Welcome to the LOSRA Website
As with any other local neighbourhood, the policies and actions which affect the character and future of Lower Sunbury are generally framed and implemented by a combination of local and national government, along with the vested interests and market forces which operate within those frameworks. Lower Sunbury is by no means unique in being under threat from a creaking infrastructure brought about by rapid urban development, the growth of traffic, and other pressures affecting the quality of life and the character of the area.
Working with the local authorities, we see it as the responsibility of residents’ and amenity groups such as LOSRA to address the underlying issues which fundamentally affect their members’ lives, as well as the minutiae of everyday life with which such groups are often concerned.
Please sign up to receive our regular e-bulletins by subscribing via the facility at the top left hand of this page. It goes without saying that, without your continued support we would cease to function so we urge you to join, or renew your membership now Subscriptions (£5 per household) for 2025 are now payable.
Spelthorne Business Awards 2025
Back for its seventh consecutive year, the Spelthorne Business Awards showcase the very best local businesses in the Borough.
The awards offer a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the achievements of Spelthorne's most innovative, inspiring and successful businesses. With categories to suit every enterprise - whether you're a start-up, a thriving small business, or a larger organisation with over 50 employees - there's something for everyone.
The 2025 Spelthorne Business Awards are free to enter and straightforward to apply for. Categories span a wide range of industries and business sectors, culminating in one outstanding business being crowned Spelthorne Best Business of the Year.
Entries are now open until midnight on Monday 30 June, with finalists being announced on Tuesday 15 July. This fabulous event culminates in a special black tie awards ceremony on Friday 3 October at the Holiday Inn, London - Shepperton.
For further information go to: https://www.spelthorne.
The Riverside Players of Sunbury Brings Annual Murder Mystery to the RAC
Defibrillator - Fully Operational and Registered - Avenue Parade
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In an emergency, access the defibrillator by calling 999 and give the postcode of the unit (TW16 5HS). They will give you the access code and send out an ambulance.
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We are encouraging our community to learn how to use the defibrillator, by watching an instructional video below. Anyone can use it; you do not need to be first aid trained.
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Our defibrillator is fully automatic and will prompt you through how to use it in a cardiac arrest emergency. However, watching the video should give you extra confidence in using it.
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Please point your phone’s camera at the QR code below and follow the prompt to watch the video from London Hearts. Please forward it to local friends too.
Mayor's Traditional Annual Charity Music Night at the SCC on 14th March
The next Music Night at Sunbury Cricket Club is on Friday 14th March and is the Club's now-traditional annual event in aid of The Mayor of Spelthorne’s Charities, featuring their house band THE CHAIN GANG.
This year’s Mayor is Cllr. Med Buck, a councillor for Riverside & Laleham, whose charities are Daybreak Respite Care at St. Peter’s Church, Staines, and the Jasmine Suite, the Ashford & St. Peter’s Breast Cancer Unit.
As ever, the Club has assembled the great and good of a local musicians collective led by Music Night organiser Paul Watts, under their customary name of THE CHAIN GANG in honour of the Mayor’s chain of office, to give their services free to perform what will be a great night of 60s, rock ‘n’ roll, blues, country and rock classics.
This year’s line-up features Karl Green, the former original and long-time bass player in Herman’s Hermits, along with guitarists Gerry Cook from Matrix, Mark Doyle from the Marshall Taylor Band and Tim Renton from 3AM, plus bass players Martin House from Matrix and Roger Harding from the Thames TV Big Band, drummer Stephane Booroff from Sky High and The Escorts, and formerly with Edison Lighthouse, and harmonica wizard Geoff Forester, who has played with numerous blues luminaries.
All proceeds go to the Mayor’s Charities, and the Club looks forward to a bumper crowd for a fun community night to raise as much as we can for two very good causes.
It's £10.00 on the door payable by cash or card. Hot food, prepared by the expert chefs from resident caterers from the community food distribution organisation Surplus To Supper, will be available as usual from about 6.30pm, and the band will be on stage around 8.30-8.45. We look forward to seeing you there.
