Local News Local Issues
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Surrey Local Flood Risk Management Chinese Whispers - LloydsTSB is NOT closing! Tesco Metro in The Street, Ashtead Register your demand for Superfast Broadband in Surrey Your chance to have input to MVDC's Budget Planning Walking Waitresses raising money for Char Ashtead Level Crossing and the Footbridge (Update) Old Photograph of the Ashtead Greys Surrey Local Flood Risk Management The county council is undertaking a consultation to inform the drafting of the Surrey Local Flood Risk Management Strategy. It can be found at www.surreycc.gov.uk/floodriskstrategy. The deadline for responses is 31 March 2012. Paper copies are available by calling the county council on 03456 009 009. The Residents' Association is in need of volunteers to be a Road Steward for any of the following roads in Ashtead. The role involves delivering two magazines a year, and annually collecting £2.50 per member household. The roads in question are as follows:- Craddocks Avenue (Nos 49-95) Stag Leys (27-44, 80-90) Without the help of our army of Road Stewards the Association would falter. If you think you might be able to devote a tiny bit of your spare time to assisting the Association by delivering the magazines and collecting subs please do let us know. If you'd like to discuss the role and see what it entails please email
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. Thank you!!
Chinese Whispers - LloydsTSB is not closing! There's a rumour going around that LloydsTSB is now closing it's doors. As we know Barclays is abondoning Ashtead, and Lloyds Pharmacy is closing its doors in The Street. It seems that people started talking about "Lloyds closing" and knowing that Barclays was going, people added up 2 and 2 and made 5 and then started saying "Did you know LloydsTSB is closing now?" Well its' not true. Lloyds TSB is staying open as a LloydsTSB branch. It is not one of those going to the Co-op and will remain as it is. So if you hear the rumour - it's incorrect!! Mole Valley District Council are looking ahead at the forthcoming elections in the following areas on May 3rd: Ashtead Common Tesco Metro in The Street, Ashtead Following consultations with the traders in The Street, The Ashtead Residents' Association, the S.A.V.E. group and the APMH Committee, Tesco held the public consultation part of the exercise before finally submitting the Planning Application to MVDC. A public exhibition was held on Tuesday 24th January and everyone, commuters included, had the opportunity to see the proposed plans for the store and ask questions of Tesco staff and their various Consultants. Tesco have pledged to listen to residents' concerns before submitting their Application and the series of consultation with the various interested parties is testament to this. It is essential that anyone who has comments or concerns regarding the store should write to Mole Valley District Council once the final plans are published. Remember though it is no good just commenting about the fact it is a Tesco store when there are others in relatively close proximity. Tesco own the site and have already secured planning permission once for a slightly larger store. That said if residents have concerns regarding the adequacy of parking for this sized store, the adequacy of staff parking, concerns about deliveries and opening hours and requesting restrictions be placed on what can be sold to protect existing small traders in The Street, it is imperative these be voiced to Planning Officials and local Councillors. In addition make your comments known to the SAVE campaign. The ARA has already voiced its own concerns regarding staff parking and whilst Tesco say they will encourage local people to apply for jobs and hold a 'Jobs Fair' at the APMH, nevertheless we believe many will still drive to work and will park in local roads adding to congestion. Barclays Bank has announced that due to falling customer footfall it has decided to close its branch in The Street, Ashtead. The last day of business will be Friday 30th March 2012. The Residents' Association predicted this move and advised residents at the time "If you don't use it, you'll lose it!" We have unfortunately been proved right! The closure will leave just two banks in Ashtead, Lloyds TSB and Santander, as HSBC/Midland closed earlier this year and Nat West closed its doors some years ago. Barclays say they have not taken this decision lightly and that there are other branches in nearby towns. Residents of Ashtead must ensure that they use their last remaining Banks as otherwise they too will close their doors. Register your demand for Superfast Broadband in Surrey
The superfast broadband project seeks to ensure that all Surrey residents and businesses can access high speed broadband no matter whether they are located in the county. The Surrey Strategic Partnership has identified this work as a priority for Surrey. January Newsletter. By registering your interest in superfast broadband you will be helping them gain information about demand that will be crucial in securing a private sector company contract that will make this possible. Visit http://www.superfastsurrey.org.uk. To check your current Broadband download and upload speeds, visit www.speedtest.net. Your chance to have input to MVDC's Budget Planning Some of you may already know that Mole Valley District Council has begun its budget consultation for 2012. The Council is therefore asking residents to take a few minutes to complete their short survey to tell them your views on this topic. The consultation can be completed online on their website at www.molevalley.gov.uk. Here is a link for your convenience: http://www.molevalley.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=12710 For anyone who prefers to complete the survey in hard copy, these can be found in the Pippbrook offices, at the Leatherhead HelpShop, in their two Day Centres (Dorking Christian Centre and the Fairfield Centre), in the 2 sports centres (LLC and Dorking Sports Centres) and in libraries. Walking Waitresses raising money for Charity The Residents' Association has received the following request for assistance in publicising the following. We wish them well in their endeavours. To donate via PayPal visit their web site below and click on the PayPal link. Hi, my name is Emily Barrett and I am one of the Walking Waitresses!
