Now who’s talking (garden) rubbish?
Remember this little chap? He’s encouraging us to recycle – something we’re all keen to do.
A resident in Douglas Road has emailed us about his experience as he has tried to take part in the Council’s scheme for recycling garden waste, for which he has paid extra – as all participants do.
Week after week he had an experience I share – his bin wasn’t emptied and he had to phone the Contact Centre to complain. He also complained to Janet and me and we took the matter up with the Service Director, who was very concerned and very helpful.
It looked as though the matter was now resolving itself until the gentleman, having put his bin out on the due day this week and gone out returned home to find that, yet again, his bin was still as full as he had left it.
He phoned the contact centre again. This time a ‘supervisor’ rang him back and told him that, despite the Council’s best efforts, they couldn’t provide him with the service he had paid for and would refund his money.
This gentleman doesn’t live somewhere hard to reach or at a remote and obscure address. No complex navigation requiring the use of Satnavs is needed to find it. It’s one of the longest roads in the ward, pretty straight and with lots of houses down both sides, off Ewell Road – can’t miss it!!
It also has lots of other roads running off it – so have any other residents of Douglas Road or any of the numerous roads off it had a similar experience to this gentleman?
We ask because we really would like to know, so please tell us of your experiences with this service. Meanwhile this gentleman, courteous at all times, is hopping mad about it – and so are his Councillors.
Road works – RBK Highways alert
On Thursday 28 May 2009 at 9am at Ewell Road junction with St. Marks Hill, Southern Gas Network will be repairing a gas leak.
Ewell Road northbound towards Kingston Town Centre and Lamberts Road will be reduced to a single lane. The repair is programmed to be completed by 31 May 2009.
Delays expected.
Watch out! There’s a thief about!
This old slogan from the 70s is still relevant today in Surbiton Hill.
The Safer Neighbourhood Team report that there have recently been seven burglaries in 12 days. Items stolen have mainly been things which could be moved easily and quickly, perhaps even pocketed! Jewellery and such like left open to view seems to have been the favourite target and the crimes have been mainly committed in flats in Oakhill, Glenbuck and Upper Brighton Road.
There have also been three late night ‘muggings’ in Victoria Park, so please be on your guard if you’re in that area on foot late at night.
Anyone seeing a crime in progress should not hesitate to dial 999. If you see anyone hanging around blocks of flats – loitering in a suspicious manner, as the TV shows have it – then please ring the Safer Neighbourhood Team. Their number and other contact details are on the ‘Useful Phone Numbers’ page of this site.
Southborough Conservation Area approved
Despite last minute intervention by letter from lawyers for Sunrise Senior Living, the new boundaries of Southborough Conservation Area (SCA) were approved at last night’s Executive.
Sunrise objected to ‘undue haste’ and suggested the adoption of the new boundaries was a device to counter their planning appeal.
Roy Thompson, Head of Planning, gave a good overview of the history of the SCA revision and an account of the methods used to arrive at the revised boundaries being put before the Committee. He pointed out that the methodology and timescale were in accordance with normal RBK practice in such cases.
Mrs. Susan Buller and Mrs. Louise Etherington both spoke on behalf of local residents, pointing out the long term desire of the Residents’ Association to have the SCA boundary take a more logical line than the present very meandering one, including the whole of Southborough. Houses outside the old boundary share common characteristics and similar design features to those inside it.
Cllr. Paul Johnston said he had first discussed the revision with Planning officers as long ago as 2001, when he held the Environment and Regeneration portfolio. The idea had no reference to any planning application, past, present or future. The new boundaries included houses due to be demolished by Sunrise, but that was not the reason for including them. All the past ideas for rationalisation of the boundary had included them because they were architecturally similar in design and age to most of the properties in the existing SCA. This was particularly true of ‘Oakdene’ and ‘Cumbrae’.
Cllr. Tricia Bamford (LD Executive member), who held the Environment portfolio immediately after Cllr. Johnston, supported his views, reporting that she had discussed the revision during the period 2004 to 2006.
Dealing with wider aspects, Cllr. Nick Kilby particularly welcomed the inclusion of properties at the western end of Herne Road. This had been supported very enthusiastically by the Herne Road Residents’ Association.
| Constituency: | Kingston and Surbiton |
| MP: | Davey, Mr Edward |
| Party: | LD |
| Expenses | |
| Second Home: | £0 |
| London Supplement: | £2,812 |
| Office: | £26,281 |
| Staffing: | £85,362 |
| Stationery: | £1,109 |
| IT Provision: | £1,203 |
| Staff Cover: | £17,603 |
| Communication: | £9,690 |
| Travel: | £2,004 |
| Total Expenses: | £148,201 |
Sunrise enquiry adjourned AGAIN
The planning enquiry and appeal by Sunrise Senior Living against the refusal by RBK of planning permission to build a large home at the junction of Upper Brighton Road and Langley Avenue was adjourned for the second time yesterday, this time until September.
The apparent reason for Sunrise seeking this further adjournment was the impending conclusion by RBK of the revision of the boundaries of the Southborough Conservation Area. The RBK Executive is due to make the final decision on this tonight, following the Neighbourhood Committee’s unanimous endorsement last Wednesday.
Surbiton Forum 