Looking back at 2012 - Quarter Two

The second quarter of 2012 was very much dominated by the build up to and the event of Jubilee celebrations.  I was pleased to play a small part in Horsell's massive street party

April to June 2012

Horsell was in shock at the loss of its bridge over the canal for 9 months (little did we know it could be a year!) and I worked hard to ensure the diversion route was clearly signposted and concerns of residents along the route were alleviated.

I nominated Nathan Novelli from Horsell and was delighted that he won Woking Outstanding Achievement Award for setting up his own drama school.

My suggestion to have a Powerpoint display to help any members of the public attending council meetings was rejected by Conservative councillors.  I did achieve one small success in getting planning application numbers displayed on visuals during planning meetings.

Kanye West opens Horsell's new allotments

A new Horsell allotment site was opened by Cleve West and I was delighted to be an invited guest.  I had requested more allotment provision back in 2008.  It was great to see the aim for extra allotment space achieved four years later.

Stamp prices rose to 60p for First Class and 50p for second class.

I was elected as Deputy Leader of the Lib Dem Group on Woking Council.

The wooden canal bridge leaves Horsell

The bridge over the Basingstoke canal was removed in May having been cut off since April as part of works on the new WWF building.

The Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee and Horsell celebrated with a street party attended by thousands despite the ever present rain.  This great event spawned the Horsell Second Thursday Club which has went on to launch other community events in the second half of 2012.

Looking back at 2012 - first quarter

2012 seemed to fly by rather quickly.  I couldn't believe that Easter arrived when it did or that it was already summer amid all that rain.  Autumn followed fast behind, then it was Christmas and now we are entering 2013.  I decided to take a look back at the Olympic Jubilee year that was 2012 and was amazed at just how much had happened in the last twelve months.

January to March 2012
Plans were submitted for a new Horsell Scout Hut and an extension to Horsell Village Hall.  The scouts and guides are desperately in need of a new home and I know the extra space will be well used at the Village Hall.

Even my daughter was driven crazy by
the long wait for the new crossing

The crossing from the Lightbox to the Council offices and theatre was finally completed after several false starts – just in time for it to be rendered sadly underused as the bridge over the canal closed.

A report revealed that Surrey was the only police force to increase its number of officers in the previous year.  There was a 5.2% increase in officers in the county.

Brewery Road car park as it had existed for many years closed in February.  We should get a surface level car park back albeit with the WWF offices above it by the end of 2013.

PC Parish who had been Neighbourhood Officer since 2006 left Horsell following a promotion.  We have seen less of his replacement officer but the latest PCSO for our area Derek Slee has done sterling work throughout the year.

Brewery Road car park to building site

Work started to build the new WWF (World Wildlife Fund) headquarters on the site of Brewery Road car park.

Woking Commuter Trains are Crowded - news?

No surprise to learn that a Woking commuter train is at number 2 in the list of most overcrowded trains in England and Wales.  The weekday train that leaves Woking for London Waterloo at 7.32 has a load of 164% says a Department of Transport report covered by BBC News.

Also, at number 9 in the list is a service from Alton to London.  This is the train that leaves Woking at 7.52 for London Waterloo.  It is one of a number of trains that are overloaded by the time they arrive at Woking.  The load on this train is at 152%.

With more flats going up around the station and a key selling point being the fast commute to the capital isn't it time Woking had the long promised new carriages or even a train that starts at Woking.

Patrick Moore in Horsell

Sir Patrick Moore acted
with HADS

As I heard of the death of national institution Sir Patrick Moore last week I remembered that he had a Horsell connection.  I vaguely recalled that he had trod the boards with a local drama group.

My memory alone was not reliable so I did an online search to remind myself of the details.  Horsell Amateur Dramatic Society (HADS) website confirmed my memory.

Patrick Moore taught at St Andrew's School for a short time.  The school is still in Horsell and situated at the end of Wilson Way.  Whilst teaching at the school the man who found fame presenting The Sky at Night acted in five HADS productions.  HADS' website notes that the future Sir Patrick "had an amazing photographic memory".  Apparently he only had to read a play once to know his part.  

