching back years.
This is standard Lib Dem nonsense, which has brought them dividends over the years because some people are gullible enough to believe it. The architect of this is undoubtedy the ‘Team’s’ agent, a former Councillor (for Grove Ward I think) and Leader of the Council, no less. And he gets it from the Liberal Democrat campaign document, ‘Effective Opposition’, produced by the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors.
On page 21 it says:
“Be wicked, act shamelessly, stir endlessly.“
On page 23, it says:
“Don’t be afraid to exaggerate. For example, responses to surveys and petitions are always ‘massive’. If a council is doing something badly public expressions are always of ‘outrage’.”
And on page 4, it states:
“Positive campaigning will NOT be enough to win control of the council.”
We have said it before, the Lib Dems are having a laugh at the voters of Surbiton Hill. It’s time to show them where they get off.
Latest on local roadworks
from RBK Highways:-
- LANGLEY ROAD: – Road closure between Oakhill Crescent and Oakenshaw Close. The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames will be undertaking junction improvement works at this location for 10 days. However it will only be necessary to close the road for 3 days whilst works are taking place at the actual junction. Works due to be completed by 26/08/11.
- VICTORIA ROAD: The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is reconstructing the carriageway and re-laying the station-side footway, between the junctions of St James Road and St Andrews Road. Works due to be completed by 12/09/11.
More info on the Council website: http://www.kingston.gov.uk/information/news_and_events/news.htm?id=117466
- CHURCH HILL ROAD: Road is closed between St Marks Hill and Adelaide Road to enable Shanly Home LTD to built two inspection chambers and connect new services to the site of the former St Marks Vicarage & Church Hall. Works have been extended after discovery of technical problems on site. New expected completion date is 22-08-11.
Campaign begins in earnest
Conservative campaigners were out in force this evening in the Southborough and Oakhill areas. Labour have put out a leaflet which we have studied with interest, having seen so few of them in the past. We also encountered some Lib Dems, though I don’t think any of them came from the ward itself or had been seen there before.
Nick has started his own website at www.nickkilby.co.uk which we invite you to visit many times during the next few weeks. You can also email Nick on this site at nick@nickkilby.co.uk.
Candidate chosen
Surbiton Hill Conservatives last night chose former councillor Nick Kilby to be their standard bearer in the bye-election on 15th September.
Ward chair, Mavis Cracknell, commented, ‘ We were very lucky in that we had a choice between two very able former councillors for the ward. It’s a great pity we couldn’t select both of them as they have been such an excellent team together.’ The selection was made by secret ballot at a very well attended meeting addressed by both former councillors.
Paul Johnston said, ‘I congratulate Nick on his selection and wish him equal success in the election. I hope that the many local residents who have sent in messages of support in the last week will rally round and help him send the Lib Dem administration a message it can’t ignore.’
Same old formula: Out of Focus 4
The Lib Dems never vary their approach, do they?
For at least 25 years they have been hailing us with the same old nonsense headline every election, when introducing their candidate, about ‘local campaigner chosen’.
Their candidate in the Surbiton Hill Bye-election is certainly local. He has occupied a house locally for, he says, 25 years. And who am I to doubt the veracity of that statement. But ‘Campaigner’?
He may have a paid a membership fee for Southborough Residents Association but that seems to have been the extent of his local campaigning to date. Having been intimately involved with every phase of the biggest campaign in that part of the ward in recent years – the Sunrise Home question – I got to know all the real local campaigners very well. And he wasn’t one of them! Nor was his name even mentioned
in any discussion to which I was party. I do not recall him giving evidence, as a ‘local campaigner’ to any of the public enquiries on the matter. For the record, I did, twice, and was cross examined by the appellant’s counsel the second time.
If I cast my mind back 10 years, I don’t recall him being active in the highly local matter (to him, I should have thought) of the parking issues in central Surbiton, even as they affected Southborough. He was, apparently, there in Corkran Road at the time, so why no campaigning then?
As I have said before, the Lib Dems are having a laugh at your expense.
Surbiton Forum 
