We are experts in bodywork repair Like a fine pair of shoes, a gleeming set of wheels compliments the look of any car and with... With our busy roads & car parks, bumper damage can sadly happen all too often, this in turn... 17% of all road accidents involve reversing. We fit only the very best Cobra Park Master parking systems as fitted to many... As well as the obvious privacy benefits of window tinting, it also creates When your cars paintwork isn't damaged, dents & creases can be manipulatedWelcome to the home of The Lock Whisperer where you can seek immediate emergency help or feel free to rummage through my site and take some time over the security advice section, its free so print it off and be aware of the security of your own premises. I hope it will help deter the possibility of you being burgled or give you peace of mind with your own security measures. We all need to make a stand against this rapidly increasing
I like to give as much information to help educate people on the importance of security and I feel that hiding such details and then charging a payment for my knowledge can be just as bad as the person committing the robbery, when infact most of the knowledge can be common sense. Here at The Lock Whisperer we offer competitive prices on our labour charges and also on a range of locksBack in December, I met up with the SCC Parking team and discussed proposals that residents had suggested to me. I have now been given the draft drawings outlining those proposals. Having confirmed what is drawn here is what residents have asked me to look into, the proposals will now go to the Joint SCC/WBC committee in March. At committee, if they are agreed, consultation letters will be sent out to nearby residents for their view. Once the consultation period is finished and depending on what comes back, the proposals will be finalised and road markings redrawn. I’ve included two maps here showing everything planned.
The above map shows a slight modification to the section by St. Johns Court. The changes are to put double yellow lines across the mouth of St Johns Court and about a car length either side and also to create a new parking bay. This is a significant safety improvement and increases the available CPZ bays in the village by one. This map of the village centre has four proposed changes. Outside the launderette and Post Office, a total of five 20 minute parking bays will be created. This is good for the businesses here and improves the chances of lunchtime trade as vehicles will be able to park there during 13:00 to 14:00 and it also prevents vehicles parking there all day which disrupts trade. The two double yellow line sections are both significant safety improvements. The section opposite the Post Office will prevent vehicles stopping there and keep the line of sight for vehicles exiting the station clear. The section opposite Heath Drive will make it safer for vehicles exiting Heath Drive, and provide a decent refuge area for vehicles travelling west down Connaught Road to dive into allowing east bound traffic unrestricted passage.
It is this latter proposal that I expect will draw some criticism from those residents living in the rows of terraces as it will involve the loss of effectively an area capable of parking three cars. However, the consultation will go out in a couple of months and we’ll see what comes back. A hot topic recently has been Council Tax. I’m sure most are now aware that SCC are not going for a referendum. Last Thursday at full Council the final figures for 2017/2018 were determined. The following shows the WBC element and the total amount of CT due for each band: CT is due from April and WBC will request 10 payments from April to January 2018. If you wish, you are able to pay it over 12 months. You will need to call WBC to arrange this. Finally, you may have read in the news concerns around WBC borrowing. I share some of those concerns, however I am satisfied that most of the borrowing is ‘good’ borrowing and as current Chair of the Finance Task Group, apply pressure to WBC to ensure that borrowings can be classed as good.
The key point about good borrowing is that it frequently is used to purchase an asset which pays WBC an income. This income effectively subsidises CT and for 2017 is expected to be £55.13 for a band D property. If WBC didn’t borrow in this way, we’d have had a clear choice, increase CT by £55.13 for each band D property in 2017 or cut services. If you wish to read the WBC papers going through this, look on the WBC website for documents from the November 2016 Executive meeting. Other Councils in Surrey are beginning to adopt this model as the most palatable way of protecting services as there is fierce opposition to increasing taxes. If you are a resident of Heathlands, I’m happy to spend time allaying your fears over WBC borrowing if you wish. Another planning application for a change of use from offices to dwellings has been submitted for the Red House down Cemetery Pales. The application is PLAN/2017/0109. I’m not yet aware of what the differences are between this application and the one that came forward a few months ago which I objected to.
