What's Happening in and around Horsell

A selection of happenings in and around Horsell in the week ahead.  This is by no means a comprehensive events listing, rather a snapshot of what catches my attention.

Monday 30 June

Open Mic night at Phoenix Cultural Centre, 27 Goldsworth Road, Woking - 7pm to 10pm. A pleasant evening at Woking 's newest venue for live music and arts.  Mondays offer a chance to "play, listen, practise new songs, make some up, do whatever".  All welcome. No entry fee but a donation to running costs appreciated.

Thursday 3 July

Horsell Police Panel - 7.30pm at St Mary's Church on Church Hill (not usual venue as Village Hall closed for building works)
All residents and businesses are welcome at the panel meeting to raise issues of concern with the local policing team.

Saturday 5 July

Party in the Park - 12 to 7pm in Woking Park
Returning for a 3rd year with something for all the family.  Party in the Park features music, dance. food, sport, art and crafts.  There are events to watch in 
the park such as Dance Woking and events further afield such as the Wimbledon Woman's Singles Final and the start of the Tour de France on a big screen.  Have a dance, listen to music, watch Punch and Judy or experience all the fun of the fair.  It's all happening at the Party in the Park.

Horsell Splash - finally some progress

Huge puddle on Brewery Road
pedestrian crossing 

I took the opportunity of Woking's Joint Committee this week to ask for an update on Horsell Splash.  I have been asking the county council to tackle the huge puddle that appears between the Brewery Road car park entrance and the pedestrian crossing to Footpath 19a for almost 2 years now.  An answer was not available on the night but I got a written reply by email on Friday.

It seems the county may finally be making real progress in tackling this major annoyance and inconvenience for everyone who walks or cycles along this route.

The Problem

As regular users of this route will have noticed there are two elements to this situation.  The initial problem was around the car park entrance.  The road dips at this point. It is my view (though this has not been confirmed) that this was caused by a combination of road resurfacing prior to work beginning on the WWF building and a succession of heavy vehicles going into the building site.

The secondary issue is the spreading of the flooding beyond the car park entrance, across the pedestrian crossing and towards the entrance to Kingswood Court.  This happens when the drain can't cope during heavy or sustained rainfall.

Resolution

Following CCTV investigation in the drain between Brewery Road and the canal the problem was identified as an issue for Thames Water.  Surrey now tell me the drainage was "compromised by the development of the WWF site".  This explains the second part of the problem described above.  Thames Water has been spotted on site investigating the situation but no timescale for remedying the problem has been given.

Huge puddle at entrance to
Brewery Road car park

Once Thames Water has dealt with the drainage problem Surrey plan to install a new gully to drain away the water at the car park entrance.

More Questions

I have gone back and asked if Surrey will be seeking recompense from Wilmott Dixon for the impact work on the WWF site has had on the drainage system and for the likely timing of the blockade being cleared and the new gully installed.

We have progress but we are not there yet.

Getting Answers on Well Lane

Well Lane closed whilst the sewer
was repaired

I took the opportunity of the first meeting of the Surrey County / Woking Borough Joint Committee this week to seek some answers on the chaotic and disruptive programme of road resurfacing in Well Lane.

I got some answers but the response I received also raised many more questions.

Well Lane resurfacing work was originally scheduled to last for 10 working days.  At the last count it has been running for almost 3 months and is yet to be completed.

The collapse of a deep, major sewer did lead to long delays but the project was well over-time before this became a problem.  Could this issue have been anticipated given there had been problems before.

Assessing the site before work began

I had previously been told that site assessment had taken place before the resurfacing work began but in response to my question at the committee it appears that little or no assessment took place:

"There were unique local ground conditions that presented themselves on Well Lane that did cause issues. Such issues/ risks occur so rarely that the level of resources necessary to undertake the site testing, to pre-empt a possible problem, would not be viable for every scheme. It would add months onto the design process on something that may only happen in 1 in 100 or more. This would in turn reduce the amount of schemes we complete county wide considerably."

The response went on to say:

"The largest delay on the site has been associated with a sewer failure/ collapse, which was 3m deep and not identified until the existing surface layers had been removed. Thames Water have since been working on site for several weeks to rectify an historical issue and have now completed works."

Public questions are limited to a single question and a follow up so I couldn't explore this further but I would expect a risk assessment on each job to determine the level of site testing required.  There had been issues on this road before. Shouldn't that have rung warning bells?

Managing Contractors

I made a visit to Well Lane late at night 2 days into the project.  I heard from various sources around 10.30pm that contractors had arrived on site and started work half an hour earlier.  Contractors told me they were "getting ahead" ready for the next day and that their work was authorised.  The out of hours highways office couldn't tell me if this was the case but next morning I confirmed late night working WAS NOT authorised.  Highways told the contractors this wasn't to happen again - but it did - the very next night.  I was straight on to Highways and thankfully this time the work was stopped.

All this is brushed off in the response I received this week.

