Parish Council News, February 2016

Update on all Parish news for February 2016.

Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan

The Parish Council understands that Tandridge Council will soon release the final Plan and Examiner’s Report. At the time of writing we can’t comment further. Watch this space for updates.

Tandridge Local Plan

Tandridge has published its  consultation on the  Local Plan. The January edition of the Woldingham Magazine drew attention to proposals by Tandridge District Council for their new Local Plan.  They have now published  a consultation document called “Issues and Approaches” which sets out different strategies on how development to accommodate the anticipated increase in required housing can be delivered and includes broad locations where development could take place.  It invites views on which of these strategies, or others, should be adopted. The issue likely to be of most concern to Woldingham residents is clearly how any of the strategies may impact on the village or its surrounding Green Belt.  They include development within specified urban sites in the district (not including Woldingham), sites in the Green Belt around specified settlements (not including Woldingham) and the creation of a new urban settlement (location not specified).

Although none of the sites proposed specifically target Woldingham or its surrounding Green Belt, there must be a risk that other strategies emerging from the consultation will do so. And any further urbanisation of areas outside Woldingham will be of concern. Readers are therefore strongly recommended to respond to this document before the closing date, which is 26th February.  You can do so by:

• Online: accessing TDC’s consultation portal at http://consult.tandridge.gov.uk/portal
  and clicking on “Local Plan – Issues and Approaches”
• Email: comments to localplan@tandridge.gov.uk
• Post: sending a letter marked “Local Plan consultation” to: Planning Policy, Tandridge, District Council, 8 Station Road East, Oxted, Surrey, RH8 0BT.

Woldingham Website

Plans for the new Website are at an advanced stage and we expect to launch it in the near future. As with the current website, it will provide a common access point for Village organisations and events. The main differences are as follows. A versatile modern web platform will replace the current rapidly ageing one and the ownership, domain name and administration role will pass to the Parish Council. There will be a facility for local organisations with their own websites to link to the village website as before and for others to build up their presence on the site. More details will be released soon.

Chairmanship

As indicated in the Newsletter, Cllr Myers will stand down formally from the Chairmanship at the end of January and from the Council in May, having served two terms. This will allow a new Chairperson to lead the work of preparing for the transition to a new Council. Watch this space for updates.

Parish Council Elections

We hope you will decide to stand! In May, a new Council will be elected for a period of four years. We plan to run meetings for prospective candidates so that residents can learn at first hand what is involved in being a councillor. If you wish to have more information please contact the Parish Clerk, Karen Newman, or any councillor. Your approach will be treated in confidence. It goes without saying that the current Council has no role in deciding who shall be on the next Council!

Carols in the Crescent

We thank everyone who made this such a memorable event, but especially Revd Catherine from St Paul’s and St Agatha’s, the children’s choir from Woodlea School and the Croydon Citadel band of the Salvation Army. We had a bumper crowd and the weather was mild. Thanks to Jeff Jeffreys our Christmas lights were better than ever. All in all, The Village can be proud of this well established event.