BBC Surrey Radio interview from Saturday 26th September 2009 featuring local resident Maurice Hibberd and Ray Morgan, Chief Executive of Woking Borough Council talking about the bidders day and the “Moor Lane” development. It makes interesting listening!

All rights acknowledged.

Finally got around to making some more of the website changes that I had planned. So here are the new features:

• Theme changes (hope its more legible now)
• Improved the top navigation to improved naming and drop downs.
• Added an event calendar so that you can now see key dates for the diaries (public events, meetings and non-public committee meetings).
• Embedded the “report an issues” form into the relevant page.
• Embedded the “join WCRA” form into the relevant page.

Hope that all makes sense.  Enjoy!

Title: Deadline for Objections to Access Application No. 2
Location: Woking Borough Council
Description: All objections must be submitted before the 30th September. Remember at least 10 objections must be submitted to obtain speakers rights at the planning committee.
Date: 2009-09-30

For those of you unaware there was a presentation by the two remaining bidders at Moorcroft on Saturday 19th September 2009. It was not widely advertised so you are forgiven if you missed it.

I’m afraid to report that after viewing the presentations and talking at length with many of the attendees, the general reaction to the presentations by Evolution and the Place Partnership was one of general disappointment and there was little there that was not presented at the previous consultation.

True the ideas are still evolving but little appears to be have done to address existing residents concerns about the core issues of density, access, residential scale, lack of facilities, flooding and noise.

We understand these matters go be beyond the remit of the bidders but its hugely frustrating that there wasn’t anyone there from the planning department of WBC that could consult on these subjects.

The bidders themselves are either unaware, uninformed or waiting for direction from WBC.

To WBC – Its not hard guys – full PROPER consultation with residents, proper reasoned dialogue and open review of the issues. Then perhaps you might start the process of healing the rift with the local community.

Attached is pictures of the proposed site layouts which contrast rather starkly with the rather pretty design submitted in support of the new access application.

Site Design submitted by WBC in new Access Application

Site layout by Evolution

Site layout by the Place Partnership

As always, feel free to submit comments below.

A 2nd planning application for the “Moor Lane” site has been submitted by WBC.  The reference number for the application is PLAN/2009/0764.

For those of you who struggle to access the WBC Planning Portal (and I know there are many) the relevant documents are attached below:

• Application
• Tree Survey
• Ecological Appraisal
• Revised Transport Assessment
• Revised Design & Access Statement

"Idealised" Site Layout

The same old access roads

Balfour Junction "improvement" alternatives

Proposed Balfour Avenue Widening

Good bye tree lined avenue

All rights acknowledged.

Message from WBC:

The Public Workshop will be open from 11am – 4pm on Saturday 19th September at the Moorcroft Centre for the Community. http://www.woking.gov.uk/community/older/centresforthecommunity/moorcroft

Kind regards

Priority Homes Team

Woking Borough Council

www.woking.gov.uk/priorityhomes 01483 743891

WBC are looking for more volunteers for their Citizens Panel – see details below:

We are also updating the Citizen’s panel to ensure it is representative of the borough. We are particularly looking for younger people (aged between 16 and 25) and particularly residents from the following areas.
-          Hermitage and Knaphill South
-          Horsell East and Woodham
-          Kingfield and Westfield
-          Maybury and Sheerwater
-          Mayford and Sutton Green
-          St Johns and Hook Heath
-          Brookwood
-          Goldsworth West
-          Old Woking
 
It will be appreciated If you could help us to get more residents to sign up for the Citizen’s panel.  They can find more information on the website and sign up online.   www.woking.gov.uk/citizenspanel

More money, less service? All in the name of environmental responsibility – you decide…

Press release and official letter attached.

From: Joanne Reid <Joanne.Reid@woking.gov.uk>
Date: Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 8:48 AM
Subject: Changes to Woking Borough’s waste and recycling services
To:

To Whom It May Concern:

From September 2009, Woking Borough Council will be implementing a number of changes to the waste and recycling collection services. A brief outline of these changes is provided below and the Council would encourage you to forward these details onto members of your Residents Association and discuss these at your next arranged meeting. Also attached to this email is a PDF copy of the leaflet, which all households will receive as part of Borough-wide communications the first week of September 2009.

