The council has approved buying another 86 more dual recycling/waste street litter bins. Many of the older bins were showing their age with rusting bases. These will replace bins in all town centres across Elmbridge where needed.
There will be two more in Weybridge High Street, six in Queens Road and two in Oatlands village.
A year ago we posted our support for the petition started by our St George’s councillor colleagues to introduce a weight limit on HGVs coming through the town via Heath Road and Brooklands Road: http://weybridgelibdems.org.uk/2023/11/hgv-petition/.
After a lengthy consultation period, this has now come into effect. Apparently it won’t be possible to issue fines on drivers contravening the restrictions for the first six months as it is a trial ban. Anyone seeing vehicles flouting the order should report the incident, preferably with photos, via:
https://customer.surreycc.gov.uk/hgv-watch
The former cinema, which opened in 1920 and was acquired by Elmbridge Borough Council in 1956, operated as a public hall until its closure in 2014. Since then, the building’s condition has worsened. Swift Entertainment Venues (SEV) had an 18-month option to buy the building, but this expired in April 2024. The building has been actively marketed for sale since then.
Several offers were received for the building, with most proposals including residential upper parts and various ground floor uses like gyms, restaurants and churches. The offers were evaluated based on conditionality, such as a requirement to convert and sell upper floor flats, proposed use, ability to transact and price.
At the Elmbridge Cabinet meeting on Wednesday 20 November, councillors agreed to sell the Hall to Equippers Church. This is seen as the best option for community and leisure use. It is the least risky choice and ensures the building’s future use better than the other offers received.
Equippers Church plans to refurbish the building, featuring a two-tiered auditorium seating 300 to 400 people. The upper parts will be converted into studios for midweek meetings and workshops on mental health, wellbeing, counselling and youth gatherings. The building will also host weddings, birthday parties, exercise classes, art exhibitions and will be available to schools and other community groups for concerts, plays, speech days and other events. Additionally, the church is expected to bring significant added value to local businesses in Weybridge.
The transfer will be subject to a restrictive covenant that the ground floor of the building can only be used for leisure/community use that provides an active frontage onto Church Street. Equippers Church have agreed to this term and are keen to purchase the building. Completion of the sale is subject to contract.
It is understood that Equippers Church will be using the old Catholic Church and Rectory as their College for training in leadership roles. The church has already undergone long-needed refurbishment and restoration to bring it back into use after many years of decay and neglect.
With the demise of the Weybridge Town Business Group, Elmbridge Borough Council is helping Weybridge businesses to facilitate the formation of a Weybridge Business Improvement District (BID). BIDs have been running successfully in Walton and Cobham and they enable a BID Board of business representatives to support local retailers and businesses and to fund improvements to the town, co-ordinated by a part-time manager. These may range from attractive planters to sign posts – you may have noticed both these measures on the streets around Walton town centre.
A feasibility study has already taken place through engagement with local businesses, a task group formed and work is underway on a Business Plan. Businesses will be balloted in February/March on whether they wish to support the scheme.
You may have noticed that work began on the 14th October to install a new splash pad in Churchfields recreation ground to replace the paddling pool. This is set to open in spring 2025. It will includes various interactive features to promote imaginative play.
As a member of the EBC Cabinet with responsibility for Climate Change, several years ago Cllr Ashley Tilling raised with the council’s management board his concerns that the paddling pool did not meet the council’s intentions to make its operations sustainable. Every day the pool took all morning to fill with fresh water which then had to be drained each evening. Over the course of its open period during the summer holidays, this amounted to using several olympic-sized swimming pools of water. The routine also meant employing a contractor all day to conduct these operations. He therefore proposed installing a splash pad that would filter and recirculate the water to vastly reduce consumption. The cabin housing the pumps and filtering equipment will also benefit from solar panels to make it more energy efficient.
Splash pads appeal to a wider age range of children than a paddling pool and they can be operated over a longer period from May to September instead of just the school holidays.
In October 2022, the council consulted with residents to gather their views on future water play facilities in the borough. 96% of participants expressed their support for water play options. The feedback informed a new water play strategy while addressing the issues of environmental sustainability and financial prudence.
What will happen to the paddling pool in Churchfields recreation ground?
The council are exploring new play options in the current paddling pool area. These will cater for various interests and age groups and we should see the plans next spring.
