Local Issues

Election Results

The ARA has in its constitution a requirement that it should support candidates for district and county elections who agree to stand without affiliation to any national political party. The standing committee is therefore delighted to announce that the three independent candidates in all three Ashtead wards at the Election were all elected.

The candidates are:

In Common Ward, the sitting councillor– John Northcott.

Candidates Name	Party	Votes Cast

John NORTHCOTT	Ashtead Independent, working with Ashtead Residents' Association	1,448 ELECTED
Raymond SIEMAN	UK Independence Party	138
Len WOOD	The Conservative Party Candidate	881

Turnout 76.8%

In Village Ward – Simon Ling.

Simon James LING	Ashtead Independent, working with Ashtead Residents' Association	1,770 ELECTED
Clive George SCOTT	The Labour Party Candidate	238
Sylvia Ann SHARLAND	The Conservative Party Candidate	1,521

Turnout 77.4%

In Park Ward – Richard Brooke.

Richard BROOKE	Ashtead Independent, working with Ashtead Residents' Association	1,171 ELECTED
Bob CANE	UK Independence Party	96
Susan GILCHRIST	The Labour Party Candidate	120
Howard Peter JONES	The Conservative Party Candidate	1,038

Turnout 75.7%

The election has produced a full slate of Ashtead Independent councillors along with our other two representatives who were re-elected last year, namely David Howell (Common Ward) and Chris Townsend (Park Ward).

As a result of the local elections held on 6th May when 14 seats were up for election, the composition of Mole Valley District Council is:

18 Conservative

17 Liberal Democrats

5 Ashtead Independents

1 Leatherhead Indepedent

Local Election Results - Overall Turnout 74.2%

Google Street Maps

Google have now published their street views of Ashtead and most roads are now visible on this service. This allows anyone to view individual properties as though they were viewing them from directly outside the house. Car number plates have been disguised but in some cases great detail is visible of the front of houses.

A few residents have expressed concern at the invasion of privacy and the ability of criminal elements to view prospective victims from the comfort of their own living rooms.

For those of you not familiar with the system go to www.google.co.uk and click "maps" at the top of the screen. Type the address you wish to view in the Search box and a map view of the area is presented. You can zoom in and switch to satellite view.

To the left of the screen is a slider bar that zooms the picture in and out. At the top of that bar is the outline of a person. Click and hold the mouse on the figure and drag it over the road to view. The outline of the road will change to blue. Position the circle over the area you wish to view and release the mouse button. The picture changes to "Street View".

One resident has successfully persuaded Google to remove the view of his property by reporting a problem and requesting the view be removed. To achieve this you must click the (very faint) "Report a problem" link at the bottom left of the picture. Request the picture be removed for one of the reasons quoted and if Google agree they will email back after a short period to confirm. Be aware though that the view removed is a 360 degree view and thus whilst your house is removed, your neighbour's house opposite is also removed. So it's best to check with them first.

Snow Pictures

Each year the Committee of the Residents' Association sends Christmas Cards to its Road Stewards to thank them for their invaluable hard work during the previous year. Without the efforts of the Road Stewards the Association would founder.

We try to use a snow or winter scene on the cards and one that relates to Ashtead. In previous years we have used two of Albert Pruden's pictures; one of the pond and one of St Giles Church.

For Christmas 2010 we would like to use a picture of this year's snow fall and would like residents to email their photographs to us. The picture should ideally capture "Ashtead" and be relevant to all the village. This not a competition and there is no prize, apart from seeing your picture on our Christmas cards. The short list of entries will be displayed on this web site and we look forward to seeing your photos.

Email your entries to ashteadra@tiscali.co.uk and ensure the email subject is quoted as "Christmas Card Photos".

Tescos Craddocks Parade - Update 7/10

As you will see, work has now been completed on the layby and the raised kerbs. Thank you Tesco - but not before time. We've been asking for these changes for two years!!

In addition, as requested by the ARA over 2 years ago, the layby has been designated a "Loading Bay". 2 years too late Surrey Highways!!

Drivers are still parking illegally in the layby and it is to be hoped that MVDC Parking Wardens and the Police will crack down on these illegally parked cars to ensure traffic flows are improved.

Update - 15th December 2009

SCC Councillor Chris Townsend, MVDC Independent Councillor David Howell and SCC Highways Officer Derek Poole have visited the site and discussed the appalling state of the verges together with the hazardous turning circle by delivery lorries at the Crossing with Tesco representatives and the local Manager. They have requested Tesco extend the lay by to enable lorries to enter and exit the lay by without the need to cross the verges. In addition they have requested Tesco install high kerbs to prevent lorries driving over them and also requested Tesco install more wooden 'dragon's teeth' to prevent lorries from crossing the verges. This work should all be at Tesco's expense because it is their lorries causing the problems.

