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Notice of SSE works in Bunch Lane

SURREY COUNTY COUNCIL
BUNCH LANE (D5514), HASLEMERE
TEMPORARY PROHIBITION OF TRAFFIC ORDER 2015

ON 20TH MAY 2015 SURREY COUNTY COUNCIL MADE the above mentioned Temporary Order under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (“The Act”), the effect of which will be to prohibit vehicles from entering or proceeding in that length of Bunch Lane (D5514), Haslemere that extends from the northern highway boundary of the property known as “Enderby” to the southern highway boundary of the property known as “Cedar House”.
The Order is required to enable Scottish and Southern Energy to carry out excavations and lay cables. These works are anticipated to be carried out between the hours of 07.00 and 17.00 within two weeks of the three month period of operation of the Temporary Order, which commences on 26th May 2015. Advanced warning signs will be displayed and the temporary closure will only operate when the relevant traffic signs are displayed.

Access will be maintained for pedestrians at all times. Access will be maintained for residents, businesses and emergency vehicles via the signed diversion route however in the event that it is necessary to restrict any access at any time under Section 3 of the Act, the road can only be closed for a maximum of 8 hours in any 24-hour period. Vehicular traffic will be diverted via Bunch Lane, St Christopher’s Green, Wey Hill, Inval Hill and Bunch Lane.

R Bolton, Local Highway Services Group Manager
Any Enquiries relating to this notice should be directed to:
Traffic Regulation Orders Team
Surrey County Council – Highways
Hazel House
Merrow Lane
Guildford
Surrey GU4 7BQ
Tel: 0300 200 1003

Haslemere County Councillor Update, March to May 2015

Here is an update of some of my activities and Surrey County Council officers’ work for Haslemere over the past two months.

LOCAL HIGHWAYS ISSUES

College Hill, safe pedestrian passageway behind Lloyds Bank, has been blocked by a local businessman who owns a ‘ransom strip’ between the highway and the Lloyds Bank car park.

Liaised with SCC Highways legal team and Haslemere Society members to prepare the required evidence for the passageway to be recognised as a definitive right of way. Many affidavits have been collected from Haslemere residents testifying a constant use of the path for 20 years. SCC Highways have recognised the health and safety issues of pedestrians walking up and down the hill. The case will be brought to the September Local Area Committee meeting for decision by Committee to proceed.

Damaged Railings outside Clayton Fine Jewellery – SCC Highways confirmed this delayed scheme of wall reconstruction and new railing replacement, week commencing June 29^th. The temporary railings are being checked daily. Several site visits have taken place.

Additional anti-skid surface Grayswood agreed with SCC Highways, to be installed this month.

Woolmer Hill tree trunks on roadside, concerns have been raised over safety. Our Local Highways Officer is following up with contractor.

Potholes repairs include Lower Street, Polecat, Fir Tree Ave, Liphook Road traffic lights, Border Road, Critchmere Lane, Lion Mead, Farnham lane, Beech road, Three Gates Lane, High Pitfold – to name but a few roads!

A parking sign in West street that was hit by a lorry has been repaired.

Items left by a resident around verge in Timbermill Court to deter parking have been removed at the request of the Community Highways Officer.

Officers advised a resident of a cost effective way of giving her wheelchair bound father better access to property on a private road (Chilcroft Road).

Japanese Knotweed in Scotland lane – this has been passed to Waverley Borough Council to deal with.

Several vegetation jobs around Haslemere will begin 1 June 2015.

Several residential roads were visited by a gully cleaning gang in early May.

A Surrey County Council drainage investigation team visited a property in Weysprings.

A number of highways projects (which are all aiming to improve pedestrian safety) have been delayed until the summer, due to resource constraints within the County Highways Design Team.

OTHER LOCAL ISSUES/EVENTS

Visited Stepping Stones with Cllr Linda Kemeny, Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Educational Achievement. Received a warm welcome from the students. Also, had a tour of Undershaw to see how work is progressing on site. You can read about our visit here on the Stepping Stones’ website.

Undershaw Building Works

South West Trains Student Fare Card scheme in response to requests from residents, successfully lobbied to extend the Student Fare Card for 16-18 year old students travelling by train from Haslemere to Liss, Liphook and Petersfield. This new concession will start in Sept 2015. Here is a letter from a resident regarding the concession: SFC resident letter to press.

Herons Skate Park, March 11, 2015 – attended the opening of the newly refurbished skate park, now a fantastic facility for young people in Haslemere and the surrounding community. Supported the successful bid for SCC Community Improvement funding for the project. Also, funding was provided by Waverley Borough Council.

