Vodafone are proposing replacing their current mobile phone mast next to Hurst Green station with a ungraded version. It appears it will be similar in height, though the footprint on the ground will be bigger.
To see the plans following this link. Given it is merely replacing an exisiting mast and providing an upgraded service then the impact will be broadly neutral, but happ to hear from any residents who diagree.
Thursday 28 August 2008
Tuesday 26 August 2008
Footbridge over Railway Closed
The footbridge connecting Nunnappleton Way with Pollards Oak Road has been closed off by Surrey County Councill. Their statement (available in the depths of their website states that this is : due to 'the likelihood of danger to the public and will be in operation for a period of six months from 11 August 2008 or until completion of the works, if earlier and while the relevant notices are displayed. That period can be extended by the Secretary of State for Transport if required.
The prohibition described above will only be operative while the County Council, or an authorised person acting on its behalf, displays signs prohibiting the said vehicular movements.'
Unfortunately Surrey County Concil have not publicised this locally but I can confirm it has now been blocked off. I hope that this will be shut for as short a period as possible.
Update: I have now viewed the footbridge from the Nunappleton road side and there is a sign stating that the path will be closed until the 28th.
The prohibition described above will only be operative while the County Council, or an authorised person acting on its behalf, displays signs prohibiting the said vehicular movements.'
Unfortunately Surrey County Concil have not publicised this locally but I can confirm it has now been blocked off. I hope that this will be shut for as short a period as possible.
Update: I have now viewed the footbridge from the Nunappleton road side and there is a sign stating that the path will be closed until the 28th.
Make Sure You Can Have Your Say
It only takes a couple of minutes to do, but if you don't do you will not have a say in who runs, Tandridge, Surrey or the UK.
The Register of Electors annual canvass takes place in Tandridge from the end of August. A form which shows all the details the Council has about households on the current electoral register will be delivered to all 34,500 residential properties in the district.
Letting TDC know whether the information is correct (by phone or internet) or if not (by post) will not take more than a few minutes and by doing so will ensure that come election day all adults in a household can vote
The information from the canvass is used to create the register which will be printed on 1 December.
The Register of Electors annual canvass takes place in Tandridge from the end of August. A form which shows all the details the Council has about households on the current electoral register will be delivered to all 34,500 residential properties in the district.
Letting TDC know whether the information is correct (by phone or internet) or if not (by post) will not take more than a few minutes and by doing so will ensure that come election day all adults in a household can vote
The information from the canvass is used to create the register which will be printed on 1 December.
Thursday 21 August 2008
Hurst Green Police Panel
Last night, in wet and autumnal conditions the bi-monthly Police Panel took place at the Hurst Green Community Centre.
Attendance appeared to have been hit by the poor weather and holiday season, but the police were able to report that things were very quiet in Hurst Green, so quiet that that there were no priorities to take away from the meeting.
Speeding on Mill Lane was discussed again and the Police will be considering what steps to take over the next few weeks now the casualty reduction officer is back at work.
On the Greenway, much of the graffiti that appeared there has been cleared up by TDC and the Police are perusing the perpetrators. A meeting at the Community Centre will be held on 1 September for Greenway residents interested in forming a neighbourhood watch.
The Oxted Pram Race passed off broadly peacefully, but one man was arrested and will be prosecuted for a number of offences.
Following suggestions at the meeting the Police will be speaking to residents on Pollards Wood Road as to what the options for off street parking might be in order to reduce parking near the junction with Pollards Oak Road.
The Oxted Pram Race passed off broadly peacfully, but one man was arrested and will be prosectuted for a number of offences.
Following suggestions at the meeting the Police will be speaking to residents on Pollards Wood Road as to what the options for off street parking might be in order to reduce parking near the junction with Pollards Oak Road.
Attendance appeared to have been hit by the poor weather and holiday season, but the police were able to report that things were very quiet in Hurst Green, so quiet that that there were no priorities to take away from the meeting.
Speeding on Mill Lane was discussed again and the Police will be considering what steps to take over the next few weeks now the casualty reduction officer is back at work.
On the Greenway, much of the graffiti that appeared there has been cleared up by TDC and the Police are perusing the perpetrators. A meeting at the Community Centre will be held on 1 September for Greenway residents interested in forming a neighbourhood watch.
