Consultation on the draft Surrey Rights of Way Improvement Plan has now begun.
Surrey County Council’s Rights of Way Improvement Plan helps the council to make sure the public rights of way network will meet the needs of the public, now and in the future. It sets out priorities for public rights of way for the next ten years.
Details of the consultation can be found here
The consultation closes on 9 February 2025.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FOLLOW UP MEETING TO DISCUSS THE ARRANGEMENTS FOR 2025 DERBY WILL TAKE PLACE ON FRIDAY 13 DECEMBER at 7pm IN THE LANGLEY VALE VILLAGE HALL
The agenda for the meeting will be published here shortly.
Here are the agenda and presentations and notes and actions from the meeting held on 12 July 2024:
Langley Vale Village Hall was full on Friday evening for a meeting with Inspector Clifton-Sinclair Borough Police Commander and Tom Sammes, General Manager at Epsom Racecourse about the serious public order incidents which occurred ahead of the 2024 Debry Festival and the arrangements for the 2025 event.
The meeting had been convened by the Woodcote (Epsom) Residents Society and the three Woodcote and Langley Vale Ward Councillors who are also members of the Epsom & Walton Downs Conservators – Bernice Froud, Liz Frost and Steven McCormick. The 5 of them were joined on the panel at the meeting by Helen Maguire, our new MP and Shanice Gladman, Nonsuch RA Councillor who is also Chair of the Crime and Disorder Committee.
The Borough Police Commander and Mr Sammes spent an hour and a half answering questions about what the residents’ saw as the failings of the police response to the serious incidents that took place and the security arrangements more generally for the 2024 Derby. A question was also asked about what action the Conservators could take under the Act of Parliament to mitigate the risks to the local residents of the travellers encampment. A number of suggestions were made about how the security arrangements could be tightened up and extended and everyone agreed that communication with the village needed to improve.
The Police, the Racecourse and the Epsom & Downs Conservators all committed to take account in their review of the 2024 Festival of the very real concerns of residents had about their safety and their requests for changes to the arrangements for 2025.
It was agreed there would be a further meeting with residents before the end of the year to consult on the proposed plans for 2025 before the arrangements were finalised and again in March/April 2025 ahead of the festival.
We have now received the following update from Network Rail on the bridge replacement. We will be following-up to find out if the contract has now been awarded and ask for more information re key dates.
“The designs have been received and signed off by all respective parties and engineers. These will form the base of our communications for the tender build up for construction which was issued last week for tendering by our new framework contractors. By end of November, we hope to have submissions and have awarded the contract.
We are currently looking at early 2025 to put in the new bridge. We know this is a public right of way, so we are committed to carrying out the work as quickly as possible. We are aiming to fully replace the structure and re-open the bridge and we are working hard to accelerate this as much as possible.
Once we have a firm program, we’ll be writing to neighbours with further information, I would like to thank you for your continued patience, and we are sorry for the inconvenience caused while we sort this, and the work is taking place.”
Epsom & Ewell Borough Council are undertaking a new review of polling districts and places in the borough of Epsom & Ewell. This is being done ready for the new County Council electoral Divisions that are coming into force for the May elections 2025.
The purpose of the review is to ensure that:
-All electors have reasonable access to voting facilities
-Polling places are accessible to all electors including those with disabilities
The Council is keen to hear from electors, those involved in local democracy such as political parties and candidates as well as from persons or bodies with expertise in relation to access to premises or facilities for persons with any form of disability.
The review starts on Thursday, 21 November 2024 and the deadline to make representations on this review is no later than 5pm, 2 January 2025.
Full details are on their website https://www.epsom-ewell.gov.uk/electoral-boundaries
Representations by email should be marked Polling Review and sent to electoralservices@epsom-ewell.gov.uk
W(E)RS objected to both the original 6-unit scheme (23/00577/FUL) which was recently dismissed on appeal (Details here) and have now submitted a further objection to a revised 5-unit scheme submitted to supposedly address the reasons for refusal relating to the earlier application.
W(E)RS objected to this latest scheme on the grounds that the vehicular and pedestrian risks associated with the site access road had still not been adequately addressed and would be dangerous to pedestrians with inadequate space available within the access road to safely accommodate both pedestrian and vehicular movements. In addition, it was considered that there would be inadequate space to provide a ‘passing space’ for vehicles utilising the access road to allow oncoming vehicles from Whitehorse Drive to pass safely, resulting in the potential for vehicles to have to reverse out onto the highway in an area of high pedestrian activity, especially at school arrival or departure times.
W(E)RS have now made further representations against the proposal in the light of the appellant’s Statement of Case which fails to mention the recent appeal dismissal of the 6-unit scheme on grounds that supported the objections raised by our Society.
It is W(E)RS’s view that the Inspector’s reasons for dismissing the 6-unit scheme should equally apply to the 5-unit scheme.
The details and our response to the latest scheme can be found here:
Conversion of existing stable blocks into 6 residential 1-bedroom units for affordable accommodation for people working in the equine industry.
W(E)RS objected to this planning application 24/01223/FUL on the grounds that:
1.The loss of the stables would adversely impact on the racehorse training industry in Epsom.
2.The application is contrary to Policy DM24 as it represents a loss of employment floorspace and Policy DM26 because it would fail to maintain a successful race-horse industry and the re-use of existing buildings for stabling, tack rooms, feed stores or other ancillary equestrian uses.