Opening of Haslemere Skate Park

Woolmer Hill Orchestra Day and Young Musician of the Year, March 19 2015 – funded event with Member’s Allocation. Woolmer Hill pupils and staff played host to over 50 local primary school children to work on 2 pieces of music before giving a mass concert, followed by the finals of the Young Musician of the Year contest – highly talented local musicians.

Woolmer Hill Orchestra Day

Haslemere Library Kids Book Group, March 7 2015, (haslemerekidsbookclub@hotmail.com), met local children’s author Kelly McKain, children fascinated understanding how Kelly writes and illustrates her books. The event was supported by the library Art and Craft Fund to which I have awarded two grants from my Member’s Allocation.

Attended Haslemere Town Council’s Annual Awards Ceremony. It was gratifying that a few Award Winners had been recipients of my Surrey County Council member allowance.

Public meeting to discuss proposed housing development at the top of Lion Lane, Haslewey, 11 May 2015.

Cheered cyclists over the finishing line at Little Lumpy, 17 May 2015.

Cllr Nikki Barton with Ken Griffiths, Organiser of Little Lumpy

Local bus services review. I am pleased to report the good news that, following a full bus service review by Surrey County Council, bus services aren’t going to be cut locally.

SCC MEETINGS ATTENDED

Waverley Local Area Committee pre-meeting, March 2 2015

Waverley Local Area Committee Cycle Strategy meeting, March 9 2015

Environment and Transport Select Committee, March and April meetings – minutes of the March meeting and draft minutes of the April meeting are online here. (Next meeting is 11 June 2015 – Agenda here.)

Full Council, March 17 2015 – agenda and minutes here.

Waverley Local Area Committee March 20 2015 – draft minutes are now online here. (Next Waverley LAC meeting is 26th June, 1.30pm. Agenda here.)

Full Council May 19, 2015 – agenda here.

ADDITIONAL MEETINGS ATTENDED

South West Trains Stakeholder Conference, Woking, March 19, 2015.

SCC Place and Sustainability Team and Sustrans (www.sustrans.org) March 11, 2015 to discuss commissioning a travel plan for Haslemere train station. SWT will be providing a new bike hub for 100 bikes, the forecourt is to be reconfigured and additional station parking may be provided. In the light of these changes I believe an integrated travel plan is needed, to improve linkages for all transport modes between the station and the surrounding town.

ROADWORKS INFORMATION

Utility works on Tilford Road, Hindhead, (near junction Portsmouth Rd/London Rd) from Tues 26th May 2015 for 4 working days. 2 way temp signals.

Haste Hill resurfacing delayed until 9th June as Thames Water need to carry out work on a pressure valve. This work is part of the Project Horizon scheme.

Proposed changes to local bus services

The second consultation on Surrey County Council’s local transport review was launched this morning, giving residents and stakeholders until 8 June to have their say on proposed changes to local bus services.

Proposed changes to local bus services in Surrey East and Surrey West

Surrey County Council has worked with bus operators to negotiate better contracts that will give the council better value for money. However, to make the required savings needed from the review, the council is now proposing some changes to local bus services, and wants to hear residents’ and stakeholders’ views in a second consultation.

How to have your say

By completing the online survey at surreycc.gov.uk/transportreview

By completing the paper questionnaire, available in libraries, local

council offices and on buses in all areas of Surrey and neighbouring

counties where there are proposed changes to bus services.

By phoning 0300 200 1003 (SMS: 07527 182 861) to request a copy of

the questionnaire sent straight to your door.

In person at a public event – find out more at

surreycc.gov.uk/transportreview.

By emailing localtransportreview@surreycc.gov.uk

Or by writing to: Local Transport Review, Room 365, County Hall,

Kingston Upon Thames KT1 2DN

Please note: In the first consultation we undertook a review of the two extra concessions that the council funds for some concessionary pass holders (free travel for disabled pass holders before 9.30am or after 11.00pm and free companion passes). The feedback was that these extra benefits are greatly valued, and as a result we are now not proposing to change these concessions.

Proposed Changes To Local Bus Services

Mid-Term Update

I was honoured to be elected as Haslemere’s first Independent Surrey County Councillor in May 2013. I am now half way through my 4 year term. My commitment to the people of Haslemere was to serve in a spirit of openness, transparency and community engagement. I believe I have stood by these principles, taking input from across the town and providing regular updates on my Haslemerefirst website, on social media and in person at Haslemere Town Council meetings. Free from the constraints of party politics, I have been able to scrutinise and challenge decisions at both the town and county level (in full council and as member of the Waverley Local Area Committee, the Waverley Youth Task Group and the Environment and Transport Select Committee).