The Bedser Bridge Arrives in Pieces

One side of the new Bedser Bridge

I looked out of the window early on Sunday morning to discover there was traffic control on Brewery Road. I had one vain hope it might be Surrey County Council contractors come to find out why the road flooded last week.  But I was soon to find out this was not the case.  

A little later in the morning I went out to take my daughter to a party and learnt the arrival of the new Bedser bridge across the canal was imminent.  I was a little concerned about the pedestrian arrangements during this activity as we were told to wait for the "banksman" and be escorted along the road.   How would the workmen cope with the pedestrian traffic heading into town after 11 on a Sunday morning I wondered.  I needn't have worried.  An hour later after I had dropped off at the party, wandered through the French market, checked out the new Maplin shop on Commercial Way and done a little Christmas shopping; the road was fully open. The bridge, or pieces of the bridge,  two sides as far as I could see, had been safely delivered to the site.

The main structure of the bridge will be wooden.  It looks so much better than the concrete monstrosity which was proposed initially.

Now we just have to wait for the pieces to be put into place and the rest of the structure around the bridge to be completed.  We were promised a new bridge early in 2013 but my recent questioning suggests it could be Easter before we can cross the canal from Brewery Road again.  If it as late as this that will have been a year we have all had to make the long walk around via Chobham Road and the five point crossing to get into Woking.

Supporting Woking's Voluntary Sector

In my role as Shadow Portfolio holder for Grants I attended and spoke at the annual Woking Council Grants meeting last week.

Woking has a clear process for grants whereby local groups are invited to apply for funding by the end of August each year.  Applications are made through the Window on Woking website.  Applications are considered by the Council and representatives from voluntary groups and recommendations are made to the Executive.

My view doesn't hold much sway with the Conservative Executive but I am allowed to put the Lib Dem view on a number of applications.

Several applications stood out for me on Thursday.

I expressed my surprise that having refused to fund the Neighbourhood Advice Centre (which primarily served Maybury and Sheerwater) last year, giving the reason that CAB were doing work in the area, the Executive has now refused CAB funding for this work.  I spoke in favour of CAB getting extra funding to cover the need in this area.

I was pleased that Outline Surrey received funding this year. Outline provides a telephone helpline and information and organises events for those who are Lesbian, gay, bi-sexual or transgender. I have supported the charity's applications for the last three years.  In 2010 no funding was given, in 2011 a small amount was allocated.  This year Outline got their full application.

I spoke in favour of giving CORAM, a group offering life education to school children in the borough, funding for alcohol awareness work.  The work of the group has already been much appreciated in local schools and I spoke based on the experience of my Lib Dem colleagues who are teachers.  Listening to the statistics of the young people affected by alcohol I supported prevention rather than picking up the pieces.  The portfolio holder did not seem keen to fund this part of the programme.  Her view was that the drinks industry should pick up the bill.  I agreed that if the Council agrees to adopt a late night levy this money could be used in future to fund such programmes but money was needed this year.

Why would anyone do this to young children?

St Peter's Church Centre - the blaze which thankfully
burnt out started in an outbuilding at the centre

I was totally horrified, and somewhat incredulous to read today of yet another act of arson affecting a community facility in Woking.  I wrote just over a week ago about the blazes that caused serious damage at Toad Hall nursery in Goldsworth Park and the village hall in Mayford.  I also mentioned the fire at Sayers Croft in Cranleigh, an educational facility used by Woking school children.

Thankfully the latest blaze,  at St Peter's Church Centre in Old Woking, did not do any serious damage.  However the intention of those who started the blaze would appear to have been destructive.  As the Surrey Advertiser reported this episode also involved a burglary, not a factor (as far as I am aware) in any of the other arson incidents.

In the last two cases, St Peter's Church Centre and Toad Hall, it must have been very evident that the premises catered for young children.  I just can't understand why anybody would want to deliberately damage facilities that provide care for young children.

The police did arrest two young men after the Toad Hall blaze.  They have been bailed until January.  I hope there is further progress on these cases and that all our local community facilities remain vigilant until this situation is resolved.

Starstruck Woking

It's been a starstruck few days for Woking.  On Saturday the annual panto kicked off at the New Victoria Theatre starring Stephen Mulhern and Pudsey the dog (winner of Britain's got Talent).  In the audience for Dick Whittington  was comedian, author and extreme charity fundraiser David Walliams.