The Oxted Pram Race passed off broadly peacefully, but one man was arrested and will be prosecuted for a number of offences.
Following suggestions at the meeting the Police will be speaking to residents on Pollards Wood Road as to what the options for off street parking might be in order to reduce parking near the junction with Pollards Oak Road.
The Oxted Pram Race passed off broadly peacfully, but one man was arrested and will be prosectuted for a number of offences.
Following suggestions at the meeting the Police will be speaking to residents on Pollards Wood Road as to what the options for off street parking might be in order to reduce parking near the junction with Pollards Oak Road.
Councils Offering Mortgages
This idea has been rumbling on over the past few months and appears to have reached a head in a letter to the Times today. I think it is absolutely bonkers, though it right that locally communities should decide whether to go ahead with it. The idea that in the current tough economic conditions councils can take on mortgage lending without a very significant risk to the local council taxpayer is just naive.
Councils are not set up to undertake the type of risk management that is required from operating a mortgage book and the statement from Liverpool City Council which said “We are talking about people who were offered a mortgage a few months ago, when the lenders were offering 95 per cent mortages, but are unable to do so now that deposits of 15 per cent are required,” just shows the lack of understanding about the risks involved. There is a good reason why Banks are asking for 15% deposits - it is to prorect their balance sheets. Local authorities have a duty to protect their balance sheets also.
Councils are not set up to undertake the type of risk management that is required from operating a mortgage book and the statement from Liverpool City Council which said “We are talking about people who were offered a mortgage a few months ago, when the lenders were offering 95 per cent mortages, but are unable to do so now that deposits of 15 per cent are required,” just shows the lack of understanding about the risks involved. There is a good reason why Banks are asking for 15% deposits - it is to prorect their balance sheets. Local authorities have a duty to protect their balance sheets also.
Wednesday 20 August 2008
Labour isn't Working
Labour have always claimed to be the party that best represents the disadvantaged in society. This claim has always been false, but yesterday's report from George Osborne just shows how fale it is. Since coming to power in 1997 Labour has presided over:
- 900,000 more people in extreme poverty and the gap in life expectancy becoming greater than in Victorian times.
- the imposition of stealth taxes most heavily on the poor. Mr Osborne asks: "Is it fair to reward enterprise and effort, yet for someone earning £100 a week, for every extra pound they earn they take home just 6p?"
- a failure to undertake schools reform meaning that the gap between the poorest and richest pupils is widening. Social mobility is falling too. This year just 176 pupils on free school meals got three As at A-level.
- a shift of burden from today's Britons to the next generation: As Mr Brown seeks to save his skin he is doing so by recklessly increasing public borrowing to pay for tax give aways today that will have to be paid for by future generations.
Fairly daming stuff
Hat tip: Conservative Home
- 900,000 more people in extreme poverty and the gap in life expectancy becoming greater than in Victorian times.
- the imposition of stealth taxes most heavily on the poor. Mr Osborne asks: "Is it fair to reward enterprise and effort, yet for someone earning £100 a week, for every extra pound they earn they take home just 6p?"
- a failure to undertake schools reform meaning that the gap between the poorest and richest pupils is widening. Social mobility is falling too. This year just 176 pupils on free school meals got three As at A-level.
- a shift of burden from today's Britons to the next generation: As Mr Brown seeks to save his skin he is doing so by recklessly increasing public borrowing to pay for tax give aways today that will have to be paid for by future generations.
Fairly daming stuff
Hat tip: Conservative Home
Monday 18 August 2008
Gold again
We are now up to 12 Golds in the Olympics - the most satisfying point for me is that we are ahead of both Australia and Germany. Now we just need to make sure it stays that way. Go Great Britain Go
Saturday 16 August 2008
Gold, Gold, Gold, Gold
Now I am not that into the Olympics, but to get 9 medals in one day - 4 of them at Gold is a superb effort by the Olympic Team and just shows what the combination of some very hard work by our athletes and better funding via the National Lottery can produce.
Well done all and Come on Britain.
Well done all and Come on Britain.
Local Conservatives will need Localism
As this Labour government staggers on through a summer and the economic news worsens I was mulling this evening how the future will pan out.