To raise money we are organising a prize draw, for which loads of local businesses have already donated prizes for; Leatherhead Leisure Centre, Chelsea Football training grounds, Birdworld, House of Fraser and Bockets Farm to name a few! We are also hoping to have car washes, bake sales and hopefully many other events!
I was hoping you could help us to spread the word; the Ashtead Residents Association is very prominent in Ashtead and it would be a great way for us to get through to the many residents of Ashtead who do not have access to computers. We will have leaflets, posters and collection boxes ready for distribution soon.
For more information, we have a website and twitter account for exposure and for donations through PayPal.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing back from you,
Emily Barrett and the Walking Waitresses
http://walkingwaitresses.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/#!/WalkingWaitress Ashtead Level Crossing & the Footbridge (Update) 18/11/2011 - Thanks to Cllr. John Northcott (Common Ward) the telephones at the Level Crossing have been reinstated. Until recently the telephones were not operational, partly caused by the abuse the signalmen received from drivers and pedestrians at the Level Crossing. John Northcott highlighted the positive use the telephones have as well as his safety concerns and Network Rail have relented and reinstated the phones. Whilst this is a positive result, the facility can just as easily be withdrawn again if further complaints are received following abuse of Network Rail staff by members of the public. Few residents are aware that as well as the busy Ashtead Crossing, the signalman is in charge of several other busy crossings. It is a hugely responsible job and the last thing they need is the distraction of members of the public verbally abusing them. __________________ It has just been confirmed by the Area Manager at Southern Railway that should the Level Crossing barriers be in the down position for more than 5 minutes the gateman has authority to allow pedestrians access to use the footbridge on the platforms. The Hawthorn Leslie 3837 Preservation Society would like to invite you to join us in restoring our loco back to full working order by becoming a member. We consider that the loco is an important part of our Great British industrial heritage and is worthy of preservation.
Our fledgling society was formed last bank holiday Monday once negotiations had started with the council for it’s purchase by bid and we were successful. The loco is destined for restoration at the Lavender Line at Isfield in deepest Sussex where it will receive much attention and TLC from the ‘’working ‘’ members of the society, all of whom are quite passionate about the project. The restoration team will be led by our Chief Mechanical Engineer, Peter Pope, who has worked on the ROYAL SCOT, CLAN LINE AND the world famous FLYING SCOTSMAN locomotives. Having joined the society you can choose whether you want to be a ‘’working’’ member or not. N.B. Viewing the loco is difficult at present as it is on part of a building site and visitors to the site must first obtain a permit to enter. It is also important to note that the area around the loco is considered by ourselves to be dangerous. The loco is as yet un-named but the writer of this leaflet being a sentimental fool wanted to put a face on it and call it Roland the Rescue engine but I was outvoted! Apart from the membership fee any other donations would be very gratefully received in cash or by cheque and if you have any items at home that you might be willing to donate to us for resale i.e. anything at all to do with transport ( real or model ), books, stamps, currency, cigarette cards etc. we would also be extremely grateful for your generosity. By calling up our Website:- www.3837.pvsonline.com you can download a membership form or if you have any questions please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it The membership secretary’s address is on the membership form. Please make cheques payable to HL3837PS. Many apologies for the blatant begging but we need all the money we can raise to get the loco back in steam again, on which subject does anyone know of a haulage contractor with a low loader that has a 35 ton + trailer who is charitably minded ? ‘’3837’’, BE PART OF SOMETHING WORTHWHILE, JOIN US TODAY, WE WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOU ABOARD. Old Photograph of the Ashtead Greys
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 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and he will post them on the web site.
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The Surrey Strategic Partnership are undertaking a survey of current Broadband services in Surrey. 
We are three waitresses from Superfish in Ashtead, Surrey and are training to walk the 230 miles from London to Paris in late July 2012. Our goal is to complete this challenge in just 10 days, raising a minimum of £4000 to divide equally between our 4 chosen local charities; Headley Court (with Help the Hero's), Count the Kicks, The Royal Marsden and Kings College Charity.
It is an 0-6-0 saddletank built in 1934 and worked until 1969 at Stewart and Lloyds steelworks in Corby. It stayed at three preservation sites prior to being donated by Bywaters of Dorking to Mole Valley District Council in 1985 for display at the Leatherhead Leisure Centre in the now defunct water park where it still resides.
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.