Meet The Beat with PCSO Sahara Andrews
Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Sahara Andrews, the officer with specific responsibility for Lower Sunbury, will be giving local residents the opportunity to meet her and discuss their issues outside the Post Office on Avenue Parade on Wednesday 12th March between 10:00 am and 11:30 am. This is your chance to have a chat with your local PCSO about any issues you may have or ask questions about the safety and security of your local area. Please do go along and say hello – if she gets lots of engagement, she will hopefully come again soon!
Lower Sunbury Says Farewell to Legendary Drummer and Much Loved Local Resident Tony Kinsey (1927 - 2025)
We are sad to report the death at the age of 97 of the legendary jazz drummer and bandleader and popular local personality Tony Kinsey. Born in Sutton Coldfield in 1927, he had his first professional engagement as a teenager in the immediate post-war years, before moving to London and subsequently working on Transatlantic liners in “Geraldo’s Navy” so that he could see the top jazzmen in New York.
He was a founder member of the Johnny Dankworth Seven and was one of the pioneering coterie of modern jazz musicians who started Studio 51 in Soho to perform the new music. He accompanied visiting stars like Lena Horne, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan when they visited the UK, and for 10 years from 1954 into the ‘60s he led his Quartets and Quintets during a long-term residency at The Flamingo Club, where through his astuteness and popularity as a leader most of the luminaries of British modern jazz passed through his ranks, making him one of the most influential and important figures in the genre.
He recorded prolifically through these years, not only with his bands but playing on sessions with pop artists, appearing in many hits. During the ‘70s he worked on the TV show That’s Life, writing a topical song every week to be performed on the show, and he also began composing library music for use on film and TV, writing a couple of film soundtracks. In recent years he has composed many jazz and classical works, including string quartets and big band suites, which have been performed and recorded.
He lived in the same house in Lower Sunbury since the 1960s with his wife Pat, who died in 2019 after a near 70-year marriage. He became a popular and much-loved and respected local personality, performing with his bands at St Mary’s Church and Sunbury Cricket Club to raise money for the Embroidery Gallery development, culminating in what was his last show at the Cricket Club in 2016 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Gallery’s opening, at which, with his big band, he performed and recorded his composition The Embroidery Suite, along with other works. A CD from that show is available at the Gallery.
Although he was well aware of his significance, he was always modest and understated, loved and respected as a thoroughly nice man and a true gentleman. He will be remembered not only as brilliant and influential musician, but as a well-liked long-time resident of Lower Sunbury who brought a great deal to village life over the years. On behalf of the community, we would express our sincere condolences to Tony’s family and friends.
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Hazelwood Centre Still in The Sights of Potential Predators
The national press recently announced the acquisition of the professional London Irish RFC rights. Since then we have received this letter from Chris Kane, the President of the Amateur Club, LIARFC.
The Jordan Associates website describes the Company: "Jordan Associates is a dynamic venture led by Eddie Jordan, a Formula 1 legend and business strategist, alongside a global network of experts in sport, investment, and brand partnerships. We specialize in identifying undervalued sports assets, unlocking their commercial potential, and driving long-term success through strategic acquisitions, financial structuring, and operational enhancements. With deep industry insight and a hands-on approach, we create transformative opportunities in sport, entertainment, and luxury markets—elevating teams, brands, and investors to new levels of performance and profitability."
Sunbury BESS Application - A Further Update
Readers will recall that we published an article in LOSRA’s 2025 New Year Newsletter concerning the late removal of the latest BESS application from the agenda of the December Planning Committee meeting, where no reason had been given at the time for this unexpected withdrawal. In an attempt to discover more, prior to the Spelthorne Partnership Assembly (SPA) meeting on 3 February, LOSRA had submitted a written question concerning the ongoing Sunbury BESS planning application as follows:
‘Why was the applicant (Sunbury BESS Limited) for planning application 24/01112/FUL (The construction of and operation of a Battery Energy Storage System…on Land To North East Of Eco Park Charlton Lane Shepperton TW17 8QA) permitted to withdraw the application from the agenda of the 10 December 2024 Planning Committee Meeting, just days beforehand (on the afternoon of Friday 7 December) and after the Planning Officer’s Report, recommending refusal, had already been published?’
