And finally for today I have seen that the new bus stops are going in around Hurst Green. Hopefully unlike this blog, passenger won't have to wait weeks for a bus only to see three coming along at once.
Seriously, I gather that the new bus service is a vast improvement on the previous arrangements; good news for local residents (but bad news for local taxi drivers, who are already suffering the effects of the downturn).
Monday 29 March 2010
Construction Work in Hurst Green
Quite a lot is going up (or down) at the moment. I blogged 10 days ago about the social housing being built on Pollards Oak Road and the Greenway, but housing of a different type is being built on the Holland Road, where the new nursing home is quickly taking shape. Specialising in dementia suffers it will provide a much needed resource for the area. And on Comforts Farm Avenue and Mill Lane new pipework is being laid. Hopefully the disruption is causign will not last too much longer.
And we're off..
Tonight marks the start of our campaign to retain Oxted South for Councillor Barry Compton at the District Council elections on May 6th. We will of course take the opportunity to mention our new Prospective Parliamentary candidate, Sam Gyimah just in case their happens to be a General Election on the same day....
I find canvassing is a great opportunity to get out and hear what residents have to say about life in Hurst Green, Broadham Green, Merle Common and South Oxted (not to mention a good way to keep fit.
I find canvassing is a great opportunity to get out and hear what residents have to say about life in Hurst Green, Broadham Green, Merle Common and South Oxted (not to mention a good way to keep fit.
Friday 19 March 2010
Delivering Affordable Homes for Local People
On Wednesday I visited the previously slightly run down area behind Pollards Oak road shops to see the transformation that is going on in an area of former scrub land and garages. Raven Housing Trust are currently building 8 homes on land provided by Tandridge District Council.
These new properties when complete will be available for rent to families on Tandridge's Housing list. I think this is a really exciting development, delivering high quality homes for local families while at the same time improving a run down corner of Hurst Green. They are likely to be completed in the early Autumn.
And in the Greenway the 10 new homes built on the former car park are much nearer being completed and are looking very good.
Together these are good examples of TDC's committment to provide much needed affordable housing for local people.
These new properties when complete will be available for rent to families on Tandridge's Housing list. I think this is a really exciting development, delivering high quality homes for local families while at the same time improving a run down corner of Hurst Green. They are likely to be completed in the early Autumn.
And in the Greenway the 10 new homes built on the former car park are much nearer being completed and are looking very good.
Together these are good examples of TDC's committment to provide much needed affordable housing for local people.
It seems I do have some readers!
It was a surprise to me as well! But over the past couple of weeks a few people have approached me saying they occasionally look at this blog (including 2 at Tandridge's annual Civic Reception on Tuesday night) and why had I been so poor at updating it? Well I apologise, I will try to do better, but unfortunately when things get too busy it is the first thing to slip.
Roads
Last Friday I met with our County Councillor and some Surrey County Council Highways Officers. The following is worth reporting:
On potholes they are targeting the A roads first before fixing residential roads. I highlighted the worst of the roads around the South Oxted area, but residents should report any particularly concerns directly to the County Council via their website. Unfortunately it is likely to take a long time before our roads are back to normal.
On the problem on Hurst Green Road, the County are currently publicly consulting on a plan for no waiting restrictions on the stretch of hill from mini-roundabout to where it turns. Regrettably I think this is not the best option as the stretch involved is not the whole of the problem and in enforcing no-waiting along the all of the identified area will just cause the problem to shift again. I have asked the County to consider instead putting in passing places to make the road safe for all users, while minimising the impact further down the road.I will report back if I hear any more.
On potholes they are targeting the A roads first before fixing residential roads. I highlighted the worst of the roads around the South Oxted area, but residents should report any particularly concerns directly to the County Council via their website. Unfortunately it is likely to take a long time before our roads are back to normal.
On the problem on Hurst Green Road, the County are currently publicly consulting on a plan for no waiting restrictions on the stretch of hill from mini-roundabout to where it turns. Regrettably I think this is not the best option as the stretch involved is not the whole of the problem and in enforcing no-waiting along the all of the identified area will just cause the problem to shift again. I have asked the County to consider instead putting in passing places to make the road safe for all users, while minimising the impact further down the road.I will report back if I hear any more.
Saturday 6 March 2010
Lib Dems Call for Huge Increase in House Building
I today received a Lib Dem 'Focus' through the door which apears to imply that they want a massive increase in the number of homes built in Tandridge in order to provide affordable housing. This is quite simply the only conclusion that could be drawn. But they do not say where they intend for these houses to be built.
They claim that TDC is 'failing to deliver affordable housing'. This is simply not true, I believe Tandridge has an excellent record at providing afforable housing, and even in the depths of the recesssion we managed to secure 49 new social homes over the past year (against its target of 50).
It is certainly true that there not enough affordable homes for all who would like to live in the district. But, the stark reality is that with nearly 95% of the district being Green Belt land there are never going to be enough without large scale building on the green belt. Even this Labour Government accepted this fact by giving Tandridge the 2nd lowest target for house building in the South East of 250 new homes per year. And even if these were 100% affordable - this would still not be nearly enough to meet demand.
Therefore like most fellow residents I agree with our policies which take into account the fact that Tandridge is mostly green belt and does not have the space or infrastructure to support a massive home building plan. Within these constraints the Council will continue to deliver in a senetive way significant numbers of afforable homes for local people to rent and buy.
So I challenge the Lib Dems to tell where they plan to build their new homes, which fields they plan to concrete over, which gardens they would like to grab.
They claim that TDC is 'failing to deliver affordable housing'. This is simply not true, I believe Tandridge has an excellent record at providing afforable housing, and even in the depths of the recesssion we managed to secure 49 new social homes over the past year (against its target of 50).
It is certainly true that there not enough affordable homes for all who would like to live in the district. But, the stark reality is that with nearly 95% of the district being Green Belt land there are never going to be enough without large scale building on the green belt. Even this Labour Government accepted this fact by giving Tandridge the 2nd lowest target for house building in the South East of 250 new homes per year. And even if these were 100% affordable - this would still not be nearly enough to meet demand.
Therefore like most fellow residents I agree with our policies which take into account the fact that Tandridge is mostly green belt and does not have the space or infrastructure to support a massive home building plan. Within these constraints the Council will continue to deliver in a senetive way significant numbers of afforable homes for local people to rent and buy.
So I challenge the Lib Dems to tell where they plan to build their new homes, which fields they plan to concrete over, which gardens they would like to grab.
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