Tandridge Buzz

Residents planning a street party for the Diamond Jubilee in June must apply for a Road Closure Order by Thursday 10 May, Tandridge District Council has warned.

The Council will liaise with police and the Surrey Highways Authority on behalf of residents. There is no charge but residents will need to provide their own road closure and diversion signs.

The Council also advised organisers to consider the risks posed by staging an event and take out any necessary Public Liability Insurance.

Residents may also need a Temporary Event Notice if the party involves the sale of alcohol or regulated entertainment.

• For more information and an application form please visit www.tandridge.gov.uk/streetparty, call Customer Services on 01883 722000, or e-mail customerservices@tandridge.gov.uk.
• Please visit www.streetparty.org.uk/road-closures.aspx for information on road closure signs.

There was no change in control after the Tandridge District Council elections on Thursday 3 May after a “relatively low” turnout.

Of the 42 seats, Conservatives hold 34, Liberal Democrats 6 and there are two 2 Independents. The turnout of voters was 34.53%.

The count was held on Thursday 3 May and Returning Officer and Chief Executive, Stephen Weigel, declared all the results by 1.06am on Friday 4 May.

The Conservatives held the following seats:

• Bletchingley & Nutfield – Debbie Vickers (Con)
• Burstow, Horne & Outwood – Robert Alan Jones (Con)
• Godstone – Jules Gascoigne (Con)
• Harestone – Michael Cooper (Con)
• Oxted North & Tandridge – Gordon Keymer (Con)
• Oxted South – Elizabeth Parker (Con)
• Queens Park – Geoffrey Duck (Con)
• Valley – Jane Ingham (Con)
• Warlingham West – David Cooley (Con)
• Woldingham – Sally Marks (Con)

Gained:

• Whyteleafe – Tom Dempsey (Con)

And lost:

• Warlingham East, Chelsham & Farleigh

The Liberal Democrats held the following seats:

• Portley – Hilary Turner (Lib Dem)
• Westway – David Gosling (Lib Dem)

Gained

• Warlingham East, Chelsham & Farleigh – Jeremy Pursehouse (Lib Dem)

And lost:

• Whyteleafe

“The relatively low turnout was repeated across the country,” said Leader of the Council, Councillor Gordon Keymer CBE.

“However I was pleased by the welcome I received on the doorsteps during the campaign and the many positive words about the council’s services.”

Tandridge district residents have been urged to ensure they are registered to vote in district and parish elections on 3 May.

To vote, residents must be on the electoral register – those who are not must sign and return a voter registration form by 5pm on 18 April.

“I would urge anyone who has not yet registered to vote to do it now,” said chief executive and returning officer, Stephen Weigel.

“In addition, anyone who has moved house in the past few months needs to register at their new address. Voting is your chance to elect the person you believe will best represent your interests.”

• Voter registration, postal, proxy and postal proxy applications can be downloaded from www.tandridge.gov.uk/elections, e-mail elections@tandridge.gov.uk, or call Electoral Services on 01883 732716.  All forms must be printed off, signed and returned by the above dates.
• You can also print off the forms from www.aboutmyvote.co.uk.
•  Polling station details are available on www.tandridge.gov.uk/localview.asp.

Tandridge District Council has frozen its Council Tax for the second consecutive year – despite a 29% cut in Government funding.

Band D council tax will remain the same as last year at £193.62 – £3.72 a week – for services including refuse collection, recycling, planning, street sweeping, housing, housing benefits and children’s play areas.

However, Surrey County Council, which provides services including education, adult social care, children services and highways, has pushed through a 2.99% council tax increase.

Surrey Police Authority has also implemented a 2.5% hike – meaning a Band D property will see an overall increase of 2.54% to £1,546.77

People on income support or guaranteed pension credit who have no non-dependants will continue to have the cost of council tax fully met by council tax benefit.

Other people on council tax benefit will automatically have their benefit recalculated to reflect their revised council tax bills.

“For a second year running there is no increase in council tax and services have been protected,” said chairman of Resources Committee, Councillor Martin Fisher.

“Through careful financial management we are one of the few councils to have maintained a high level of services for the benefit of our residents, with no increase.

“We have absorbed a 29% cut in Government Grant support in the last two years and lower interest income by continuing to make substantial reductions to our support services, including staffing.

“Our staff have also demonstrated their commitment, by coping with a recruitment freeze which has been in place since 2008 and adopting flexible working practices.”

Value for money

He added: “We continue to offer value for money by concentrating expenditure on providing and supporting front line services.

“We are particularly pleased to keep free shoppers parking to support local businesses. Our garden waste collection service continues to grow, with over 5,400 households subscribing to it.

“We plan major changes to our recycling and waste contract for the benefit of the environment through reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill, while maintaining weekly collections and a back door waste collection service.

“There is no doubt the next few years will continue to be difficult, but we are confident we can maintain the services our residents’ value.”

Tandridge residents will be able to recycle more waste with greater ease from 1 October in a move that could almost double recycling rates and save around £1m a year.

