Comments for Surbiton Hill Councillors

Comment on Free fire safety checks by Fire Brigade by Raj

Raj — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:02:46 +0000

A building should be checked for fire safety at constant intervals of time as the steps taken for the fire safety in a building can become obselete with time.

Comment on ‘Murder in Ellerton Road’ by Paul Johnston

Paul Johnston — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:54:28 +0000

Sadly, John, once a blog has a name it can’t be changed without scrapping the entire thing and starting again.

Comment on ‘Murder in Ellerton Road’ by John Boshier

John Boshier — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:21:27 +0000

Good idea, but we need to have the Group Name correct please. EBRRA. Thanks John.

Comment on Now who’s talking (garden) rubbish? by Paul Johnston

Paul Johnston — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:39:23 +0000

This is a knotty problem and no easy answer springs to mind though the ‘friendly neighbour’ idea looks like the likeliest to succeed. I don’t know where you live, but quite a few areas of the Ward have Residents’ Associations who might be interested in setting up a co-operative venture to see that bins belonging to residents who are away are not left out as an advertisement to burglars. If you write to me privately (see contact details on page ‘About us’) I can let you know.

The green bin shouldn’t be put out weekly if you have a fortnightly service. You should be able to find out from 8547 5560 which is the next ‘green bin’ day for your service. The gentleman in Douglas Road, it appears, had been given the wrong info as to his collection day and, with the help of the Service Director, Mr. Dickson, we hope we have managed to sort his problem out. Fingers crossed!

Comment on Now who’s talking (garden) rubbish? by BRIDGET

BRIDGET — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:34:30 +0000

Hi
I have paid £65 for a fortnightly garden collection which means I put out the following every recycling day – one large landfill bin, one large garden bin, one brown food bin, one white cardboard bag, one green box with papers and one green box with bottles etc so 6 containers to be collected by 4-5 vans. I have enough room to leave these on my front garden. However on any days when I am not going to be there overnight I cannot afford to leave them because the dustbin men sometimes leave them on the pavement and there would be nobody to collect them in (except a kind neighbour if I make arrangements) which would alert burglars to the fact that I am away. So what do i do, I don’t leave out my garden waste bin if I’m not there, meaning I have paid for a fortnightly collection which I can’t always use.

Comment on Improve your driving skills by Paul Johnston

Paul Johnston — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:24:43 +0000

Thanks for this abrupt reminder, Paul. I’ll see what I can find out.

Comment on Improve your driving skills by Paul

Paul — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:30:34 +0000

What is our council tax being wasted on this nonsense for?

There are private companies and other organisations who provide this sort of thing.
Why is RBK spending our money on this? Not to mention the time that their overpensioned and overpaid managers spend on it.

Never mind spatial awareness – what about training for RBK in financial and political awareness.

Comment on Tesco at Tolworth – new plans by Bridget

Bridget — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:32:07 +0000

Tesco – it will not matter a jot what they propose because whatever the size IT WILL create horrendous traffic problems on the A3 and the Ewell Road. We only need one hole being dug on the eewll road and from 3pm it is at a standstill now. I attended the focus groups. Now they say it wont include a leisure centre with a swimming pool. why not? Cos it would mean less profit in these difficult times.

Comment on Future of Surbiton Hospital in balance by Bridget

Bridget — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:46:32 +0000

Paul, I have read your detailed comments and have no answers just observations. Through hard work I am lucky enough to own and live in a big house but will have to see out my years on a reduced pension. When I was growing up and living in a council house we had to walk a long way to the only local school (no cars then) we crossed brooks and fields and had to run fast to beat the bull but it made us fit and independent! Perhaps the problem is too much choice (6th or 7th) I dont agree with catchment areas. The world finances are in a mess cos people began treating houses/flats as a pension or investment pot instead of a home to live in. You end on that very subject, that if people in richer areas cannot get their children into the best schools people move. But if well off people could only get their children into so called “bad” schools they may have more influence in getting improvements. RBK does need to get a grip on infrastructure because if Tesco goes ahead that is over 500 flats (1000 people?)Tolworth Tower 220 flats (400 people?) Red Lion 60 flats/houses (120 people?) not to mention all the other new developments going on in Surbiton area. So a local hospital and schools and doctors WILL be needed for the future demograph

Comment on Future of Surbiton Hospital in balance by Paul

Paul — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:22:47 +0000

Bridget,

Surbiton Hospital site is vastly underutilised and is probably the only remaining central Surbiton site large enough to accommodate a new school.

Recently, over a period of months, I brought my son to speech therapy at the Surbiton Hospital site. I was gobsmacked at the size of the site, when compared to the relativly insignificant buildings. The car park was never more than half full.

A small building offering local health services does not need such a huge site.
There’s no reason why a smaller site in central Surbiton could not contain a replacement building for any local health services that do not need to be located at Kingston hospital.

As stated elsewhere in this thread, there is a real and growing primary schools crisis. Surely nobody in Surbiton supports the forced displacement of four year old pupils to schools as far away as Knollmead (4km)and Malden Manor(6km).

I don’t think that providing a new school at the Tolworth roundabout, as you suggest, would be seen as a reasonable solution by most parents of four year old chiildren.

Parents have an expectation of getting a place in one of their neighbouring schools,
not in their sixth or seventh nearest. Moreover, in an urban area like ours, most pupils should realistically expect to be within a 15/20 minutes walking distance of a primary school place- not a 45 minute bus trip (or trips).

I should highlight that ultimately, this is every house owner’s problem, not just parents of prospective primary school children.

If RBK are to persist with their attempt to provide non-local places for Surbiton and Berrylands children then, realistically, many prospective parents will move elsewhere. This will have a consequent negative effect on Surbiton’s desirability, and by extension house prices.