Further to my blogpost of 24 October regarding the applications by Vodafone-O2 for two phone masts, we’ve since been informed that they have launched an appeal. Planning officers at Elmbridge refused both applications, the 12.5m mast on the Cottimore Lane/Ambleside Avenue junction and the 11.8m mast by Lancaster Court on the Cottimore Lane/Terrace Road corner.
Vodafone-O2 are only appealing the refusal of the mast by Lancaster Court. We’ll be delivering this special newsletter to the 200 or so homes near the proposed mast site in the next few days. We are asking residents to join us in writing to the Planning Inspectorate and object to the application. The reasons the officers gave for refusal are strong and I hope the Inspector will agree with them.
I have spoken to Vodafone-O2′s agents and I understand they do not intend to appeal the refusal of the mast on the Cottimore Lane/Ambleside Avenue junction. They are considering other options. We’ll keep you updated with any progress and the outcome of the appeal.
A resident contacted me recently regarding the Cottimore Lane bridleway, the footpath that connects Cottimore Lane with Rydens Road. I’m sure many residents in the area use this path so I thought it might be useful to post what I’ve found out.
Following a number of complaints over the general condition and lack of maintenance of the path, the Elmbridge StreetSmart team spent a day there a few months ago, with a hedge trimmer, loppers and other equipment to cut back the overgrown vegetation. A substantial encroachment of Japanese knotweed (at the Cottimore Lane end) was dealt with separately by contractors. Separately, Thames Water or Surrey County Council contractors did some clearance work on the ditch by the path.
It’s not known who owns the footpath, a Land Registry search shows its ‘unregistered’. Despite it not being owned by Elmbridge Council, however, I am grateful to our StreetSmart team who are prepared to ensure that a minimal cut back takes place every 6-months. However, they cannot commit long-term to this or accept responsiblity for the path, and ideally we need to find out who owns the path – but that appears to be quite difficult.
Me and Alan’s latest In Touch has now gone out to all Walton Ambleside residents, please see attached: Ambleside In Touch (Autumn 2011)
I am pleased say that the two applications for mobile phone masts down Cottimore Lane have been refused by Elmbridge Borough Council Planning officers. They were refused on the grounds they would be “within a visually prominent location clearly visible within the wider area”. The officers also stated that given the nearby street lamps and trees are about 8m in height, the 12m phone masts would be an “alien addition that would appear incongruous with the character of the area and the streetscene.” The applicants are allowed to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol, but we’ll have to wait and see if they do or not.
I am really pleased that the applications have been refused and that our area will not be spoilt by these masts. Thanks to all residents who wrote in to the Council with their objections—every letter or e-mail really mattered.
Me and Alan’s next In Touch newsletter will be going out very soon, and this will be in it so all residents are made aware.
Links – Decision Notices; Ambleside Ave/Cottimore Lane corner and Cottimore Lane/Terrace Road corner.
As residents may have noticed, two applications have received by the Council for phone masts, both down Cottimore Lane. The first is on the corner of Terrace Road by Lancaster Court (in Walton North) and the second by the Scout Hut on the corner of Ambleside Avenue (in Walton Ambleside). Walton North Councillor Rachael Lake and I are campaigning against these phone masts – please see attached an A5 flyer that we are distributing to nearby homes.
For info, our fellow Walton Ambleside & North Councillors are on the Planning Committees and thus must remain neutral on all Planning matters so they can discuss them without prejudice at any subsequent Planning meeting.
Phonemasts In Touch
Please see below link to me and Alan’s Summer 2011 In Touch for Ambleside. It has started to be delivered across the ward and all residents should have it through their letterboxes within a week or so.
Ambleside In Touch, Summer 2011
Just a few dates for your diary – the Police run many events in Ambleside, all details can be found at their website www.surrey.police.uk.
They hold ‘Meet the Beat’ sessions – where you can pop in and have a chat with them – on the last Wednesday of the month at Walton Hospital, Rodney Road. The upcoming sessions are 27th July, 31st August, 28th September and 26th October. All held from 2pm to 3pm. ‘Tea for Older People’ sessions are held on the last Thursday of the month at the Cromwell Centre in Rodney Road, again from 2pm to 3pm. Upcoming dates are 28th July, 25th August, 28th September and 26th October.