David was very complimentary about our local panto.

"It's brilliant. Stephen is really funny and Ashleigh & Pudsey 

are so entertaining. Tonight Stephen even got me 

up on the stage. So much fun..!"

David doesn't seem to be alone in his praise for Dick Whittington.  I've seen lots of good reports on the show in its first few days.

But the excitement doesn't end there.  Today the Law and Order UK team were back recording in Woking and Bradley Walsh was spotted in the town centre.  Bradley or should I say DS Ronnie Brooks was on a seat in the vicinity of the Woking Martian.

A Bridge Too Far ... Away

The old canal bridge leaves the site

Earlier this year residents of Horsell and beyond were horrified to learn that the bridge over the Basingstoke Canal was to close for 9 months.  The old bridge has been removed and a new bridge is being built as part of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) building on the Brewery Road car park site.

I know residents will be even more upset to now learn it could be a whole year before the new bridge is in place.

I heard rumours just over a week ago about how far behind the project is running.  Quite understandable, given the heavy and persistent rain that delayed work over the summer and beyond.  A previous conversation with the site manager had told me there had been delays but they would be caught up over time.  The bridge wasn't mentioned.

I had to put a formal question to the last meeting of the full Council to get the facts.  The public information supplied tells us the bridge will be open "early in 2013".  i had taken this as January.  In fact at one point I had heard we may get a bridge back in December.  At the council meeting I was told that the bridge will be completed "early" in 2013 and that the contractor will finish within the contract period.  Further questioning then confirmed that the period defined in the contract is April 2013.  Hardly "early" in the year.  

This all makes rather a mockery of the statement posted on Woking Council's website when they listened to "people power" and changed the original bridge plans back in late 2011.

"Once development commences in early 2012, we will work closely with WWF-UK and its contractors to minimise disruption to local residents caused by the construction of the Bedser Bridge."

Affinity want your views

Affinity Water (the new name for Veolia Water as I reported back in October) is consulting its customers on future investment in 'our community'.

There is an online survey for customers to complete which asks about    abstraction, reducing consumption, reducing leakage, installing meters, temporary use bans (such as happened earlier this year), customer expectations, ownership of connecting pipework, social tariffs and securing water supplies for future generations.

It is not very clear on the Affinity website but you really need to read the background to the consultation before completing the survey.

The key message of the consultation seems to be 'would you like this improvement?', if yes it will cost you the customer.  Surely if leakage is reduced there should be lower costs and it is the responsibility of the company to invest to make this happen.

I raised the issue of future supply with our local water supplier (still called Veolia at that time) at a Council meeting back in June.  This is Surrey reported on my concern that just 5% of water was being saved by the hosepipe ban then in place but 21% was being lost through leaks.

There was an opportunity to meet Affinity and discuss the consultation in person.  I would have liked to have gone along but I was rather surprised and disappointed to discover that the consultation event in Woking was held on Thursday 6 December.  The first time I saw it advertised was in a newspaper which was published on Friday 7 December and I didn't buy until Sunday 9 December.  There are other events but I don't fancy a trip to Great Missenden or St Albans!

Customers can also contribute to an online discussion board. This seems to cover a range of areas but there is a specific discussion topic on the consultation.  There wasn't a lot debate on there when I took a look.

The consultation closes on 21 December so if you would like to contribute make sure you do it before the deadline.

Tories Reject Freeze on Town Centre Parking Prices

Woking Tories tonight rejected a Liberal Democrat bid to freeeze Woking town centre parking prices at the currrent level.

Introducing an amendment to Tory proposals for increased parking charges Lib Dem Leader Denzil Coulson pointed out that increased parking charges put at risk all the work that has gone into the town centre.  There is no point having a beautiful new town square and new shops if shoppers choose to go elsewhere.  Other Surrey towns are cheaper and even some London shopping centres charge less for parking.

Cllr. Louise Morales noted the high number of people who park for two hours in Woking.  She suggested a cheaper third hour rate to encourage shoppers to linger a little longer, maybe to patronise a cafe or restaurant or do a little more shopping.

I raised concerns on how rising parking charges lead to an increase in commuters, town centre workers and shoppers parking on residential roads in Horsell.  As parking charges rise the level of parking on local streets moves further out into Horsell.  Parking has already gone so far out that I have seen somebody park in Horsell, take a folding bike from their boot and cycle into the town centre.

