Chessington & District Residents Association

 

AGENDA

 

For the meeting to be held on Thursday 1st March 2007

 

at St Paul’s Church Rooms at 8pm

 

1.     MINUTES OF LAST MEETING

2.     VISTING MEMBERS QUESTIONS

3.     MATTERS ARISING

4.     NEW ISSUES

5.     PLANNING APPLICATIONS

6.     ANY OTHER BUSINESS

7.     DATE OF NEXT MEETING

 

 

MINUTES

 

Of the meeting held on the  1st February 2007

 

PRESENT

 

Jim Taylor, Chairman

Francis Brannan,  Ray Kelsey, June Kitchener

   Colin Suckling, Brian Gay, Richard Heath, Amanda Birch

 Peter Alexander, Sue Torrero, Ted Farmer, ,Jeremy Naylor

 

APOLOGIES

 

 Alex Martin, Les Davis

 

VISITORS

 

Cllr Patricia Bamford, Kathy Milton, John Hayball,  

David Tippett-Wilson, Jolyon Martin

 

 

1. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING

 

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. VISITING MEMBERS QUESTIONS

 

(a) Kathy Milton spoke about the traffic order for road works on the A243 at the CWA entrance which are due to commence in March for three months duration. 

Concern was expressed about the severe traffic problems which can be expected during CWA’s peak times, for example during the Easter school holidays.  The meeting decided to write to TfL, with a copy for RBK Traffic Engineer Paul Dearman asking if this was an appropriate time for the road works.

 

 

3. MATTERS ARISING

 

(b) Further to last months report on the issue of the possible closure of either Moor Lane or Buckland School we asked if the schools feasibility study had been completed.  Councillor Bamford said that it was still in progress.  The meeting decided to ask, at the next Neighbourhood Committee, what progress had so far been made, if there were any significant findings, and the expected completion date of the study.

 

( c )  TfL’s Oyster Card Business Manager has visited Mr Patel and had a positive conversation regarding his request for an Oyster Card outlet.  Mr Patel has been invited to write to TfL confirming his request.

 

( d ) Further to the report from Malden Rushett on spoil dumping at the top of CWA’s South car park it was  reported that there have been no circumstantial changes. Councillor Bamford has emailed CWA regarding the issue.  The signage is still inadequate.

 

( e )  Further to the report that residents at 76 Leatherhead Road are driving across the footpath to access the property and leaving mud on the footpath Councillor Bamford has now examined the site and reported the problem to the Neighbourhood Services Manager.

 

 

 

4. NEW ISSUES      

 

( f ) The Old Wimbledonian sports field, off Clayton Road, is again rumoured to have been sold to an organisation intending to construct a building for religious use on the site.

 

( g ) An advertisement appeared in the press from MPG Impressions Ltd. Of Units E1 – E4, Barwell Business Park asking for authorisation to use organic solvents in the printing and finishing process of their offset lithographyprinting business.  The Residents Association will inspect the application at the Guildhall, access any relevant community concern and if necessary take further action.

 

( h )  The condition of the Leatherhead Road, above the Star Public House at  Malden Rushett is still subject to flooding.  Colin Suckling has been in contact with Thames Waters engineers who say a pipe line has collapsed.  A decision to put in a new pipe or redesign the ditch is expected within 7 days. 

 

( i )  In June the law banning smoking in confined public spaces will come into effect.  The meeting speculated that drinkers wishing to smoke might well stand outside pubs and could possibly cause a nuisance in pubs adjacent to  public footpaths.  The meeting decided to seek the advice of Police Sergeants Ellis and Cooke.

 

( j )  The Hook Community Centre.  A notice board is to be made available for public notices which will include our Residents Association information.  We will pursue this opportunity to include  information from other Residents Associations as well as the Safer Neighbourhood Police team. 

 

RBK Director of Life Long Learning Mr Scott Herbertson has arranged to give our Chairman and Members of the Executive a guided tour of the Community Centre. 

 

( k ) The Chessington Youth Community Centre in Church Lane is to be closed.  The building is old, in poor condition and is not economic to repair.  New youth facilities have already been opened at the Devon Way centre and enhanced and enlarged youth facilities will open at the Chessington Community College next year.

 

( l)  Regular afternoon traffic jams on the Chessington Road and Bridge Road were discussed.  These have become more serious and now stretch back to the Bridge Road roundabout before 5pm each afternoon.  Amanda Birch reported that they are caused by the traffic lights at the junction with Ruxley Lane not operating in a coordinated manner.  The meeting decided to write to RBK’s  Head of Highways and Transport on the matter, and to copy in the Borough Road Engineer Mr Paul Dearman.

 

 

 

5.  PLANNING APPLICATIONS

 

Planning Applications Decided in January.

 

( a )  The Clayton Road Nursery application to develop an equestrian centre was permitted.  The application to enlarge the bungalow on the site was denied.

 

 

 

 

 

New Planning Applications in  January.

 

( a )  (10353) Chessington World of Adventures – An application has been made to use the access on Fairoaks Lane during their busy periods. 

We will respond by drawing attention to the road traffic dangers associated with this exit.

( b )  (10341)  Peartree Close, undeveloped land –Erection of 8-two storey, 3-bedroom detached houses with associated parking accessed from Pear Tree Close and service road to the rear of Chantry Road. 

We will object on the grounds of loss of trees which have a tree preservation order, over development, the use of a service road to access a number of the properties, the pressure on parking in Peartree Close and the overlooking of existing properties.

 

 

PLANNING NEWS

 

·        No decision has been made regarding the appeal against the order to close  the Kebab Shop, next door to the Barwell Cafe on the Leatherhead Road.

·        The rejected application to build new houses on back land at 44/60, Leatherhead Road has gone to appeal.

·        The planning application to build new houses at 71/73, Leatherhead Road has not yet been decided.

·        Unloading lorries at the rear of Sainsbury’s store in North Parade have caused congestion and noise pollution for the residents of Osborne Way.  Revised unloading regulations and associated road markings have been proposed by the Borough Road Engineer and will be discussed at the next Neighbourhood Committee meeting.

·        The Chessington Community College wind turbines. There has been continuing concern about the amount of noise they may possibly generate.  Studies have also indicated that they will not be efficient in this location as they will be sheltered from the wind.  The proposal to install wind turbines has therefore been abandoned.

·        The meeting decided to write a letter protesting against the proposed development of a superstore and over 600 flats by Tesco at the Tolworth roundabout

·        Chessington Garden Centre – Jolyon Martin gave a presentation describing the new development. He drew attention to the main changes to the previous application.

TfL have suggested the following road arrangements.The A243 will be widened, at the expense of the garden centre, so that south bound traffic flows freely and a slip road will be constructed to take north bound traffic to the garden centre entrance. There will be one entrance for both entering and exiting traffic. 

The Environmental  Agency want the buffer strip around the complete site to be widened to 5 metres and alterations to some ditches to benefit wildlife. A wildlife survey has been undertaken by the Garden Centre.

RBK Planners want the education centre to be named the Education Community Centre.

RBK Planners have now accepted the Chessington District Residents Associations suggestion that a bus stop is built outside the Garden Centre.

 

Other Business

 

The date of the April meeting, the 5th of April, which is Maunday Thursday, may have to be changed as the Church may need the use of the hall. 

 

The date of the next meeting will be held on Thursday 1st March 2007.