SH Forum has best month ever!
November 2010 has been the busiest month ever for Surbiton Hill Forum. It attracted 1513 hits in total, 250 more than the previous record month which was May 2010, following the elections.
We are obviously meeting a felt need within the ward and we intend to continue doing it!
Thanks to all our readers and contributors of comments, whoever and wherever you are and whatever your political persuasion.
Kingston Council to help residents save energy at home
from RBK website
Kingston Council is giving residents the opportunity to borrow an energy monitor for two weeks, free of charge, to help save energy and money on electricity bills.
Kingston residents can borrow the energy monitors from any library in the borough, and find out exactly how much household energy they are using – and how much money it costs.
One of the best ways to save money on your household budget is to stop wasting energy at home. Using an energy monitor is a great way to identify exactly where electricity is being wasted in any household, such as boiling a full kettle of water and only made one or two mugs of tea, or leaving lights on in empty rooms.
The energy monitor simply attaches to the main power lead in your home, and the wireless display provides continuous information about how much electricity is being used, so that users can adopt new energy saving habits to reduce their household consumption of electricity.
According to the manufacturer of the energy monitors, by adopting energy saving habits at home – users can expect to save up to 15% on annual household energy bills, which can amount to considerable savings over the course of a year.
The energy monitors are available from all of Kingston’s libraries across the borough. As long as you are a library member, you can borrow the monitor for free, for a period of two weeks.
For more information, visit your local library, or telephone the Customer Contact Centre, Telephone 020 8547 5000
Borough united in condemning attack on Kingston Mosque
From the RBK website
Community leaders came together and spoke as one in condemning an attack on Kingston Mosque on Sunday 21 November.
Following an unofficial and unscheduled demonstration in Kingston town Centre on Sunday a small group of masked men tried to smash windows and damage the outside of Kingston Mosque whilst elderly members of the congregation were still inside.
Kingston’s Community leaders were quick to condemn the attack and issued the following statement to illustrate the strength of unity in the Royal Borough:
“We speak as one in our condemnation of this appalling assault on Kingston Mosque and congregation.
The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is a strong and cohesive community that is proud to respect and embrace the richness of diversity that each faith group can bring to our borough.
Our continued success as a safe, successful and cohesive borough is based on the excellent relations that continue to exist between faith groups, voluntary organisations, the local authority, schools, colleges, the police and local businesses.
Because we are such a close community we consider an attack on any one section of our faith community to be an affront to us all. We consider this unprovoked attack on innocent worshippers to be a misjudged attempt to destabilise a solid and cohesive local community.
We will oppose as one any act that seeks to undermine the democratic basis of our proudly diverse community.”
The statement is signed by the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Council Group Leaders and Faith Community Leaders in the Royal Borough.
Surbiton Hill Forum entirely endorses the statement.
Surbiton Tree and Light switch on
The RBK website reveals that thre switch on date for the Christmas tree and lights will be on Wednesday 24th November at 5.10 p.m..
Scrutiny Unearths One Council Failures
from RBK Conservative Group
Conservative Group Leader and Scrutiny Panel Chairman Cllr Howard Jones accused the portfolio holder for One Council [i] of showing a ‘lack of leadership’ and said that the delay in initiating discussions on joint working was ‘unjustifiable’, as the Scrutiny into the cost-cutting and money-saving initiative ‘One Council’ revealed several wasted opportunities.
Firstly, the project aimed at restructuring has taken so long to even identify which steps to take that months of potential savings have been missed, resulting not only in a missed opportunity to reinvigorate a flagging money-saving exercise but also to save a considerable amount of money over the summer months.
It also emerged that the Administration has failed to even investigate the possibility of working jointly with neighbouring councils (for example by sharing services or merging departments) until 30th September this year – some four and half months after their re- election! – failing to inject any new impetus into the project.
These revelations came as a blow to the Conservative Group, who have for a significant time (stretching back before the election) proposed looking into joint working with neighbouring councils in areas such as Legal Services, Trading Standards, Audit, ICT provision, and Environmental Health.
Also, despite repeated offers from the Conservative Group and its leaders to work side by side with the Administration and reduce the volume of polarised, adversarial politics at the Council, the Administration has failed to consult the opposition Conservative Group on key issues such as these One Council Projects which will affect the Councillors and their work so profoundly.
A meeting between One Council Project Managers, the Executive and the Shadow Executive was proposed by Conservative members but as yet had not been agreed to by the relevant Portfolio holder. Cllr Jones concluded by saying that in future ‘all councillors should have a closer relationship with the progress of One Council.’
[i] ‘One Council’ is RBK’s internal cost-cutting and efficiency drive: http://inside.kingston.gov.uk/priorities/onecouncil/One%20Council/Home.aspx
Lighten our darkness
Christmas lights in Kingston are being switched on this evening and the subsidised K50 service began on 13th November.
Last year In Surbiton
The Lib Dem controlled Neighbourhood Committee planned to axe the lights in Surbiton this year for the first time I can recall in 13 years. Many thanks to local traders and Rotary who have stepped in (according to this week’s Comet) to save the situation. We attach a photograph of last year’s celebrations in Surbiton.
Tthe K50 takes passengers from Chessington World of Adventures through Surbiton to the centre of Kingston without stopping.
Surbiton Forum 