If, as currently seems likely, the Conservatives win the election what will they face? With the public finances shot and the prospect of a long period of low or negative growth will the public put up with the necessary long period of restocking the nation's coffers? Hopefully the our experience in the the early 1980s will prove an accurate predictor of the future - a Conservative administration rescuing the country from ten years of economic mismanagement - with the repairs that can be made in the first years of a Cameron administration serving the country well for the decade to come.
However national successes will likely come at a price, and locally the key challenge will be for a Conservative Council to survive any dissatisfaction from voters in the challenging early years of the next administration.
Again I conclude that the link between central and local government should be loosened with real power needs being devolved to local level. Only by doing this will we stand a chance of people voting on local issues to when they come to elect local representatives residents.Treating all elections as an opinion poll on central government needs to end.
If, as currently seems likely, the Conservatives win the election what will they face? With the public finances shot and the prospect of a long period of low or negative growth will the public put up with the necessary long period of restocking the nation's coffers? Hopefully the our experience in the the early 1980s will prove an accurate predictor of the future - a Conservative administration rescuing the country from ten years of economic mismanagement - with the repairs that can be made in the first years of a Cameron administration serving the country well for the decade to come.
However national successes will likely come at a price, and locally the key challenge will be for a Conservative Council to survive any dissatisfaction from voters in the challenging early years of the next administration.
Again I conclude that the link between central and local government should be loosened with real power needs being devolved to local level. Only by doing this will we stand a chance of people voting on local issues to when they come to elect local representatives residents.Treating all elections as an opinion poll on central government needs to end.
Monday 11 August 2008
Effects of competition
Oxted has long been a haven for the more independent shop, with national chains being far outnumbered by local businesses. I think it is too early to say that is going to change but I spotted today that the Costcutter on Station Road East has closed. (Now I accept that this is not a particularly local company but bear with me.)
I expect that the one factor that has contributed most to its demise was the re-opening of a Sainsburys in town. This is despite the Sainsburys being much smaller and without much of the range that Costcutter stocked. But the combination of long opening hours and better positioning clearly did for Costcutter, in the same way I expect that Sainsburys might have been the final straw for the greengrocers which has now been replaced (to some protests) by a Costa Coffee.
Only time will tell whether Costa will kill off other local rivals, but I sincerely hope not. The lesson here is that all businesses (whether independents or chains) need to to continue to adapt and change to meet their customers needs. Those that don't will die.
And sadly if to prove a point, I was today in an independent shop in Oxted today which I think has clearly not got it right. I was the only customer and I found it hard to find what I wanted. If it doesn't change I don't expect it will be there in 12 months time.
I expect that the one factor that has contributed most to its demise was the re-opening of a Sainsburys in town. This is despite the Sainsburys being much smaller and without much of the range that Costcutter stocked. But the combination of long opening hours and better positioning clearly did for Costcutter, in the same way I expect that Sainsburys might have been the final straw for the greengrocers which has now been replaced (to some protests) by a Costa Coffee.
Only time will tell whether Costa will kill off other local rivals, but I sincerely hope not. The lesson here is that all businesses (whether independents or chains) need to to continue to adapt and change to meet their customers needs. Those that don't will die.
And sadly if to prove a point, I was today in an independent shop in Oxted today which I think has clearly not got it right. I was the only customer and I found it hard to find what I wanted. If it doesn't change I don't expect it will be there in 12 months time.
I'm Back
Apologies for the lack of activity over the past couple of weeks. I was on holiday and then trying desperately to catch-up at work for having been on holiday. Sometimes makes you wonder what the point of going away actually is.
Anything not much to report locally - all seems to have been quite quiet - though I stand ready to be corrected.
Nationally David Milliband started what appears to have been an attempt to rest the poisoned chalice that is being leader of the Labour Party from Gordon Brown and then promptly went off on holiday. So looks like more leadership speculation will take place throughout the rest of 2008.
Anything not much to report locally - all seems to have been quite quiet - though I stand ready to be corrected.
Nationally David Milliband started what appears to have been an attempt to rest the poisoned chalice that is being leader of the Labour Party from Gordon Brown and then promptly went off on holiday. So looks like more leadership speculation will take place throughout the rest of 2008.
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