"In regards to the start of the works on Well Lane there were definite teething issues with the contractor on the first 2 days and these were immediately rectified, however the longer lasting disruption is due to site conditions not contractor quality.

The night works described was the lowering of man hole covers, this operation needed to be carried out as close to the main works as possible, and was delayed due to works elsewhere. Consequently the sub contractors operatives carrying out the work decided to work on to catch up without approval, and as soon as this was discovered the situation was resolved. We must apologise for this, even though it was carried out with the best intention of those involved."

The whole project raises issues about who controls those working on our roads.  Surrey has a contract with May Gurney for highways works.  May Gurney in turn give work to a wide range of sub-contractors.  The late night working is an excellent example of the difficulties in controlling these contractors.

After Easter, when there had been broken drains and a major water leak the county councillor got involved.  He lives just down the road and, to give his his due, worked very hard and spent a lot of time in Well Lane talking to those working on the road and to residents.  Reading his updates it seems he took on a project co-ordination role.  Now it's all very well for a councillor to get so involved but surely the role he took on should be done by either by county officers or May Gurney employees.  Otherwise why does so much of our Council Tax go to pay these people?

As I write on Friday night it seems the last section of the road is being resurfaced, but again, there is late night work.  My response at the meeting indicated work might take place on Friday evening, but 10pm is not the time to resurface a road in a residential area.  

Informing Residents

Residents first started telling me about issues with these works when they were trapped in their homes, unable to get out to work, business, school or other appointments.  This issue affected the roads off Well Lane such as Holyoake Avenue and Crescent, Well Close, Well Path and Gregory Close.  I was assured at the time that all of Well Lane and all neighbouring roads had been advised of the works.  A Conservative borough councillor at the Joint Committee appeared to admit that communication had been an issue and that these road WERE NOT advised about the resurfacing.

Compensation

I asked about compensation for both residents and businesses affected by the Well Lane works.  I had already raised this point back in May.  This week I was told:

"We have been in discussion with the local councillor and Woking Borough Council in regards to an appropriate compensation process for this scheme, and we will action as necessary."

An unsurfaced Well Lane and the
remains of leaks

Not giving anything away there but further exploration of this point at the meeting, particularly in relation to the impact on the business of Horsell Fish and Chips suggested the county are still looking at this.  I do hope, that for the sake of residents and businesses who have suffered so much over this lengthy saga that compensation is found

Give us back our public space

It is almost a year since local residents began to grow horrified at the decimation of flat, open space in Queen Elizabeth Gardens, Horsell.  I blogged at the time about the huge piles of sand being piled by the side of the bowling green and rendering an area used for children's play and dog walking unusable.  If you follow the sequence of blogs you will learn that a petition raised by local residents led to action by the Council who agreed the mound should not stay.

Agreement was reached with petitioners in October and the plan was to remove the sand (much of it has gone) and then landscape and re-seed the area with grass in the spring.  Spring has come and gone.  There is less sand but still no grass and no access to the area.

I raised this matter regularly with the Chief Executive of Woking Council whilst I was a councillor.  The last update I had, just a couple of months ago, was that the new footpath planned for the edge of the site still had to be resolved.  Since then I have heard nothing.

I have now written to the Chief Executive asking when Horsell will get its public space back.

How online is Woking?

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has recently published figures on the proportion of census returns made online across the country.  I completed my census online so I was interested to see how many other Woking residents had done likewise.

Fewer than a quarter of Woking residents (23.1%) completed an online census form.  The great majority (76.9%) filled in a paper form.  This figure places Woking borough as the English local authority 39th in level of online completion.

Online completion rates vary across Woking from 15.2% to 32.7% with lowest levels of online completion recorded in parts of Byfleet and Maybury and Sheerwater whilst there were higher levels of completion in parts of Maybury and Sheerwater, Mount Hermon West and Horsell West

Most neighbouring boroughs have a lower level of online census completion than Woking .  Elmbridge was at 22.1, 10 places below Woking, Guildford at 21.9, 17 places below Woking and Runnymede was at 21, 27 places below Woking.  Surrey Heath has a higher level of completion than Woking.  At 24.1% it is 16 places above Woking.

The highest level of online completion across English authorities was in the London borough of Tower Hamlets (30.9%). London authorities took the top 5 places in the table of online completion and overall London topped regional completion figures at 24.2%, followed by the South East at 19.9%.

Lowest level of online completion came in the district of Eden in Cumbria at just 11.7%.  The average level of online completion across all local authorities was 18.4%.

It appears that Woking is an online borough that is ahead of many neighbouring boroughs and above the south east average.

New Vision Homes - Satisfaction and Performance Update

UPDATE Wednesday 25 June

Following the Conservative group forcing through plans for a constitutional change - giving themselves chair of Overview and Scrutiny - the committee settled down to review the report on New Vision Homes. 

