Wolfs Wood Dogs Destroyed

News from that TDC have taken action against out of control dogs. Our tenants tell us regularly that they are happy with the way we look after our housing stock. The following press release from the Council demonstrates the active approach we take to prevent the anti-social behaviour of one person impacting on the lives of others:

On Friday 19 February at Redhill Magistrates’ Court, a housing tenant in Wolfs Wood, Oxted was disqualified from keeping a dog for five years, ordered to destroy one of her dogs and to re-home another dog. She also has to pay a contribution of £500 towards the Council’s costs.

Between March and November 2009 the Council’s housing team received numerous complaints about one of its tenants, Dionne Bakewell’s dogs. The complaints were about the dogs’ behaviour which included barking during the day and night and growling at passers-by and visitors. Residents also complained to the Environmental Health team.

The dogs frequently escaped into neighbouring gardens, the local park and wandered around local roads. They behaved aggressively and in a threatening manner snarling at local residents, including children.

There was a restraining order on one of the dogs which meant it had to be kept under control and chained, so it could not get within two metres of the front door between the hours of 8am and 5pm. It also had to be muzzled on the request of a council or police officer.

During one incident in April 2009, the dogs escaped into a neighbour’s garden where children were playing and growled at them. The children were very frightened and ran into another garden to get away from the dogs. The children’s mother spoke to Dionne Bakewell and was verbally abused.

The dogs’ behaviour was witnessed by council officers and the police. On 1 October 2009 the Council wrote to Miss Bakewell to advise it did not consider the dogs were suitable pets and asked her to immediately re-home them. The Council also started legal proceedings.

On 4 November a policeman, responding to calls from local residents about a dangerous dog loose in Wolfs Wood, was threatened by one of the dogs and forced to use his CS gas spray to protect himself. The dog was later captured and taken to the police dog kennels where it has remained.

Police Panel

At Tuesday nights Police Panel, apart from hearing that one of our two excellent PCSOs has got a job as a PC (great news for her and for Surrey Police), but a loss to residents of Oxted South the Police reported that invesigations were ongoing into the armed robbery last week in One Stop. There is no evidence of any local involvement, the criminals likely to have come down from South London. The police also reported that crime in the area has fallen (especially vehicle crime and anti-social behaviour) and with a number of local criminals currently in prison things are very quite. Long may it continue

Council Tax Increase Just 2.48%

At last night’s Council meeting we agreed to increase council tax by just £4.69 for the whole year, for a Band D property. This is an increase of around 9 pence a week and gives a Band D Council Tax level of £193.62. This is the lowest increase for 10 years made despite receiving th fourth lowest grant settlement from central government (which increased by just 0.5% compared to the 4% average) and reflects among other things a £905,000 saving in staff costs, all achieved without any redundancies.

Front line services will be unaffected and in fact over the past year (to quote Chairman of Resources, Cllr Fisher) "weekly recycling has increased to over 30% and we have kept the weekly back door waste collection service. We have reduced the number of households living in temporary accommodation and through the Planning Core Strategy protected our Green Belt and won an above average 74% of appeals. We continue to provide shoppers free parking to support local businesses. In the words of the Audit Commission ‘we have made savings and improved services’.

Sam Gyimah - East Surrey's New Parliamentary Candidate

Along with around 300 others I attended a meeting at Oxted School on Saturday to select a successor to Peter Ainsworth as the Conservative candidate for East Surrey (and therefore hopefully our next MP).

While the circumstances were unfortunate - having six candidates thrust upon us under bi-election rules - the field was strong enough to deliver two candidates who would have been an excellent future MP, in my opinion the best one won. So I, like the vast majority of others present, was very happy the result.

Sam Gyimah came across to me as the ideal candidate, bright, a good communicator, likeable, a good track record outside of politics and an original thinker. From what I have seen so far, I hope and expect him to go far. I look forward to working with him.

For more details about Sam see his website.

Armed Robbery at the One Stop

Yet again another armed robbery in Hurst Green. For a normally quiet part of Surrey we seem to be getting more than our fair share of this type of serious crime. I will take the opportunity of the Chief Constable's annual visit to TDC on Tuesday to quiz him on what they are doing.

CCTV photos of the suspects can be found on the Surrey Police website, though the police report is as follows:

At approximately 9.20pm on Wednesday (February 10) two men entered the One Stop shop, on Holland Road, and demanded staff hand over money from the cash tills.
One of the suspects produced a gun concealed within his hooded-top and fired it into the floor.
The robbers grabbed money from the tills and escaped in a waiting vehicle.
Police are keen to trace a dark coloured 'N' registration Renault Clio which had a white driver's door and a black Range Rover which were both seen in the area at the time of the offence.

The first suspect is described as a black man, slim to average build, approximately 5ft 10in to 6ft tall, wearing a black leather (appearance) thigh length jacket, with a dark hooded top underneath, black trousers, black trainers with white laces and black balaclava.
The second suspect is described as a white man, medium to stocky build, approximately 5ft 10in to 6ft tall, wearing dark rimmed glasses, a dark hooded sweatshirt with "Reebok" written horizontally across the chest, dark shell suit trousers with light vertical stripes on each side of the leg, white trainers with dark insets or dashes around the toe cap and sides and black gloves.
There was possibly a third man waiting outside.

Investigating officer Detective Sergeant, Karl Humphrey, said: "We are looking into the similarities between this robbery and the attempted robbery at Londis, Hurst Green, in September last year.

"This was a very frightening experience for the two members of staff who were working at the time and also for two young schoolchildren who happened to be in the shop when the robbers burst in.
"I cannot stress how vital it is we locate and arrest these men. They armed themselves with a gun and it is possible one of them may have suffered injuries when the weapon was discharged.
"Oxted is a small community and I can understand those who live there may be very shaken by this event but I would like to reassure you we are doing all we can to identify these robbers and bring them to justice.
"If you know someone who drives an 'N' registration Renault Clio which has a white driver's door or a black Range Rover then please come forward. Your phone call could make all the difference to this investigation."

Tandridge Sergeant David Coomber said: "The local Safer Neighbourhood Team will be working alongside detectives during this investigation and also providing a high visibility presence in the community.

"I would encourage anyone who has any information at all regarding this robbery to speak with detectives or Crimestoppers if you wish to remain anonymous."
Enquiries into this incident are on-going but anyone who can help is urged to contact Surrey Police on 0845 125 2222 quoting reference TD/10/688 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.