I will make contact with the officer concerned and find out what the differences are before I probably object to this. I claimed no expenses other than my regular allowances for January. The following planning application has been received and verified: PLAN/2016/1430 – Removal of the 12.5m Vodafone only mast and replacement with a 15m Vodafone and Telefonica shared mast adjacent to the Railway Bridge on Bagshot Road. I have to be honest, I’m not sure where we are anymore with communities opposing masts. It used to be they always drew a lot of opposition a couple of decades ago, but I think people accept them now. I have a vested interest in this application as my mobile phone is on the Telefonica network and the signal in my house is a joke, so I won’t be opposing it in my capacity as a resident. I have an update regarding the path across the proposed Brookwood side of the Brookwood Country Park. Cala Homes were conditioned to lay the path by a certain time frame of the development.
Cala decided to build the path early enabling their customers access to Brookwood Station. This is of obvious benefit to everyone, however the actual topping that was put down was and is pretty horrible, being awkward for anyone except walkers, and even then it’s not exactly great. However the fact that it has been laid early isn’t a breach of the planning conditions imposed and won’t be so until nth number of houses have been built. Cala and WBC officers have now agreed the materials to be laid on the path, and as soon as the conditions allow, it will be laid. The temperature needs to be above 7 degrees and dry for at least 48 hours beforehand. On this basis, the earliest we can expect the path to be sorted is late March, early April. If the path is done around this time, and before the end of Summer, it will still be done on time as per the conditions. I’ll stop beating Cala up over this now. Overall, the Brookwood Farm development is on course to be completed around June 2018.
I’ve reported the issue over motorcycle parking at Brookwood Station as briefed in my last blog entry to Tony. Hardly any interesting planning applications have come in in recent weeks, however this particular one caught my eye. PLAN/2016/1139 – 146A Connaught Road – Change of use from taxi rank to hair dressing salon and alterations to shop front. I fully support this application and will write in favour of it, not that I’ll use it, being follicly challenged, however it is good for the village. I noticed this a few weeks ago, after the joint work between Jonathan Lord and I regarding the station, and I’ve sat on it ever since. SWT have moved the motorcycle parking from down by the station buildings up to under the ramp at the far end of the car park. All well and good, makes sense, something I requested, the bikes are covered and there are secure railings to lock the bikes to. Every time I’ve gone past, I still see bikes in the new taxi rank parking, and no bikes in the dedicated parking.
It dawned on me that it is simply because SWT, in their efforts to cram as many parking spaces there, have made it so that once you’ve parked up your bike, there are three car parking spaces in front of the bikes that then block all the bikes in. You can’t get the bikes out backwards because of the railings and yet more car spaces. Maybe they’ll fix it in the next franchise period seeing as that is their current answer to almost any question posed. We’ve finally got there regarding the post. I spent 45 minutes today with one of the Highways parking officers looking at several areas residents and businesses had asked me to raise while the parking review is going on. The parking review happens every 18-24 months and having missed the opportunity last time, I wanted to get in early. We spoke about and walked several areas. The small stretch of road opposite Heath Drive which when cars are parked there make for a difficult exit from Heath Drive and make the stretch passing the club more difficult as there is no space to drop into when travelling west.
The suggestion was to make a small length double yellow preventing any parking. This wouldn’t remove official bays but would displace three or four cars that are currently able to park on a single yellow. The next was the stretch opposite the baker and Chinese. This would also be made double and the sign removed. This would ensure parking only occurred on the shop side. By St Johns Court, creating an additional formal bay and making double yellow either side of the exit of St Johns Court. This would be a significant safety improvement. Finally, putting in five 20 minute bays to help the shops in the village, with two outside the baker, and three by the launderette. As it stands, these are suggestions made to me by residents that I have passed up the chain. The process from here is that the officer will go off and see what is viable. Do the drawings, and then present a report to the Joint SCC / WBC committee for the March meeting with his recommendations. It is at that meeting that councillors will decide what to go to consultation with.