Parking on residential streets ends up costing money as residents ask for 
parking restrictions.  Councillors and officers consult on parking restrictions.  
Restrictions are implemented and there are then extra roads for enforcement officers to patrol.  Residents already tell me that existing parking restrictions are not sufficiently policed.

Other Lib Dem councillors raised similar concerns but it all fell on deaf ears.  Only the Leader of the Council, his Deputy and another Executive member spoke to defend the increase in parking charges before the Conservatives voted en bloc against a freeze in charges.

Busy week ahead

I have a busy week ahead of me with some key issues affecting Horsell residents on the agenda.

Monday - A briefing on the market ahead of paper at Council on Thursday.

Tuesday - Putting up the Christmas Tree at home.

Wednesday - Local  committee - the joint meeting of Woking borough and Surrey county councillors. A petition is being presented on Chobham Road crossing?  Also on the agenda is the council officer response to a petition on traffic measures around Woking High School. The response is rather disappointing.  It amounts to yellow lines on dangerous corners which it could take a year or so to put in place.

Thursday - Meeting  of full Council. Matters under consideration include increasing town centre parking charges and the future of Woking market.

Friday is a 'night off' and I am out at The Cricketers In Horsell for my first Christmas meal of the season.

Community Assets Affected by Arson

Busy day doing "family stuff" today. Getting things done around the house this morning, then off to visit relatives for lunch, a nice walk with the dog and some Christmas tree decorating.  Lovely day.

Toad Hall Nursery before the fire
that seriously damaged the roof

Then during the drive back early this evening I saw the dreadful news of a fire at Toad Hall nursery in Goldsworth Park.  The nursery occupies the same building as Goldwater Lodge, the community building that sits at the edge of the Goldsworth Park lake.  I was at Goldwater Lodge for a community association meeting on Thursday last week.  The association, although reporting some minor vandalism on the building, was saying how much the situation had improved in recent years with regular and effective policing in the area.  Now it would appear a criminal act has destroyed the roof of the nursery and caused slight smoke and water damage to the community halls.

This is likely to have a terrible impact on the nursery, the business, parents losing their childcare and the children missing out on their time at nursery.  The nursery has places for 109 children so this is a huge impact locally.

Worst of all this is not the first fire to affect community facilities in recent weeks.  Sometime over the weekend of 17/18 November fire destroyed the roof of a roundhouse constructed at the Sayers Croft education centre down in Cranleigh.  This is a residential centre that caters for many Surrey schools.  I know Horsell Junior children use this facility and my daughter is one of many who have had a great time there on a school trip.

On the same weekend Mayford Village Hall was badly damaged by another suspicious blaze.  This is another important community facility which has a pre-school and is booked for events such as meetings and children's parties.  The good news is that part of Mayford Village Hall should be open for business again from 10 December but much work is needed to repair the damaged part of the building.

I'm sure the police are taking appropriate action and working hard to catch those who have committed these acts.  Let's hope police are able to bring the perpetrators to book before any more damage is done to community assets.

Mr Farage's Sense of Humour

I'll say one thing for UKIP Leader Nigel Farage he has a great sense of humour.  This was demonstrated today after UKIP managed second place in two parliamentary by-elections.

 

Mr Farage announced UKIP as the "third force" in British politics.  An amusing claim which just isn't backed by the evidence.  Look at how the figures stack up.  Of course UKIP has a number of Euro MPs, although according to Channel 4 Political Editor Michael Crick in this piece Mr Farage himself considers them "oddballs and eccentrics, too old, often lazy, sometimes corrupt".  UKIP has a handful of councillors across the country, many are defections from other parties.  They don't have any MPs.  In the second places they achieved this week less than 1% of the electorate in Rotherham voted for them and less than 0.5% of the Middlesborough electorate. 

 

Compare this with the Liberal Democrats.  We have 12 hard working MEPs.  One of our MEPs here in the South East is Sharon Bowles who is the first woman and first British MEP to chair the powerful Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament.  Sharon was this year named the most influential Briton on EU Policy and recently made it on to the shortlist for Governor of the Bank of England.  We have 57 MPs and they have places in Cabinet and at junior ministerial level.  We are in government. 