As an Independent councillor inclusive community engagement has been my priority. I have held public surgeries, stood alongside residents in their dealings with Surrey’s education and health services, attended many local events and have used every penny of my annual Members’ Allocation to support a wide range of community groups – ranging from Haslemere Scouts to Crossways Counselling and from Haslemere library to Haslemere Vision.

The results of listening to the community come in so many ways – to give just a few examples, concerns expressed about safety enabled me to win funding and acceleration for various highway schemes; understanding the higher costs for students travelling from Haslemere to colleges outside Surrey helped me successfully lobby for cheaper student train tickets to go across the border to Liss, Liphook and Petersfield; listening to parents of children at Stepping Stones gave me the passion to obtain SCC’s support for the school’s planning application in Hindhead.

Being an Independent councillor puts me in a very positive position, in that I can truly serve the community of Haslemere without any political constraints. To serve the residents of Haslemere most effectively, we need teamwork between County, Borough and Town councils; as well as those councillors who join with me in passionately serving the community from the various political parties, it will be extremely positive to have more Independents across the three tiers with new energy, ideas and commitment to shared values of openness, transparency and listening to the town.

I fully support the 12 independent town councillors and one borough councillor that are standing on May 7th and, if elected, I look forward to working with them as part of the team.

Nikki Barton

A refreshing breeze of independence

The Haslemere Town Council and Waverley Borough Council independent candidates wrote a letter to The Haslemere Herald this week but the letter was not published. Here it is:

A refreshing breeze of independence

Dear Sir

In an e-mail to members of the Local Government Association (Independent Group) this month, the Vice Chair, Marianne Overton MBE, opens by saying:

“It is clear that there is a refreshing breeze of Independence now flowing in and rooting in our Councils. Our Independent group members of all shades are strong local representatives, well connected with their communities and determined to concentrate on putting residents first.”

The Vice Chair signs off with the words:

“Our members bring a more listening and more inclusive government that looks at the facts, focuses on residents and leads to far better decisions. That I hope is what is on the way!”

Up and down the land there are more than 1,700 independent councillors representing 7.5m people in 39 councils.

On 7^th May there is a unique opportunity to elect twelve independent councillors to represent you on Haslemere Town Council and Waverley Borough Council.

If elected, we will be answerable not to a political party but to our constituents and our consciences. We commit to core principles of openness, transparency and accountability.

Please feel free to get in touch with us if you would like more information about our campaign. We are on independents@haslemerefirst.com

Signed by: http://www.haslemerefirst.com/election-imprint/

Haslemere Herald: Lead letter this week

This is the main letter in the Haslemere Herald today, written by Jeremy Barton, standing inHaslemere South ward in the town council election:

Jeremy Barton

Dear Sir,

Should there be an SNP candidate for Haslemere’s Town Council?

Of course not! There is no logic for a candidate to bring national politics to our parish council, HTC. From recent correspondence in your paper, it seems everyone agrees on this. So what possible reason is there for any prospective town councillor to be affiliated to any political party in the context of this parish council election?

Perhaps the logic is to align with a party’s policy or with a controlling party’s decisions at Waverley or Surrey cabinet levels. If so, why bother with a town council at all? Why not simply manage all town matters from the County or Borough executive offices?

Perhaps the thinking is to appeal to “people like us”. As a Haslemere resident, I shall be voting for a candidate in the General Election who is affiliated to a national party, but I definitely wouldn’t dare to presume that fellow residents of Haslemere who vote differently from me in that election are not just as committed to Halsemere and its best interests as I am. It is a nonsense to equate fervour for a particular party with fervour for Haslemere, or to claim party allegiance alongside free representation on Haslemere’s parish/town council.

To argue otherwise is simply… well, it’s simply perpetuating party politics in our parish and town!

I am affiliated to Haslemere. That is the only affiliation or allegiance I believe is right, on Haslemere Town Council. Being independent, in this context, means freedom from any manifesto, dictat or “messaging” from party office – or from whichever majority party prevails at either County Hall or Borough Offices; it means not feeling obliged to be consistent with policy announced by my local Member of Parliament or the Leader of County Council; and it means deciding relevant town matters in Town Council meetings and committees, and nowhere else. I commit, if elected, to listen to, and represent, the people of Haslemere in an open, transparent and independent-minded way, serving the furtherance of our precious town’s best interests.

Yours faithfully,

Jeremy Barton

Independent Candidate for Haslemere Town Council, Oversted, Scotland Lane, Haslemere Surrey GU27 3AW

Agenda: Next Environment & Transport Select Committee

The agenda for Environment & Transport Select Committee, Thursday, 23 April 2015, 10.30 am has been published.