In turn Tesco have agreed to look at these solutions and to examine the possibility of fewer vehicles being used for deliveries. We await their formal response.

With regard to the turning by lorries by the crossing where the vehicles mount the pavement on both sides of Woodfield Lane, Tesco are to examine the possibility of using articulated lorries which have a shorter turning circle. The viability of using St Stephens Avenue as an exit was also examined but Tesco are reluctant to use this residential road.

Watch this space for updates. In the meantime residents are still requested to submit photographs as detailed below.

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Residents will have noticed that despite the totally inadequate loading bay constructed alongside the Craddocks Parade shop lorries delivering goods to Tescos are still mounting the pavement and mounting the central reservation turning the grassed areas into eyesores. In addition lorries are turning around by travelling to the Level Crossing and undertaking a dangerous turn where often the driver has to mount the kerbs on both sides plus is often 'blind' to pedestrians and other road users in Woodfield Lane.

Surrey County Council Highways have written twice to Tescos about these practices and have yet to receive the courtesy of a reply. There is now a need for photographic evidence to take this to the next level and residents with either cameras or camera phones are urged to take pictures of lorries causing this damage and send them to the webmaster who will collate them for SCC Highways. Dates and timings should accompany the photos unless they are automatically date stamped.

Lorries are often without logos identifying them with Tescos and it will be necessary to evidence deliveries from these lorries going to the store as proof of an association with Tescos.

The damage being caused plus the dangerous use of the Level Crossing junction to turn around their vehicles is hardly endearing Tescos to the village especially at a time when a fresh application has been submitted to the Council for The Street site.

Residents' help would be appreciated.

Flooding - Riparian Owners

If you own land adjoining a watercourse (stream, ditch or culvert), you have certain rights and responsibilities. In legal terms you are a ‘riparian owner’. Recent heavy rainfall has highlighted areas in Ashtead where owners of property adjoining watercourses have failed to keep them clear of debris, resulting in flooding of property. Ashtead is riddled with such watercourses and to avoid flooding your property or neighbouring properties we must all take our Riparian responsibilities seriously.

Surrey County Council advise as follows:-

"To reduce the risk of flooding Surrey County Council is encouraging riparian owners to work towards an effective watercourse system through a process of co-operation, liaison, advice and assistance wherever possible. However, under the Land Drainage Act 1991 all Councils have the powers to serve notice on riparian owners, for the removal of any blockage to an ordinary watercourse. Should the riparian owner fail to do so, the Council has powers to undertake the work themselves and recharge the costs to the riparian owner. The Councils will try to resolve problems through discussion with the owners in the first instance and enforcement of legislation will only be used as the last resort."

Your rights have been established in common law for many years. However there are some
circumstances in which these rights may be affected by other law. There will also be activities for which you will need permission from a third party – such as your local
authority or the Environment Agency.

If you only rent the land, you should check with the owner who is to manage these rights and responsibilities. You will need to agree on this between you.

Further details are available in this Environment Agency document.

Old Photograph of the Ashtead Greys

An ex-resident of Ashtead now living in Devon emailed the web site with a plea for a photograph of the Ashtead Greys. This was a photo taken up at Horsemans' Sunday on Epsom Downs in the early sixties. It spent some years on display in Henrys, Craddocks Parade and was a photo of a line of grey ponies from Ashtead Riding School with their very smart riders in black jackets. Most of the ponies at the riding school were greys, this was their theme at the time Freda Parker ran the school from their premises in Ottways Lane. The riding school eventually moved to Ashtead Woods Road when the site at Ottways Lane was sold for development.

Since this contact and the appeal on this web site, Patsy Blair has provided us with a picture of the Ashtead Greys on Horsemans' Sunday in September 1960 and it appears she used to lead the above ex-resident around the ring teaching her to ride on her pony Frosty!!

If anyone else has a memory of the Ashtead Greys perhaps they would like to contact the webmaster and he will post them on the web site.

Two members of the Residents' Association were nominated for the 2009 Volunteer Awards at the ceremony held at ExxonMobil Headquarters in Ermyn Way, Leatherhead.

The two members of the Association (pictured left) were (from left to right) Roger Bennett and Kelly Combeer.

Roger Bennett is Vice Chairman of the Ashtead Residents' Association and has been the Association's Planning Officer for several years.

Kelly Combeer is responsible for the publication of the Association's The Ashtead Resident magazine and its flagship publication "Ashtead Village News".

It has been reported to the Residents' Association that an elderly lady slipped and fell on the Level Crossing. Apparently three cars passed her before another lady stopped and helped her off the crossing just before the barriers closed. This should not happen and Network Rail have been advised.