 

The second piece of humour from Mr Farage is that he is believed to be considering Neil and Christine Hamilton as potential UKIP candidates for the European Parliament.  Michael Crick in the article referenced above suggests UKIP is looking for people with the right kind of "modern, serious image" to replace some of his current MEPs.  Not quite what comes to my mind when thinking of the Hamiltons.  Neil lost his seat in what has been dubbed the "cash for questions saga", she went off to parade around the jungle as a "celebrity" and they have both appeared on tv games shows

Horsell Christmas Fair & Christmas Tree Festival

I am looking forward to taking part in the Horsell Christmas Fair this Friday.  It is going to be a great late afternoon and evening in the village centre.  Many shops in the High Street will be opening late.  The shops will be decorated with Christmas Trees, the pubs are joining in and there will be hot chestnuts on sale, stalls from local voluntary groups and small enterprises, crafts in the Village Hall and a treasure hunt for children.  Whilst you walk around the village you can listen to and even join in with carol singing from our own Community Choir.

The Crown is now home to Thurstons the Horsell Brewing Company.  This is the first brewery in the village for 95 years (the last I assume was the one in Brewery Road).  Thurstons first beer is Stedman’s ale and it will be on tap on Friday 30 November.

 

The Christmas Fair starts at 4pm and activity goes until 8pm.  For full details of event times and layout of the Fair buy a programme at local shops including Spar, Needle and Thread, LA Fitness, Squires Garden Centre, Butchers for just £1.  The programme contains one entry into the Grand Raffle.

Whilst all this is going on in the High Street up at St Mary’s Church on Church Hill the Christmas Tree Festival will be in full swing.  This is the second year of the Christmas Tree festival, organised by the church and the Parent Teacher Association from Horsell Village and Horsell Junior School.  The whole church will be taken over by many different interpretations of the Christmas Tree from the traditional back to nature tree with pine cones, through a Lego tree, a Brussels sprout tree, lollipop tree and even a tree of cup-cakes.   The Christmas Tree Festival is open from 10am to 8pm on Friday and from 10am to 4pm on Saturday.  You even get to vote on your favourite tree.  Suggested entry to the Christmas Tree Festival is £3 for adults but children are free. All proceeds go to the PTA to support learning at our local schools.

If all this isn’t enough Friday evening excitement at 8.15pm Horsell Cinema Club has its first outing showing “Miracle on 34thStreet” in the Village Hall.  The film begins at 8.15pm.  Tickets priced at £2.50 will be available from Seymours Estate Agents on the day.

What is Kevin Hurley going to do for us?

Surrey first Police and Crime Commissioner Kevin Hurley took office last week.  Mr Hurley stood for election on a platform of "zero tolerance" and all candidates for the new policing position talked about more "bobbies on the beat".  But what is zero tolerance and how will or new PCC get more police on our streets? 

Zero Tolerance

My understanding of the term was similar to that set out in Wikipedia  (not always a reliable source but appears accurate in this case).  It has typically been used to refer to sentencing policy.  As PCCs won't have any control over this area I was puzzled as to how Mr Hurley was going to apply it.

Discussions and interviews I have seen with Mr Hurley refer to tackling issues e.g. if a police car drives past a gang of youths who abuse the officers in the vehicle the police will stop and speak to the group.  Mr Hurley goes on to talk about discretion being used as to what happens next.  Seems like reasonable policing to me, hardly zero tolerance.

It all seems rather contradictory so we will just have to wait and what impact our new PCC has on Surrey policing.

Bobbies on the Beat

Another puzzle is how Mr Hurley will get more "bobbies on the beat".  He talks on his website about "more visible street policing" and about reducing back office roles.  

However Mr Hurley has called a halt to selling off police stations.  Surely operating police stations requires back office staff and also keeps police officers in the station rather than on the street.

The Surrey police strategy, defined by former Chief Constable Mark Rowley,     was to sell off police buildings and base police in other community facilities.  The money from sales and reduced estate costs was ploughed back into local policing to keep neighbourhood police teams on the streets.  