Extension and major refurbishment
We hope you were able to visit the Library for the recent public ‘drop-in’ event to view the latest plans for its major refurbishment. We were pleased to see that the revised drawings included our proposals for this to become more of a Community Hub by including a kitchen and servery next to the activity/performance hall on the first floor which should give it greater scope for a wide variety of daytime activities and evening functions; the entrance into the ground floor extension from the car park will be moved to make it more visible and easier to use and the area in front of it will be landscaped to make it more attractive.
Planning consent was granted in December 2023 but some additional work will take place to include the changes described above. It is intended that the contract for the refurbishment work will be awarded in March, services temporarily co-located in the Community Centre in the same month, construction completed in April 2025 with fit out, handover and occupation in May 2025.
Weybridge Transport Strategy: £5 million for Weybridge’s streets
A public consultation took place early last year on plans to improve the streets in Weybridge town centre to make them safer for pedestrians and cyclists and to improve traffic flow at some junctions. The total cost of these improvements comes to £5 million with money coming from SCC and EBC’s Strategic CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) fund. As a result of the consultations, the proposals to close Elgin Road and Old Wharf Way to traffic were removed.
Due to the M25 junction 10 programme, which should finish by the end of this year, the programme has been divided into two phases. Phase 1 works will be less interfering to traffic and will be co-ordinated with National Highways to limit the effect of any J10 restrictions or closures. Phase 2 works will have a more significant effect on traffic flow and will be scheduled for early next year.
We understand that Phase 1 works will include:
Phase 2 plans include improvements to the A317 Balfour Road/Church Street mini-roundabout, to the Monument Hill and Monument Green junctions, the Balfour Road/Portmore Park roundabout and the Church Street/Minorca Road junction.
Are we closer to a re-build?
The plans showing a two-storey building with GP services on the ground floor and clinics, diagnostics and children’s and mental health services on the first floor, are currently being reviewed after feedback from the planning authority, Elmbridge Borough Council (EBC). Replacing the walk-in centre is not in the plan (due to having an Urgent Treatment Centre at St Peter’s) but there will be a Same Day Urgent Care access hub which will be available only for booked appointments via the GP or 111.
The intention is for NHS Property Services to proceed with a full planning application in the spring for building to start this summer. The aim is for the building to be handed over to the NHS for fitting out in the winter of 2025 and for it to be opened in spring 2026 when the portacabins will be removed.
At Elmbridge Borough Council’s Planning Committee on Tuesday 5th December the application to redevelop the Brooklands College site was approved.
The application involves providing a total of 320 new homes in blocks of flats, town houses and the refurbishment of the listed Brooklands mansion into luxury apartments. The College put forward a development of such a significant scale on Greenbelt land largely to pay off £20m of a £25m debt it had incurred when contracting apprentice training to a company that subsequently went bust. The money is owed to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), an agency of the DofE.
The debate in the Planning Committee meeting involved discussions on whether paying off the debt was a legitimate use of the planning process and constituted the Very Special Circumstances (VSC) necessary for building houses and flats on Greenbelt land, whether the design, mass, bulk and height of the proposed buildings were acceptable and whether there would be undue additional pressure on our roads. Despite being advised that paying off the debt did not constitute VSC, and with a number of councillors expressing concern about the scale of the proposed buildings and the effect on our already congested roads, the application was approved by a majority.
Clearly there are advantages to the proposals, including:
During recent safety assessments of the services at Elmbridge’s Centres for the Community, some fundamental safety issues for customers and staff were identified that needed to be addressed as a matter of urgency. It was hoped that they would be closed for a few days but this was extended so that a reliable, consistent and safe service could be provided.
Since the Covid pandemic and through the recent cost of living crisis, there has been an increasing strain on organisations caring for people and it seems EBC’s services have been stretched very thin. The closures are needed to rectify issues which include fire safety procedures, risk identification, assessment, and mitigation processes, and safe staffing levels.
The following services have been running as usual:
External groups hiring the centres were able to use them again from Tuesday 5th December. All vulnerable users have been invited to either the Walton or the Cobham Centre (both re-opened on the 11th December) where there will be a warm welcome with the option of lunch and table-top games. Those who need transport have been identified and will be helped.
If you have not been called by the council, or you know someone who should be contacted, please phone 01372 474 474