Your waste and recycling: residents will still receive an alternate weekly collection of waste and recycling, using the black and blue wheeled bins or sacks. As a reminder, the following items can be placed into the recycling container:

· aluminium foil (rolled up to no smaller than the size of a cricket ball)

· biscuit and sweet tins

· cardboard

· glass bottles and jars

· household paper (including coloured paper like the Yellow Pages)

· plastic bottles

· tins and cans

Day changes: The day and time of collections will change for most residents. Each household will receive a letter during the first week of September telling them exactly how their collection schedule will change. By changing residents collection schedules the service will have a more efficient vehicle-round structure, therefore lowering the carbon footprint and also enabling us to put in place food waste collections in January 2010.

Kerbside collection of household batteries: To prevent household batteries from going to landfill residents will be provided with a small plastic envelope along with their day change letter in September 2009. This should be filled with spent batteries. When the envelope is full it should be placed on the lid of the recycling bin or beside the blue recycling sacks. It will then be collected by Biffa operatives and put in a separate compartment on the collection vehicle.

Your garden waste service is changing: From 2 November 2009 the garden waste collection service will change. If residents wish to use the Council’s new garden waste collection service they will be asked to pay an annual fee to receive a green wheeled bin for their garden waste. A maximum of six wheeled bins can be provided. Households who currently use black and blue sacks and are unable to accommodate a wheeled bin can be issued with re-usable sacks. The clear plastic sacks will continue to be sold until October 2009 and collected until 18 December 2009. Residents are advised to purchase only what they know they will use.

Weekly collections of food waste: This service will initially be introduced in January 2010 to around 34,000 households. More difficult properties, such as flat developments will be addressed at a later date. During January 2010 participating households will be given one 7-litre silver kitchen caddy and one 23-litre lockable green outdoor bin. Residents will be able to recycle all food waste, which will be collected in the 23-litre green bin from the boundary of the property every week, on the same day as the waste and recycling. More details will be sent to participating residents inside the silver caddy in January 2010.

Full details of these changes can be found in the attached leaflet – this leaflet, along with a letter informing residents of their collection changes and a small plastic envelope for recycling batteries will be sent to all households in September 2009.

You have provided your email details as the point of contact for your Resident Association. If this is not the case, please do not hesitate to contact me on the number below, and I will remove your email address from our mailing list.

Kind regards,

Jo Reid

Support Assistant – Environmental Services

Woking Borough Council

(01483) 743492

Important_changes_to_your_waste_and_recycling_collection_services

[polldaddy poll=1971973]

Update on Local Policing Matters around Westfield Common

Westfield Common Prioritised

Westfield Common Play Area
A known drug users was arrested in the play area and was found in possession of class A drugs.
A search for drug paraphernalia was carried out and all such materials removed from the area.
A subsequent arrest was made in Balfour Avenue in connection with this.

Fishing in the Nature Pond
The Community Police team have no powers to enforce prevention of fishing but have agreed to tackle under age drinking, trespass on Willow Bank property and verify that fishing licenses are in possession. The local fishing shop has agreed to encourage fishing elsewhere and remind shoppers of the requirement to have a fishing rod license.

Antisocial Behavior
At WCRA request the local community police team have agreed to prioritise Westfield Common July – Sep 2009. You should see an increased presence and activities by the community team to address anti-social behavior, crime and other matters.

This will also involve looking into the activities around the local parade of shops – a focus of concern.

Flytipping
All incidents should be reported to WBC environment officers and they will direct Serco to remove offending materials.
Any evidence regarding miscreants should be reported to the local community police team.

Arson
Have agreed to report back on the recent setting fire of the tyre swing in the Woodland.

Remember to report ALL matters to the local community police team.

The official minutes of the Planning Committee held on the 7th July 2009 have been published by WBC and are attached below for your information.

MOM – 20090707