Some progress on Horsell Public Space

There has been some positive progress today on the issue of the slope being added to QE Gardens in Horsell and the loss of flat open space.  I summarise below the key events and where we go next.

Cross section of the slope planned for QE Gardens

Petition submitted
Residents today handed a 500 signature petition to Woking Council.  The petition calls for the Council to "level out the new mound that is being created in our park to retain the original flat playing area".  You  can see the full petition here.  Congratulations to Fiona, Kerri and Natasha for their amazing effort in collecting all these signatures in just a few days.

Democratic process
In the normal democratic process the Council has 14 days to verify and respond to the petition and it is then put before the next meeting of the Council, with a minimum 7 days notice.

The Council met tonight but does not meet again until the end of September. Recognising this I wondered if I could use the item of "Urgent Business" on the Council meeting agenda to highlight this matter and get an agreed way forward.  We can't wait until September.

Urgent Business
I sought guidance from the Borough Solicitor on the grounds for urgent business and felt that this issue met that definition.  The solicitor confirmed to me that it is up to the Mayor to decide whether to allow any item of urgent business.  

I spoke to the Mayor, outlining the issue to her and my reasons for feeling it fitted the definition of urgent business.  Essentially this was that the full scale of the issue only became evident after the deadline for submissions to Thursday's Council meeting and action was needed in the short term, not after the next meeting in late September.  The Mayor agreed to include the item but did mention that she had a pre-meeting with the solicitor and Chief Executive in the late afternoon.

I rather expected to hear more of this before the Council meeting and sure enough I had a call from the Mayor around 6pm.  The Mayor had been 'advised' that the item was not urgent business and not to accept it on the agenda. Conversation then continued with the solicitor who said that no more work would be done and that residents would now be consulted.  

Stopping the work
I did not get a positive response to my repeated requests this week to stop the work but it now seems work will end by tomorrow.  I understand no further work will be done for the moment.  Whether this was the scheduled end of the work or it is a response to my request and the petition I do not know.

Consultation
My conversation with the solicitor on his recommendation that the Mayor did not take my urgent business indicated that there would now be consultation with residents on whether or not we want a slope.  A later conversation I had with another officer of the council suggested this would not be the case.  I have asked for clarification.

The Council Meeting
Despite my request for an item of urgent business being turned down I wanted to get confirmation of next steps in the public domain.  I raised an item of urgent business at the Council meeting asking that a statement be provided.  My request was rejected out of hand.

Next Steps
The next steps are to get confirmation that work has stopped and to get clrify on what consultation will take place and when.