If the police stations are to stay open how will Mr Hurley fund police on our streets.  His website talks of using the "ill gotten gains of criminals" to pay for beat officers.  Shades of Tony Blair and taking drunks to cash points to get money out to pay fines.  There are powers at a national level to seize money from serious criminals involved in crimes such as drug dealing and money laundering.  Are these powers available to PCCS?

Maybe the answer lies in this blog post from Mr Hurley covering his time policing Hammersmith and Fulham.  It seems extra police resouce came from calling on local businesses to fund police.  Is this Mr Hurley's plan for Surrey?

An evening with Paddy Ashdown

Paddy in full flow

On Wednesday of last week I had an interesting evening off from work, family and local politics and travelled to Portcullis House to hear  Paddy Ashdown, his former speechwriter Max Atkinson and other speechwriters speak as part of Parliament Week.  The event was organised by the Speechwriters Guild and there were many current speechwriters in the audience.

I was amazed to hear Paddy, a Lord of the realm, former MP, former Leader of the Liberal Democrats and former High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovovina admit that he got very nervous, even to the point of shaking, in advance of big set-piece speeches. 

Max Atkinson who worked with Paddy on a number of his key leadership speeches showed a series of films of Lord Ashdown over the years.  Many of the clips were familiar to me.  I had watched them either in person or on television.  However the earliest clip Max showed was new to me.  It showed Paddy at the Liberal Assembly in Llandudno 1981.  Casually dressed, youthful and passionate there was much there of the later Paddy, just a little less refined.

I enjoyed the evening on several levels.  Going into Portcullis House is an amazing experience.  This modern building contains rooms where Select Committees meet, catering facilities for MPs and parliamentary staff and MPs offices.  On the committee floor the walls are hung with fabulous paintings of current and past parliamentarians.  It was great just to meander around the committee floor and look at the paintings.

Paddy Ashdown is a great, relaxed speaker and so down to earth.  He arrived late for the event, having had to stay and vote in the Lords.  He walked in and set down in the audience, looking quite at home.

I heard a number of tips for making good and memorable speeches and made some useful contacts.  I rounded the evening off walking back over Westminster Bridge with the beautifully lit London Eye and Royal Festival Hall in view.

One last challenge for David Beckham

As David Beckham announces he is leaving LA Galaxy and says he is looking for “one last challenge before the end of my playing career” why doesn't he come to Woking and propel our local team to the top of the league?

A top flight player to a local team?

There is precedent for this.  Between 1993 and 1997 former Chelsea player Clive Walker was on the Woking team.  He played a key part in several FA Trophy cups and in securing an FA Cup replay against Coventry.  He was of a similar age to Beckham when he made his debut for the Woking team.

Supporting non-league football?

Big stars always want to support grass roots football.  What better way to do that than going back to the grass roots yourself.  Woking gate income would rise, as would that of the teams they play against.  It would be a major boost for non-league football.

What is there to attract the Beckham family to Woking?

I'm sure 'Posh' would love to shop at the Peacocks.  The Beckhams could buy a mansion in Hook Heath and hob-nob with our local MP and leading Tory councillors.

Ron Dennis could give David and Victoria a test drive in his latest road cars built at the Woking factory.

Mr and Mrs Beckham can take their pick of local gyms to maintain their physiques and the children can swim at the Pool in the Park or Spectrum in nearby Guildford.  There are lots of soft play areas around for the youngest Beckham and bowling or Laser quest for her brothers at the Big Apple.

The whole family could enjoy Spice Girls the musical when it undoubtedly arrives on the Woking stage at the New Victoria Theatre and the Ambassadors cinemas have all the latest films plus a Saturday morning kids club.

Arts and culture are on offer at the Lighbox, we have a fantastic new library with a teenage zone that will appeal to the older Beckham boys and Mizens Steam Railway at Knaphill attracts young and old.

Woking offers easy access to top UK theme parks with Thorpe Park on our doorstep in Chertsey and both Legoland and Chessington within a forty five minute drive.

If the Beckhams have become big basketball fans whilst in the states we’ve got the Blackhawks playing locally.

Horsell Common is great for family walks and bike rides in the countryside.

Woking is just a 25 minute train ride from the centre of London for all those important business deals and ideally situated within easy reach of Heathrow and Gatwick for all that globe trotting.

Lots to attract a family to Woking ...