The next Police Panel meeting is on Thursday 11th August at Walton Oak School, Ambleside Avenue – starting at 7.30pm. Please do come along – it’s really important residents attend so the Police get to hear directly what your concerns are and what you want them to focus on. I’ll be there, so if come along please come and say hello!
Also, Heritage Day is on Saturday 10th September at Walton Wharf. This a great event every year, and Walton Conservatives will be there with our normal food and drink stall. Fingers crossed for dry weather! The following Saturday, 17th September, is the 2nd Walton Charity Community Day at Severn Drive Recreation Ground from 1pm to 4pm.
A supporter has kindly sent me the Walton Society’s latest newsletter. I’m afraid it can’t go without comment – such is the distortion of the truth and personal attacks within it.
In article entitled “Elections 2011″ they try to say how well they did on 5th May. Of course, they fail to mention they didn’t even stand in two of Walton’s four seats! They boast of their vote share in Walton Central claiming its one of the “highest in recent times” – failing to mention its the first time since 1978 that only two candidates stood, so of course their vote share went up, so did ours! Had Labour and Liberals stood, the result may have been very different… And finally, just a note of my own – their majority was 13%, excluding 2007 & 2010, their smallest majority since 1992!
Moving onto their comments about my own ward, Ambleside. They turn to personal insults and mud-slinging – they have form for personal attacks. I believe politics & elections should be about policies and ideals – not personally attacking those in other parties. But the Society are well and truly the Nasty Party when it comes to this, which is a great shame. I’m not going to comment on the personal attacks – they don’t deserve a response. My colleague Alan held Ambleside by 37 votes and the Society boast of their vote increase. Yes their vote share did increase impressively, but again, our vote increased as well, so did Labour’s – all at the expense of the LibDems who went down a whopping 14.71%! The best bit though is where they claim their candidate Mike Armitage will keep an active interest in local affairs – funny because he hasn’t been seen or heard from since 6th May! In fact the Society have neglected Ambleside for years, rarely (if ever) delivering newsletters or meeting residents – that is until April when Mr Armitage began campaigning!
You might be wondering why you haven’t seen a copy of the Society’s newsletter. That’s because they only send their newsletter to their members, so the vast majority of residents never hear from them. That is until their annual ‘All Walton Newsletter’ – which goes out in March, just before the elections. I don’t think I need to say why they do this! By contrast, Walton Conservatives do at least three newsletters a year (Summer one will be through your door within weeks) – to all residents, whether you support us or not, whether you live in a flat or a house. We believe all residents should be informed about our activities, not just those who vote for us.
Anyway – that’s my rant over!
Hello. Welcome to my new blog. I’ll be using this to let you know what I am getting up to on the Council and what’s going on in Walton. I also use Twitter – @CllrAndrewKelly - so please follow me!
As this is my first post of the civic year, I’m just going to summarise what has happened so far. On 5th May elections took place for a third of the seats on Elmbridge Council. The Conservatives won 11 seats, the Residents’ Associations 8 seats and the Liberal Democrats just 1 seat. As well as holding all our seats, we also gained Claygate and Weybridge North from the LDs. In Claygate Geoff Herbert defeated incumbent Cllr Michael Courtney by a very close 3 votes – the first time the Conservatives have won the ward since 1987. In Weybridge North, the Liberals lost the seat for the first time in Elmbridge history, with Ramon Gray taking the seat held by retiring councillor Tim Crowther. We also came within 100 votes of gaining Long Ditton (from the LDs) and St George’s Hill (from the RAs). In Walton, the status quo was maintained for the second year running as the Conservatives held Ambleside, North and South and the Walton Society held Central. Thank you to all residents who voted for our candidates in Walton – it was a great pleasure to meet many of you during the campaign!
The results meant the Conservatives hold 35 seats, the RAs 20 and the LDs 5, our highest number of seats since 1981 and the Libs lowest since 1986! Elmbridge Conservatives have an excellent track record since we took over the Council in 2006, with council tax frozen for four out of five years while maintaining front line services.
The Annual Council meeting took place on 18th May, with Hersham South Cllr John Sheldon elected Mayor and Hinchley Wood Cllr Janet Turner elected Deputy Mayor. Since then, I have substituted for a colleague on the North Area Planning Sub-Committee.