3. The accommodation would not provide a satisfactory standard of accommodation with 5 of the 6 units below nationally prescribed minimum space standards if the units were to be occupied by 2 people. We assume this to be the case as the floor plan shows a double bed and the Planning Statement refers to the units being ideal for ‘young individuals and couples. We therefore consider it reasonable to apply the minimum space standards of 50sqm for a 1 bed/2 person unit. In addition there is no provision for private external amenity space for the occupants. The proposal would therefore be contrary to Policy DM12 (Housing Standards)
We are sympathetic to the need for additional affordable housing for people working in the local horse racing industry but this must meet housing standards and should not be achieved at the loss of the very stabling space that helps underpin the industry.
LATEST – Planning Application Refused
The following 9 grounds of objection were cited which included support for the reasons W(E)RS objected to the stable conversion.
1.Inappropriate Development in the Green Belt
2. Loss of Employment Floor Space
3. Substandard Amenity Provision
4.Harm to the Character of the Area
5. Harm to Neighbour Amenity
6. Harm to Protected Species
7. Loss of Employment Floorspace
8. Inappropriate Dwelling Mix T
9. Lack of Affordable Housing
The full details can be found here 24/01223/FUL
Come and find out why the Common is such a special place, and how you can help us preserve it.
An exhibition to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Epsom Common
Association will be at The Horton, Haven Way, Epsom, KT19 8NP from 19th to 30th
November.
The Association was started by a group of residents concerned about abuses, such as
driving cars on the Common.
Nowadays we run a range of volunteer activities every year, including: habitat management tasks; making around three hundred bags of charcoal;
checking the grazing cattle four days each week; as well as walks, talks and newsletters.
Our achievements include: the restoration of Great Pond; two more recent pond projects;
publication of the “Epsom Common” booklet; and several Epsom Common Days.
We work in partnership with Epsom & Ewell Borough Council, which owns and manages
the Common, a Local Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest.
For more information about the ECA visit: www.epsomcommon.org.uk or email:
info@epsomcommon.org.uk
Surrey County Council has said it will write to companies about the pavement parking on Epsom High Street by Mopeds in response to a motion submitted by Councillor Steven McCormick.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c870nl9dqego
Councillor McCormick will be progressing a parking ban on the pavements as part of the current parking review and several other actions which came out of a recent all-stakeholder meeting including looking for additional parking spaces.
He has also just received an email from the external affairs officer at Deliveroo seeking a meeting in response to the motion he submitted to the meeting of the SCC Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee on 15 October.
A lot of actions which had been on the to do list were signed-off as completed at the Consultative Committee meeting on the evening of 14 October 2024 .
The Committee is chaired by Councillor Steven McCormick and Councillor Bernice Froud is a member. The Committee also has a representative.
There was one item on the agenda at the request of Councillor Froud which was of direct relevance to Langley Vale and it was confirmed that there would be a site meeting shortly by the Council Tree Officer to inspect the state of the trees in Warren Wood behind Mannamead and Mannamead Close.
The Committee also had the opportunity to comment on the proof of the notice board content which the committee was assured would be finalised and put-up very soon now.
Other issues covered at the meeting included the condition of tracks and hacks; progress with the removal of spoil heaps; pot-hole repairs on the Old Road; out of control dogs on the Downs; anti-social behaviour in the car-parks, the management of grassland and a feasibility study to investigate reintroducing grazing to Juniper Hill and a new vendor in the 7 furlong being piloted.
We were asked to put out a further appeal for Volunteers to help with the management of the Downs. Please let us know if you have time to volunteer – it would be very rewarding and much appreciated.
Also if you experience anti-social or see dangerous behaviour please ring 999 and report the incident. That is the only way they will get addressed. You can use the contact us link on the Epsom & Ewell Council website to report other issues that need action by the management team”.
James Blythe, Managing Director of Epsom St Helier NHS Trust confirmed that plans for the new emergency care hospital in Sutton and the upgrading of Epsom hospital were currently on hold again – waiting to hear what the impact of the governments review of the hospital programme will have. He was however hopeful that the plans will be able to go ahead on the understanding that the current arrangements are unsustainable.
You can find a link to the recording of the meeting the Society hosted on 17 October here for those of you who were not able to attend.
James Blythe went on to set the strategic context and how Epsom Hospital currently works with St Helier and St George’s Hospitals as part of a Hospital Group. During the discussion it became clear that the current plans did not take account of the new government housing targets for the area.
In introducing himself Chris Rivers, Director of Estates, Facilities and Capital Projects at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust explained he was the point of contact for all estate issues. He emphasised the Trust’s commitment to being a good neighbour and was pleased to have the opportunity to hear directly from residents about concerns /issues they had.
During the remainder of the meeting James and Chris fielded a wide range of questions from the floor including the allocation of services between the two sites; accessibility to the hospitals for those with disabilities; car parking and the impact on traffic using the Dorking road; the S2 bus route being impracticably slow; the impact of noise and lighting issues associated with the Langley Wing and lighting levels adjacent to Woodcote Green Road.
James and Chris committed to look into all the issues raised by residents at the meeting and we will post a update as soon as we are able on the follow-actions agreed at the meeting
