Cobham Heritage

Elmbridge Green Belt at Risk

Elmbridge Borough Council has reassessed its housing need through to 2035 and concluded that it will need to nearly double the number of new houses built to 474 per annum. This cannot be met from existing brown field sites alone and it will have a massive impact on our green belt.

One of the options is to classify that part of the green belt as "weakly performing" and make it available for development. Elmbridge BC has classified three areas as such; two of which are in the Cobham area:-

Chippings Farm between the Fairmile and the A3
North of Blundel Lane in the Knowle Hill Park and Fairmile Park areas

We are not talking about a few houses but big estates.

If these proposals were carried through they would have a devastating effect on our community:

The number of houses in Cobham and surrounding areas could nearly double in the next 20 years.
Cobham, Stoke D'Abernon and Oxshott would merge into one in terms of the built environment.
The infrastructure would be overwhelmed in terms of roads with even greater traffic gridlock, car parking, doctors' and dentists' facilities and schools.

There is at present no joined up thinking between local authorities. The Guildford proposal for over 2000 houses at Wisley has now been appealed and there will be a public enquiry. If this were to go ahead it will put massive pressure on our infrastructure before even thinking about Elmbridge's proposals above.

The key dates are:

Full Council meeting 7:45pm Wednesday 7th December 2016 and, if approved:
Public consultation starting Thursday 15th December for 8 weeks till early February 2017

One of our senior councillors, Cllr James Browne, has very kindly agreed to come to the next Cobham Heritage open meeting at the Cobham Village Hall, Lushington Drive on Wednesday 14th December at 8pm to talk about this. All Cobham Heritage members are encouraged to attend to find out more.

Wrens of Oxshott Display at the Cedar Centre, Cobham

Pupils from Year 2 at Royal Kent have seen the fruits of their school’s sponsorship by the Cobham Conservation & Heritage Trust displayed publicly at the library in Cedar Road, Cobham. The Trust funds their membership of the Elmbridge Museum Schools Outreach Scheme which means that teachers can access workshops and resources to bring curriculum projects to life using local history and artefacts. The Trust has also joint-funded, with Elmbridge Borough Council, the museum cabinet in which the children’s work is displayed. Their clay animals and decorated plates are the result of creative workshops based on the pottery of the Wren family who worked in Oxshott from the 1920s to late 1970s.

The aim of the Trust’s collaboration with Elmbridge Museum is to bring local history alive for all ages, and we are therefore very pleased to share this example of the inspiration children can gain from learning about the crafts and interests of their ancestors. A special celebration was held at the library in the Cedar Centre on 13th October 2016, where certificates were awarded and the Royal Kent pupils were congratulated by the Mayor of Elmbridge, Councillor Tannia Shipley.

The exhibition will continue at the library until January 2017. Do go and have a look!

The Cobham Conservation and Heritage Trust will continue to fund local schools so that they can have access to the Elmbridge Museum collection and its education officer.

Wrens Exhibition launch event at Cobham Library