Tandridge is to introduce a new scheme which could see recycling rates rise from 33% to 60% based on evidence from other councils running similar schemes.

Under the new initiative there would be:

• A weekly collection of food waste from an animal proof container
• Alternate week collections of mixed recycling from a wheeled bin
• Alternate week collection of rubbish

The Council believes the new scheme will benefit residents as they will not have to sort recycling – it all goes in the same bin – and they will be able to recycle a greater range of products such as paper, cans, aerosols, foil, glass and most plastics.

It will also reduce the amount of landfill and reduce the mileage of collection trucks. Tandridge estimates it could make a saving of around £1m a year.

“This is great news for residents and the Council,” said Councillor Tony Elias, chairman of the community services committee.

“We will be sending out more details in the coming months and hope residents will welcome the new service and the benefits it will bring.

“The new service will meet residents’ demand for more recycling opportunities, in a way which makes it as convenient as possible for them.”

Caterham’s Queens Park toddler playground is set for a £60,000 revamp to enable children with disabilities to better enjoy the facilities.

Tandridge District Council secured a grant worth £59,300 from Surrey County Council.

The new inclusive toddler area will consist of a kinderland play point, dish roundabout, sensory orbs, curved mirrors, seesaw, musical play items and a new sand play area.

The new play area will also benefit from a colourful carpet of safety surfacing allowing greater access for everyone.

SutcliffePlay has won the tender to install the new play area, which is likely to open by April.

“I am delighted we have managed to secure another grant, as this allows us to continue to improve and maintain children’s play areas for everyone to enjoy,” said Councillor Tony Elias, Chairman of the Community Services Committee.

Tandridge District Council raised almost £900 for Macmillan Cancer Relief at the World’s Biggest Coffee morning on Friday 30 September.

Residents were invited to come and join council chairman Brian Perkins for a coffee and a cake at the council offices as part of the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning.

Macmillan Cancer Support helps improve the lives of people affected by cancer, both those living with cancer and their families and carers. Two million people in the UK are living with cancer and one in three will be diagnosed during their lifetime.

Last year over £8m was raised at coffee mornings around the country.

“I am delighted we managed to raise this much for Macmillan Cancer Relief through the coffee morning,” said Councillor Brian Perkins.

“Thank you to everyone who came along, bought raffle tickets and made donations. I would also like to thank the local businesses which donated prizes for the raffle.”

Tandridge District Council chairman Brian Perkins said he is “very proud” that the council is continuing to invest in schemes, such as the new £100,000 playground at Whyteleafe Recreation Ground, despite budget cuts.

The new play area was officially opened on Saturday 24 September, following a soft launch a few weeks earlier. The design, undertaken by SMP Playgrounds, was voted on by members of the public last year and incorporates a wider range of equipment for children of all ages.

The old playground was installed in 1984 and was in urgent need of refurbishment.

Council leader Perkins cut the tape along with Whyteleafe councillors Sakina Bradbury and David Lee.

“It gives a wider range of modern equipment for a wider range of children to enjoy and it is in such a lovely setting,” said Perkins.

He paid tribute to the Open Playgrounds team behind the project as Tandridge faces up to a 8% budget cut this year.

“They have won (financial) awards which have allowed many of the things going on to happen — and this is not the only one but is the most expensive one — but it has allowed Tandridge to spend a lot of money on these necessary schemes and we are very proud of it.”

There must be a better way to drive economic growth without putting the greenbelt at risk — that will be the message from East Surrey MP Sam Gyimah to Planning Minister Greg Clark.

Gyimah has persuaded Planning Minister Greg Clark to meet with residents groups and Tandridge District Council representatives to discuss the Government’s Planning Policy Framework.

The new planning proposals have sparked controversy over fears that it may bring about a planning free-for-all in green belt areas.

The proposals will introduce a “presumption in favour of sustainable development” but opponents believe the definition is so poorly defined, most developments would pass the test.

The Daily Telegraph recently launched its own Hands off Our Land campaign, urging a rethink on the proposals, which are at a consultation stage.

There has also been speculation that the new rules could lead to around 300,000 new homes being built on the green fields.

Gyimah said that while he welcomed the Government’s intention to simplify planning laws, he is committed about safeguarding the environment and described the issue as “extremely important” for East Surrey.

“Many constituents have contacted me concerned about the preservation of the green belt and green fields,” he said.

“They believe, as I do, that there must be a better way of achieving economic growth without putting the green belt at risk.

“I especially understand this concern as East Surrey is 94% green belt and has extensive Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty such as the wonderful North Down Hills which look across Titsey, striking at the heart of the meridian and areas such as the extensive woodland that runs throughout Tandridge.

“This is why I have contacted the Planning Minister and persuaded him to meet with residents’ groups and representatives from Tandridge District Council, to put forward our case.”

The Prime Minister recently reassured the National Trust that he was committed to preserving the countryside.

• The deadline for written submissions to the consultation ends Monday 17 October. You can find it here.

Tandridge residents are invited to join Tandridge District Council chairman, Councillor Brian Perkins, for a coffee to help raise money for Macmillan Cancer Relief on 30 September.

