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Dear Member
I'm emailing members following our open meeting last Wednesday. Despite dreadful weather earlier and problems with SW Railway, we had a near capacity hall.
The major item of discussion was in relation to housing development. Cllr James Browne brought us all up to date following last January 's consultation on the green belt and thanked the members of this trust and the other local organisations who had taken the trouble to respond to the consultation. With some 50,000 views expressed from nearly 4000 respondents, the council had a very clear idea of how we all value the green belt. The proposals from Sajid Javid and the Department of Communities and Local Government using a standardised methodology for housing need giving figures significantly larger than current estimates was seriously flawed from an Elmbridge standpoint. All Surrey local authorities had written to the Secretary of State and a "Get Surrey" article about this can be found here  .
Cllr Browne made it clear that residents of the borough must continue to make the views known and when we get to the next stage of the consultation we shall all have the opportunity of being involved. In the meantime this Trust believes that we and also our members should let the Secretary of State know our views. Once we are able to give clarification on the critical issues, we shall send these to you so that you can write to the Secretary of State in your own words. I have also been in touch with Dominic Raab, our MP and he is as equally concerned. He has already had one meeting with the Secretary of State and has another scheduled. I've said that all who write to the Secretary of State will copy him in with their letters. So please watch this space for further advice.
Whilst writing I thought I'd mention the continuing eyesore at Holly Parade and the lack of any work. As you know, there is a dispute between MacCarthy and Stone and Lloyds Chemists over the instability of the adjoining wall. I discussed the lack of progress after the meeting with Cllr Browne and he has checked with Elmbridge Planning and has confirmed that there are no "enforcement issues" at the moment where they could take action. Whilst Cllr Mitchell believes work will resume soon, I've written to our Surrey County Councillor, Mary Lewis, as to whether the metal barrier could not be moved a car's width back to allow more room for parking/easing of congestion whilst no work is being carried out.
It remains for me, on behalf of all the committee, to thank you all for you support in the past year and to wish you a Merry Christmas and a healthy New Year.
With best wishes,
Gerry Acher
Chairman
Cobham Conservation & Heritage Trust
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