To see the publicly available information, follow the link: Agenda details on public web site

The following items are included in the agenda:

No.	Item
1	APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS
2	MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING: 12 March 2015
3	DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
4	QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
5	RESPONSES FROM THE CABINET TO ISSUES REFERRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE
6	RECOMMENDATION TRACKER AND FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME
7	COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE LEVY & S106 UPDATE
8	THE AGREEMENT WITH SURREY WILDLIFE TRUST FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL’S COUNTRYSIDE ESTATE
9	SELECT COMMITTEE TASK AND FINISH GROUP SCOPING DOCUMENT: FUTURE GOVERNANCE OF THE BASINGSTOKE CANAL
10	DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Letter in the Haslemere Herald from Mark Jasper as independent candidate in Haslemere town council election

Mark Jasper is standing as an independent candidate in the Critchmere ward in the Haslemere town council election on 7th May 2015.

Here is the text of his letter that appeared in the Haslemere Herald this week.

Mark Jasper

I have grown increasingly frustrated at the way the views of Haslemere residents have become muffled by the presence of party politics on Haslemere Town Council.

This reality was perfectly demonstrated at a public meeting regarding the proposed Sturt Farm development. A large number of residents attended the meeting at Haslemere Hall, many spoke passionately, to raise legitimate concerns about the scale of the development, the impact such a development would have on local infrastructure and the environment. It was also an opportunity to hear the views of our town councillors, a number of whom ‘wear two hats’ as elected representatives of Waverley Borough council, the planning authority.

What residents witnessed was a heavily choreographed performance befitting the surroundings. The meeting concluded with a series of pre-prepared statements, which amounted to silence from the town council on the biggest single development proposed in Haslemere for a generation.

Haslemere deserves a voice, the voice of its residents. The town council must listen, genuinely and openly engage with residents and respond to their concerns, free of wider political influences.

The town council is not a place for party politics. It must support residents, business, community groups and be a strong vocal champion of its health and transport infrastructure.

I intend to stand as an independent candidate for the Critchmere ward at the forthcoming town council election. I will be joining other independent candidates in a loose alliance of similarly minded individuals, focussed on removing the politics and openly, transparently and firmly putting Haslemere first. I urge readers to cast aside national voting intentions, and at this very local level vote for your independent candidate.

Follow Mark on twitter, @VoteMarkJasper

Campaign Gets Off To A Good Start

A letter in today’s edition of the Haslemere Herald from the nine independent candidates for Haslemere town council election on 7th May 2015.

Dear Sir

Campaign Gets Off To A Good Start

Since our last letter (27th March, More choice in town council elections) to your newspaper where 9 residents wrote to announce their intention to stand as independent candidates in the Haslemere town council election on 7th May, there is news about our campaigning that we would like to share with your readers.

Two more residents have confirmed they will also stand as independents after reading our appeal for more candidates through the local press. We have started to post individual biographies on the www.haslemerefirst.com website to give voters some more information about all the candidates. These include the 2 new independent candidates: John Gibbons (Grayswood ward) and Mark Jasper (Critchmere ward).

We have a plan. We are not a political party so we will be campaigning as individuals but we will also be doing plenty of things together. This involves a public meeting, leaflet deliveries and street events. The dates will be publicly available via the website. We will be sending campaign e-mails to supporters; you can receive these regular updates by signing up and opting-in via our website or email us, please, on independents@haslemerefirst.com. You will be able to download a poster to print and put in your window to show support for our independent values and you may also like to take part in the fun poll on our website.

We are humbled by the offers of support from local residents and independent businesses following our Herald announcement. For those who may not have read our letter on 27^th March, we repeat our priorities for Haslemere. If elected, we will serve community interests by:

(a) listening to the concerns and needs of the community

(b) giving the Haslemere area the voice it deserves in statutory consultations

(c) standing up for the principle of open and robust engagement between the people of Haslemere and local government at all levels

Our campaigns have started well and we wish each candidate standing in the town council election a good and enjoyable campaign.

Lesley Banfield, 16 Weysprings, Haslemere GU27 1DE

Paul Buckler, Treetops, Hill Road, Haslemere GU27 2JP

David O’Brien, 16 Weysprings, Haslemere GU27 1DE

Áine Hall, 11 Hill Road, Haslemere GU27 2JP

Maria Iriarte Mateo, 4 Hollyridge, Haslemere GU27 2NP

Nigel Pyke, 37 Courts Hill Road, Haslemere GU27 2PN

Vivien Shorleson, 14 Courts Hill Road, Haslemere GU27 2NG

David Simmons, 47 Lower Street, Haslemere GU27 2NY

Miles Weston, Ridge Hill, Hill Road, Haslemere GU27 2JP

www.haslemerefirst.com
independents@haslemerefirst.com

Independent Candidates standing in town council election on May 7th