Given that this report was first requested in February, was potentially to come to an April meeting but was delayed until June in order to complete all the necessary research I was very shocked that the first act of new committee chair Cllr Hussain was to suggest deferring the item another month.  Thankfully common sense prevailed and the report was reviewed.


When tonight's Woking Council Overview and Scrutiny meeting takes place (see here for how it will be delayed by Conservative plans for constitutional change) there is a key paper on New Vision Homes.

Several months ago councillors asked for a review of New Vision Homes (NVH) performance on maintenance and repairs.  This was promised for after the election period.  Councillors duly submitted issues their residents had experienced in the last six months.

The report before the committee tonight - you can read it here - covers a satisfaction survey run by an independent company.  It seems clear from this report that whilst NVH performs well in some areas - tackling anti-social behaviour for example - there are issues on repairs and maintenance. Feedback on the reports that councillors were asked to supply doesn't appear to be there.

I hope the Overview and Scrutiny committee fully explores the report before them tonight and continues its work to get a better repairs and maintenance service for tenants and leaseholders in future.

The meeting can be viewed online, either live from 8pm tonight or in a recorded form after tonight.

Final bell tolls tonight

The final death bell for democracy within Woking Council is likely to toll tonight.  As I set out here and here in earlier posts the Conservative group who run Woking Council want to take control of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  Previously there had been agreement between parties that this important committee should be chaired by an opposition member.

Tonight there is to be a special meeting of the whole council to debate a proposed constitutional change to remove this requirement.

Papers for the meeting, available here from the Council website provide no justification for this change.  Rather the Leader of the Council sets down his wish that the requirement for the committee to be chaired by an opposition member is removed.  The only supporting evidence is a list of arrangements at other Surrey boroughs and at Surrey County Council.

It is no surprise to see that the ruling party tends to controls Overview and Scrutiny function on Conservative and Residents Association run councils where the ruling group has a large majority.  Surrey Heath where Conservatives hold 87% of seats, Runnymede where they have 83% and Tandridge which has 81% Conservative members are prime examples.  Is this the aim of the Conservative party in Woking? A virtual one party state and total control.

The special council meeting starts at 7pm tonight.  You can watch the meeting either live or recorded from this link.

Death of democracy deferred for 2 weeks

As predicted it would seem that a little piece of democracy is about to die in Woking.  The throes of death did not come on Monday night.  They have been deferred until Monday 23rd June.  On that day the Overview and Scrutiny committee of Woking Council will meet and elect a Chair for the year ahead.  This first meeting of the committee would usually have taken place during the first proper meeting of the full council.

This year the Leader of the Council put forward an amendment during the full council meeting such that the whole Council will have to meet again on 23 June. It would appear that this special meeting has been called for the purpose of changing the constitution so non-opposition group members can chair Overview and Scrutiny.

Whilst it was apparent the purpose of deferring the first meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny committee was to change the constitution Liberal Democrats wanting to raise concerns were not allowed to speak on this subject.  Speaker after speaker was interrupted by the Mayor and told they could only speak about the change of meeting date.  The Deputy Chief Executive reiterated this point and tried to close down debate.

On the vote all Conservative councillors present supported the deferral of the first meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Now the wait until Monday 23 June to find out what the Conservatives are planning.

Is democracy about to die a little in Woking?

I am very concerned to have learned in the last few days that Woking Conservatives want to change Woking Borough's constitution and take over the chair of the Overview and Scrutiny committee.  

As the ruling party the Conservatives already chair all the other committees. This is the one committee that is run by the opposition and allows the smaller parties to review the operation of the Council and be consulted on important matters.

Back in 2000 Woking Council started running under the Executive model. This means that our local Council is run by a Leader and his/her appointed Executive. The actions of the Leader and Executive are scrutinised by an Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Originally there were three scrutiny committees covering environment, economic and social issues. This was revised to a single committee on the recommendation of a cross party working group. A key principle was for the committee to be chaired by an opposition member.

This important function of the Council has done much good work over the years.  Call-ins have raised key issues affecting the council, national service providers such as Royal Mail and South West Trains have answered residents's concerns in the chamber, problems with the planning system have been highlighted and councillors have investigated service provision in the borough.

Now Woking Conservatives want to take over the chair of this committee.  This is in addition to chairing the Executive and all other council committees The group that controls the Council wants to chair the committee that scrutinises them as well. 

Democracy could die a little in Woking if this goes ahead.

Research shows that most councils, even where there is a small opposition, allow other parties to run the scrutiny role.  Woking Conservatives have 23 seats.  Lib Dems have 11 and there is 1 Labour and 1 Independent councillor. More than a third of council seats are held by opposition parties.  57% of residents did not vote for the Conservatives in the recent local elections.  Why should one party control the Council and not subject itself to external scrutiny.

The meeting at which the Conservative group is threatening democracy in Woking takes place at 7pm tonight (Monday 9 June).  You can go along and watch the meeting in the council chamber or you can watch it live from your PC or tablet on this link.