Local Authority

Workshops for creative writing and poetry will take place at Royal Holloway, University of London as part of a literary festival.

The Runnymede International Literary Festival, R:Fest, takes place from Tuesday, March 16 until Saturday, March 20 at 8pm.

For more details call 01932 425670 or visit www.runnymede.gov.uk

A ward councillor's surgery will take place at the Hythe Centre, Thorpe Road on Saturday, March 27 from 10am until 12noon.

The surgery is chance for residents to meet their Runnymede Councillors face to face and raise any issues or concerns they may have.

For more details contact Cllr Jon Wilson on 07545 350611.

As part of Student Volunteering Week, Royal Holloway hosted its first ever Community Partners' Network Lunch held at Founders' Picture Gallery.

More than 80 guests from more than 25 Community Action Partners attended the lunch last week, as well as the Mayor of Runnymede Cllr Paul Tuley and Acting Principal Rob Kemp.

Through the Community Action Partners scheme student volunteers work do work with the local community.

Stop and Go boards will be managing traffic on The Causeway while roadworks continue until March 19.

The traffic controls will be in effect on the road (the A320) between 9am and 4.30pm daily.

Neighbourhood Watch members and police officers are teaming up to fight anti-social parking in Glebe Road.

Residents complained to police that people visiting the shops and take-away at the Thorpe Road end were parking inconsiderately, or sometimes on double-yellow lines.

The police team will continue to patrol and monitor the problem and respond to issues raised by the Neighbourhood Watch team.

Mayor of Runnymede, Councillor Paul Tuley hosts a charity evening of Opera tomorrow (Saturday, February 13) at 7.30pm.

The show takes place at Royal Holloway, University of London, with proceeds going towards the mayor's charities, including Age Concern Runnymede and Surrey Women's Aid.

Tickets cost £25 per head and are available by calling Mandy Smith on 01932 425502.

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.