Tandridge District Council is taking part in Macmillan’s annual fundraising event — the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning. Macmillan Cancer Support helps improve the lives of people affected by cancer, both those living with cancer and their families and carers.

Two million people in the UK are living with cancer and one in three will be diagnosed during their lifetime.

Last year over £8 million was raised at coffee mornings around the country. Every donation, whether 50p or £50, will help Macmillan continue providing much needed support.

“With so many people suffering the effects of cancer, even if we don’t suffer personally we will all know people that are,” said Councillor Perkins.

“Macmillan Nurses give much needed relief and help to sufferers and their families. I hope many of you will join me to raise much needed funds.”

The event will take place at the Council Offices, Oxted, from 10am to 12 noon on Friday 30 September.

• For further information about Tandridge District Council’s coffee morning, please call Lesley Ayers on 01883 732701, e-mail chiefexecutivesoffice@tandridge.gov.uk.

The new £100,000 children’s play area in  Whyteleafe Recreation Ground, Hillbury Road, Whyteleafe will be officially opened on 24 September.

Work started on the playground in June after SMP Playgrounds won a public vote on its design. The existing site was installed in 1984 and was in urgent need of refurbishment.

The design merges the current separated toddler and junior play areas and will contain a variety of equipment for children aged between 2 and 16.

Equipment includes traditional playground equipment such as swings, slides and climbing frames, a basket swing and a central area with seating for parents. The wide range of equipment allows children of different ages to play together.

“We are delighted to have been able to fund the new play area — it will provide local children with an exciting place to play for many years,” said Councillor Tony Elias, chairman of the community services committee.

Almost seven out of ten council tenants (68%) rated the response from Tandridge District Council to enquiries as good or excellent.

The Council carried out the mystery shopping exercise to assess the quality of information given out by housing staff.

Volunteer tenants and leaseholders were asked to ring the housing department anonymously with an enquiry based on 10 different scenarios ranging from making a complaint, dealing with condensation, to how to pay rent and reporting domestic abuse and deal with rent arrears.

The volunteer assessed Council staff on a number of factors including how helpful they were and if the query was answered satisfactorily.

The results were:

• Excellent: 34%
• Good: 34%
• Acceptable: 23%
• Poor: 9%

“This was a very useful exercise and we are grateful to the tenants and leaseholders who took part. The results are very encouraging and we will be working to make them even better,” said Councillor Elizabeth Parker, chairman of the Housing Committee.

The chair of Tandridge Residents’ Forum, Harry Hill, said, “The Forum members and I have always believed the housing staff provide a great service to tenants and leaseholders.

“I am delighted the results of this mystery shopping exercise have proved this. Well done to all involved.”

A new scheme that allows cardboard and paper to be recycled together is expected to help boost recycling rates amongst Tandridge’s 35,000 residents.

Previously, cardboard and paper had to be separated but new recycling banks have now been installed after Palm Recycling signed a new four-year deal with Tandridge District Council.

It is hoped the scheme will increase the rate of recycling while also delivering a cost saving to the Council. New signage has been erected to make people aware of the changes.

The mixed paper and cardboard is sorted and separated into two material streams. The recycled cardboard becomes new cardboard packaging and the paper heads to Palm’s state-of-the-art mill in Kings Lynn to be reprocessed into fresh newsprint.

“The new service not only benefits residents by providing increased recycling opportunities, it also offers significant savings,” said Tandridge District Council’s chairman of Community Services, Councillor Tony Elias.

Jonathan Easthope, Palm Recycling’s business manager said he was “delighted” with the contract. “We have worked with Tandridge District Council to enable them to deliver savings whilst providing a high quality service and provision.”

• Locations of recycling banks in the area can be found here.

Police have arrested three people on suspicion of being illegal clothing collectors operating in Godstone.

The trio were claiming to work on behalf of  “Save Lives in Cambodia” and “Two Sisters”, an African charity, but did not have permits issued by the Council to carry out house to house collections but did not have permits from Tandridge District Council.

Residents had contacted the Council as they were concerned that the collectors were not listed on its website.  Charitable collectors must either have a permit authorising the collection or hold an exemption issued by the Home Office and have agreed the collection dates with the Council.

“Each year charities lose millions of pounds through people giving money or goods to organisations they think are charities, but which may be commercial companies collecting for profit,” said councillor Tony Elias, chairman of the Community Services committee.

“We have worked hard to raise awareness of the issue with illegal house to house clothing collections. We are pleased Surrey Police was able to act swiftly on the information we provided and arrest three suspects.”

Inspector Angie Austin added: “We received information from Tandridge District Council about rogue charity workers operating in the Godstone area.

“As a direct result of this, my officers were able to arrest three suspects on suspicion of fraud. Enquiries into this incident are ongoing and we remind the community to remain vigilant at all times.”

• Details of house-to-house permit holders and collection schedules can be found at www.tandridge.gov.uk/housetohouse and a list of all authorised charitable collectors at www.tandridge.gov.uk/charity.