Woldingham Parish Council – December Update

A Few Words from the Chairman

The last month has been a busy one for the Parish Council. We got excellent feedback from residents on how we go about projects in the village. We have realised articles such as these are great but often villagers with deeper interest in a particular project want more details and want to feedback their perspectives.

Having thought about this, the council is looking to modify the rules by which it is run. These will likely be formally adopted at the November meeting (subject to approval) but drafts were reviewed and broadly agreed at the October meeting. First, key stakeholders in significant projects should be identified and informed of a project. Second, when we write articles they should include ways to gain more details and the details should be made public in various forms. We think these changes are all very positive and will encourage more involvement by the wider village.

In this spirit we met the residents with a particular interest in The Crescent Regeneration project.

The Parish Council is working with The Glebe and the Scouts on ‘A Garden behind The Crescent’. We published a design consultation and are now working as a group with green fingered experts from the village, volunteers who have an interest in the area and neighbours to the area to proceed with planting trees, hedges and grassing the area. It will soon become an area to be enjoyed by all villagers.

If you would like more information on this project you can find it within the WPC noticeboard, on Woldingham.com or in the Woldingham Facebook group. You can also contact parish.clerk@woldingham.com to be kept informed of progress or give feedback.

Many thanks
Councillor Matt Quaife, Chairman, Woldingham Parish Council

The Village Litterpick

On a damp and little bit chilly Sunday morning early in October villagers came out in force for the annual Woldingham village Litterpick. By 10.15 all equipment was distributed and all roads allocated out including treacherous ones like The Ridge and Slines Oak, and remote ones like Park Ley Road. It was great to be able to do such a thorough job (looks like we’ll need more equipment for the future!)

A MOUND of rubbish was gathered; collected the next day by TDC.

Litterpickers were rewarded with a drink in the village club. Massive thanks to everyone who turned out on the day, and also a big thanks to Sue Wereszczynski, Pam Taylor and Phil Hegarty who kindly Litterpicked some roads in advance of the day.

A job well done!

Councillor Becky Rush

Halliloo Valley Road Junction with Woldingham Road

In the March edition of the Woldingham Magazine we described the work that was envisaged to this junction. Some have questioned why this was done and what the purpose was of the changes to the junction.

What was the problem this is aimed at solving?

It has long been recognised that this junction is dangerous and for over 10 years there has been a desire to make it safer. This is one of the issues addressed in the Neighbourhood Plan policy C1: “The Parish Council will support projects and proposals for improving residents’ safety where they are considered appropriate by the highways and police authorities and are consistent with policies of the Neighbourhood Plan.” C1.5 specifically mentions this junction as one that needed addressing.

As a part of its program of implementing the Plan, the Parish Council, with the help of our Surrey County Councillor, David Hodge, approached the Surrey Highways team for help. They agreed that the evidence of accidents involving personal injury, supported the view that this junction warranted modification, and produced four options that would make it safer. The Parish Council asked their views on the best of the options, and of the two they suggested, selected the one implemented, mainly on aesthetic grounds (the other would have involved removing the “island” at the bottom of Bug Hill, which would have reduced the rural appearance of the junction).
As we said in March, we did not expect this work to be carried out for a year or two, but David managed to bring this forward to this year.

Has it worked?

We have asked the Highways safety experts to assess the junction as it now is, because highway safety is an area that requires specialist expertise. Subjectively, it is clear that separating the junctions of Bug Hill and Halliloo Valley Road from each other is beneficial – that was the cause of some of the recorded accidents. It is also obvious from general observation that the change in angle of approach to Halliloo Valley Road has caused traffic speeds to reduce at that entrance. Having said that, it also seems that some traffic is now “cutting” the corner before turning left into Halliloo Valley Road, raising the risk of collision with oncoming traffic, so we have asked SCC to put in some mechanism (we are thinking of line painting) to discourage that. We are still awaiting their recommendation as to what action they propose.

Before photo

After photo

Councillor Keith Jecks

The Annual Parish Grants

Every October, the Woldingham Parish Council review grant applications and award grants to organisations in the village that benefit the community. These grants vary from year to year, although the Parish Council do regularly and consistently support key organisations and events in the village. An annual fund of up to £5000 is set aside each year from which to award grants. At October’s meeting, the following grants were agreed:

The Horticultural Society:
We allocated £500 to the Horticultural Society. This grant funds enhanced planting in the village. During this past year the Horticultural Society purchased 6 lovely trees to beautify the village. These include a variety of crab apple trees with beautiful blossoms and red and yellow fruit to support wildlife, the Prunus Royal Burgundy with beautiful blossoms and purple leaves and two Sorbus Ari Lutescens with beautiful and changing leaves, spring flowers and red berries to sustain wildlife in autumn, They also purchased a host of spring bulbs for the village. The grant will help sustain similar planting for the coming year.

St. Agatha’s Churchyard:
We allocated £1,650 towards the upkeep of St Agatha’s Churchyard. St. Agatha’s is the Parish burial ground and anyone in the Parish has the right to be buried there. It is also a lovely and peaceful place to visit. The WPC regularly contribute to St Agatha’s Churchyard to ensure the safety and upkeep of the grounds. The funds are contributed to a restricted fund serving the Churchyard only and contribute to repairs and garden and tree maintenance.

Church Fete Summer 2019:
We awarded £250 to support the Church Fete in Summer 2019. This event will be similar to the 2017 event. The event both benefits the village and raises funds for charities. The 2017 event was highly successful and well attended. The event is for all the village and festivities are held for all ages, including children’s entertainment (which the WPC funded in 2017).

Woodlea School Community Garden Project:
The WPC allocated £500 for a community garden project outside Woodlea School. Every Thursday the community is invited in for ‘fun gardening’ in a small garden which the Garden Project team is extending to a larger area to accommodate more residents and children and to enable them to grow more flowers and vegetables. The project requested funds for the provision of raised beds to facilitate the extra planting. The project is already under way and some of the progress is colourfully present and visible along Long Hill.

Woldingham Cricket Club:
The WPC awarded £800 to the Woldingham Cricket Club in support of its activities that benefit the community widely and children in particular. The Club launched All Stars Cricket, an initiative by the English Cricket Board, to deliver an 8-week fun cricket course for children, attended by 37 children. The Club also ran a community cricket event with an open session for children, attended by 70 children. The request was to help fund a mobile cricket net and a catching cradle for children.

Artworks 2:
The Artworks 2 committee submitted a request to which the WPC would like to contribute. The first Art Exhibition in our very talented village was held in 2012. It featured a wide variety of painting, photography and other artistic displays. The breadth and depth of the display was impressive indeed. The WPC expressed interest in supporting the future exhibition but requested further breakdown of the costs and budget to allocate funds towards Artworks 2.

As you can see, the WPC support a variety of activities that benefit the community. Past year’s awards have included organisations that maintain monuments and other village social facilities. Our aim is to ensure a wonderful Woldingham for all.

Councillor Deborah Sherry