Local Authority

Angry residents packed a church hall to discuss controversial plans to barricade a road to stop speeding motorists.

More than 70 residents filled St Paul's Church Hall, Egham Hythe, to hear more about plans by Surrey County Council to put a barrier in St Paul's Road to prevent it being used as a 'rat run' by speeding motorists, getting from Chertsey Lane to Thorpe Road and vice versa.

The feisty meeting, chaired by borough ward councillor, Gill Warner, involved residents both in favour of the barrier, many from St Paul's Road and the Wapshott and Bowes Road estate. And also numerous residents vehemently opposed to the proposals.

Runnymede Safer Neighbourhood Inspector, Roger Nield, has hailed the Section 30 dispersal order operating in Pooley Green as a success.

The order which forms part of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, allowed officers to disperse groups of youths believed might cause a disturbance. I

nsp. Nield stated there had been a reduction of reported anti-social behaviour incidents by as much as 30%. The order will finish at the end of January, but an enhanced police presence will continue in the area.

The council are hoping to save £3,500 per year with the purchase of a £15,000 ex-hire JCB for use at the Chertsey Depot.

The 'Loadall' telescopic handler, like a large fork-lift, would be used for daily loading and unloading of bulky items too large for manual handling. Members of the council's financial bosses, the Corporate Management Committee met earlier this month to agree to the purchase.

To buy the vehicle new would cost £30,000 or to continue hiring it on a five-year contract would cost £8,100 per annum. The net saving from the purchase is put at £3,500pa.

Firefighters raced against the clock to try and locate a car which plunged into the Thames late on Monday evening.

Emergency services, which included appliances from Staines and Egham and a boat crew from Walton and the police helicopter, rushed to the scene at Truss's Island, Thorpe, where members of the public had reported a silver saloon car, believed to have a person on board, had driven into the river at around 11.34pm on January 18.

Runnymede Council has released an update of council services during the adverse weather conditions.

The new update was released on Wednesday, January 13, but is subject to change daily, depending on the weather. It states that the Met Office predicts that the outbreaks of snow will continue through the first half of the afternoon but could turn to rain by the afternoon.

The evening will see drier conditions but remaining cloudy. Mist and fog patches will form overnight and road surfaces could fall to below freezing. light snowfalls could occur in the South East on Wednesday.

Visit the Met Office web site, www.metoffice.gov.uk for further information.

Residents have the chance to meet their local policing team and raise any issues or concerns at a panel meeting on Tuesday, January 19.

The meeting takes place in the Literary Institute in the High Street at 7pm and will provide a chance for a general discussion on any current issues residents feel the police should be addressing.

There will also be a vote on what will be the key issue for the coming months.

A man has been charged with drink driving after a road traffic collision at Runnymede roundabout involving a gritting truck.

The two vehicle collision took place at the roundabout on the A30 around 11.48pm on Tuesday, December 22, when a blue Volkswagen Golf was in collision with a white Ford Transit that was gritting the roads.

Surrey Police are looking into the feasibility of installing CCTV cameras overlooking Manorcroft Park after reports of noise disturbances.

The local Safer Neighbourhood policing team had received complaints from residents that large groups of youths were gathering in the park after dark and that underage drinking might be taking police.

The council has issued its Christmas timetable for collections of refuse and garden waste.
Garden waste collections are suspended from Thursday, December 24 until Monday, January 4, 2010. There will be no waste collections from Christmas Day until Tuesday, December 29.

There will also be no collection on New Year's Day, or on Sunday, January 3, 2010.

Plans for a four storey block of 13 flats in Station Road were granted by Runnymede Council's Planning Committee on Wednesday, December 9.

The plans, submitted by Station Road Egham LLP, include 11 two-bedroom flats and two one-bedroom flats.

Committee members expressed some concerns that only nine car parking spaces were being provided and speculated where excess cars might park, but eventually voted unanimously to give the plans the nod.