It has also come to our notice that another resident slipped just recently after some wet weather and we wish to pursue this also with Network Rail.

Has any resident suffered in a similar fashion or has seen evidence of a pedestrian slipping on the wet surface? If so please send us details to comments@ashteadresidents.org.uk.

Mole Valley is achieving excellent recycling results by having the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) on its doorstep at Randalls Road. Your green bin waste goes there to be sorted and baled for recycling. But it is not just Mole Valley’s waste that comes here. It’s also five other Councils including Elmbridge and Woking. A consequence of this is that Mole Valley gets payment for the tonnage of waste processed though the MRF and this is reflected in the Council Tax.

Some ARA Committee members had a conducted tour of the facility by Paul Faulkner of Grundon and the conclusion was that the MRF is a well run complex. Lorries of recyclable waste come in through the front and processed baled waste paper, cardboard, steel, glass and aluminium tins and plastics emerge out the other. In addition the small element of non-recycled waste is also put to good use as it is processed and used as fuel in an electricity generating plant.

The process is mostly automated with only some 18 staff on the production line at any one time, though more ‘pickers’ are needed at Christmas time. Waste arrives in lorries and is tipped at the tipping area. It is then grab loaded into the Trommel Feed Conveyor. This giant “tumble drier” fluffs up the waste and sorts it into three different sizes. The first stream on the fines conveyor transports cans through the overhead magnet to remove the steel cans, and an Eddy Current Separator removes the aluminium.

The two other streams from the Trommel are the Medium and Large Conveyors which carry plastics, paper and cardboard to the first floor picking station. Here manual picking of the materials is carried out and the sorted materials dropped into ground floor bays. Material from these bays is fed into the Materials Baler. This has a capacity of 15 tonnes per hour. Residual non-recyclable material goes to the Dross Bunker for disposal elsewhere to be used as fuel.

Whilst a successful operation, the MRF’s efficiency can be affected

by incorrect waste being sent for recycling. The main culprits are plastics. The “rule of thumb” to follow is PLASTIC BOTTLES ONLY PLEASE and with the bottle tops OFF. No margarine or yoghurt cartons. No plastic bags. No food wrappings. Even though cartons may show the Recycling Tri-Angle, at the moment UK sites are unable to process these items as they are the wrong kind of plastic. Our European neighbours are more advanced and can recycle these.

Paper materials can now include Yellow Pages and other telephone directories, plus those Argos and other thick Catalogues, but NOT the tetra packs used for milk and orange juices. These are plasticised card with an aluminium foil inner and are UNSUITABLE but can be recycled into collecting bins in the Bull Hill Car Park, Leatherhead.

A resident, Annie Montague, has started a Parsons Mead Photo Album on line and is looking for photographs to add to it. The album can be viewed at the following:-

If anyone has photographs of Parsons Mead School from any era and would like them posted to Annie's site, please contact her on the following address:-

Rather than reproduce all the latest news releases from the Council, it's easier to just place the link on this site and allow "your mouse to do the walking."

At a recent meeting at the Fire Station, the Station Commander, Jeff Villis was at pains to endorse the fact that the service prefer "Prevention rather than Intervention." To this end fire service personnel will visit a resident's home and undertake a FREE fire assessment and give general advice on fire prevention. In addition , where a householder does not have a smoke detector the fire service will fit one FREE OF CHARGE.

To arrange a visit all you need do is to telephone Leatherhead Fire Station on 01372 372226.

Imagine you have broken down on a windswept "B" road in the middle of nowhere. You need the AA or RAC or another Breakdown Service to come to your aid but you are not a member. You ring one up and say "I'd like to join because I've broken down." I would expect they'd tell you that you should have joined BEFORE you broke down. They will allow you to join, but will charge you a surcharge.

It's a similar situation with the Residents' Association. We get pleas for assistance to back campaigns, write letters of support and urge the Councils to change procedures from non-members. Under normal circumstances, for the good of Ashtead as a whole, we aim to fulfil these requests, but why don't people join the Association beforehand. Perhaps it's the cost? Let's face it £2.50 is not prohibitive.

The more members we have the more our collective voice gets listened to. When the Chairman writes to an official body on behalf of 6,445 members, people sit up and take notice. This Ashtead gain is down to the body of support the Chairman has in the membership.

Don't wait until you have a Planning Application at the bottom of your garden, or the prospect of double yellow lines preventing parking in your road. Join the Association now and if you need our support it will be there for you.

To join is easy. Contact the Membership Secretary by phone (01372 279944) or email and she will add your name to the Road Steward's list when he/she delivers the magazines.