Woldingham Parish Council Update – January 2019
Carols in The Crescent
The weather couldn’t have been kinder to us for the Carols in the Crescent event in December, mild and dry, and villagers, family and friends came in great numbers to enjoy a festive evening together. All children attending were invited to join the Woodlea choir in the marquee to sing, the Salvation Army blasted out the carols and everyone joined in singing heartily.
The mulled wine, hot chocolate and mince pies provided by the Parish Council were well received and warming. With a strong community spirit it was a lovely way to kick off the festive season!
Cllr Becky Rush and the Parish Council
Tree Planting Volunteers Needed!
We are working towards being in a position to start planting the ‘Garden behind the Crescent’ in February. Whilst some of it will be planted by the contractor we are looking for volunteers to join us to plant some trees, hedges, bulbs and wild flower beds.
The group will be led by Sally Jones, a village resident who has worked extensively with London Borough Councils to design and plant native gardens, so it will be a chance to plant a fabulous garden for the village and to learn about tree and hedge planting from Sally.
At the moment (when I write in January) we don’t have a definite date/dates; if you are interested in joining in please email me beckywoldinghampc@outlook.com and I’ll collate a list and be in touch nearer the time. Adults and families welcome.
Cllr Becky Rush – lead Councillor for The Crescent Regeneration
Warlingham CRC Proposed Closure
The Warlingham Community Recycling Centre is again at risk of closure. You may remember that reduced hours were proposed in 2017. At the time, your WPC opposed the closure or reduced hours given the capacity constraints and many safety issues at the Caterham CRC facility.
We acknowledged the access and safety issues with the Warlingham CRC. There is difficulty reaching it, unsafe queues form, and the site must be closed when emptying the receptacles as there is only one entrance to the site.
We noted that closure of the Warlingham CRC would lead to increased health and safety concerns at the Caterham CRC. The Caterham CRC already suffers even worse health and safety risks than the Warlingham CRC. It is sited by a school, a medical facility, double yellow lines and a major bus route. It similarly has one access entrance and must be closed when the receptacles are emptied. Huge queues form blocking traffic and the busses. There are safety risks to pedestrians, to those accessing the medical facility and especially to children and parents accessing the school. The limited capacity and the unsafe closures mean many people take large items from cars into the site (yielding vastly underrepresented usage numbers).
Closure of the Warlingham CRC would put additional capacity pressure on the Caterham CRC and threaten health and safety further. We strongly opposed reducing operating hours of the Warlingham CRC without a better solution already in place and we similarly oppose the closure of Warlingham CRC until a better solution is established.
Specifically, we suggested that the unsafe Caterham and Warlingham CRCs could both be closed in favour of a large, safe facility. We suggested that ideally this should be a site outside highly urbanised areas, that would enable multiple entrances and continuous use, and thus deliver more capacity and better safety to serve Woldingham, Warlingham and our neighbours. We mentioned that we are aware of numerous possibilities, including sites on the A22 near the M25, which could fulfil these criteria.
We have again presented our position to Surrey County Council and we continue to press for a better community facility that is safer and more accessible to all.
Cllr Deborah Sherry