Woldingham Parish Council – Update January 2021

Elections Finally on the Horizon

As you may be aware, local elections were due to be held in May 2020 but were postponed due to the pandemic, meaning your Parish Council’s 4-year term was extended to 5 years. The next local election is in May 2021. We have a number of Councillors stepping down and are in need of more support. There are 9 seats on the Parish Council. Candidates for the Woldingham Parish Council run and serve unaffiliated to any political party.

We are a very diverse Council in every sense of the word.  We have amongst the youngest average age in the country, so diverse are we.  Parish Councils across the countries are struggling to find volunteers. Woldingham, however, is a village of volunteers, and as the pandemic has proven, we help each other and our village when needed. As some Councillors retire or step back due to other responsibilities, we hope more of our community will step forward. In particular, we will need a head of planning, head of finance and head of communications. If you are interested in serving on the Parish Council, please contact parish.clerk@woldingham.com for more information on the Council and the election process.  We hope you will consider joining us!

 – Chairman Deborah Sherry

 

Snow Clearance and Salt Spreading

Winter is upon us, bringing the chance of snow and ice on our roads. Last year was very mild and there was no requirement for the Parish Council salt spreading contract to be used. This year may be different and if so we are ready with stocks of salt and a willing contractor in Church Farm Services. Publicly adopted roads are serviced by Surrey Highways, but your Parish Council contracts for all our private roads to be addressed.

Please remember that any request for salt spreading or snow clearance on our roads from Woldingham residents must first go through the Parish Council.  Please email marcwoldinghampc@outlook.com, in order that we can have a consistent approach and properly authorised expenditure. It is also important to remember that our roads are not very wide and if some cars are parked on the roadside rather than in your driveway the salt spreader which is quite wide may not be able to get through and the road may not be able to be cleared.  This has been a problem in the past, particularly on Butlers Dean Road. On particularly narrow roads, hedges and foliage should also be kept trimmed to the edge of the roadside to ensure access for the salt spreader.  It should be remembered that salt spreading is usually done very early in the morning before most of us are up and about.

On the 6th and 7th of January we agreed that our contractor should salt and grit the private roads of Woldingham. With the prospect of a return of the “Beast from the East” in February, we have enough salt and grit in our reserves to cover our roads.

– Cllr Marc Sculthorpe