The agenda and documents for the SPA meeting included the following response to our question from the Council’s Planning Development Manager:
‘The applicants advised officers that they wanted to amend the scheme by reducing the size of the development and a plan was submitted to illustrate this. The amendment was in addition to seeking to overcome the objections by the Environment Agency. Legal advice was sought on whether officers should accept this request and officers were advised this should be the course of action. The deferral was sought and agreed by the Planning Committee. The formal amended plans are awaited and once received will be uploaded onto the Council’s website.’
This response is interesting in that it not only confirms that the Environment Agency’s objections were indeed part of the reason why the application was withdrawn from December Planning Committee, but additionally that a smaller BESS development was being considered. However, to date there have been no ‘formal amended plans’ published in the application’s documents list on the Council's website, which shows the revised Agreed Expiry Date of Fri 02 May 2025 for the application. In the meantime we have submitted a further comment on the application to Spelthorne Planning, now published, in the light of January’s significant large-scale BESS fire in California. The text of LOSRA’s latest comment can be found here.
Rock and Blues Band Fire & Water to Revisit SCC on 21st February
The next Music Night is on Friday 21st February, when Sunbury Cricket Club welcomes back FIRE & WATER, a band who played one of first Music Nights 15 years ago, and who have headlined one of the Club's Beer & Music Festivals in the past.
This year the band celebrates their 25th anniversary and Paul Cox called specially to ask if they could do a celebratory show at the Cricket Club, and of course the Club was delighted to accommodate them.
Capturing the spirit and music of Free, Bad Company and Led Zeppelin, Fire & Water comprise Paul Cox, who Radio 2’s Paul Jones says has “one of the best voices in Europe” and has worked with Ray Charles, Eric Clapton and others; guitarist Mike Summerland, who was with Blodwyn Pig, Georgie Fame and William Bell; bass player Al Maclean, formerly with Kokomo and Hershey & The 12 Bars; and drummer Jim Russel, whose background includes Stretch, Scotty Moore, Curved Air, Desmond Dekker and others.
An evening of top quality rock and blues is absolutely guaranteed, and it will be a classic old school Sunbury Music Night.
It's £10.00 on the door payable by cash or card. Hot food, prepared by the expert chefs from our resident caterers from the community food distribution organisation Surplus To Supper, will be available as usual from about 6.30pm, and the band will be on stage around 8.30-8.45.
Police Win Vote for Extra Support from Council Taxpayers
Police and Crime Commissioner Lisa Townsend said policing teams in Surrey will be properly funded to tackle those crimes important to residents after it was confirmed her proposed council tax rise will go ahead.
The Commissioner’s suggested 4.3% increase in the policing element of the council tax, known as the precept, was discussed at a meeting of the county’s Police and Crime Panel at Woodhatch Place in Reigate.
The nine members of the Panel present, made up of local councillors and one independent member, voted on the Commissioner’s proposal with four votes in favour and four votes against with one abstention. The Chair of the Panel cast the deciding vote against.
However, there were insufficient votes to veto the proposal and the Panel accepted the Commissioner’s precept will come into effect.
It should be noted that 59% of respondents to the public consultation said they would be willing to pay the £14 increase while 41% voted against it.
Weaknesses in Council Financial Records - Report
Shouldn't this report by the BBC be a matter of concern to residents? Click here for more details.
English Devolution White Paper Summary
It's much too early to make any useful predictions as to the position of Spelthorne within any proposed unitary authority but to see this helpful briefing note by the Citizens Advice Bureau, click here.
The Robin Bibi Band Makes Welcome Return to SCC on 31st January
The next Music Night at Sunbury CC comes round pretty quickly and is Friday 31st January, the Club welcomes back THE ROBIN BIBI BAND, who haven’t done a show at the club here for nearly two years, although Robin has played here a couple of times with The ‘60s All Stars.
Robin is one of the UK’s most respected blues/rock performers, and something of a legend on the club and festival circuit, as a guitarist/singer/songwriter who has played with the likes of The Pretty Things, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and Ben E. King, and has shared the bill with B.B. King, Van Morrison and Chuck Berry. He has released a dozen critically acclaimed albums since 1997, and plays with his band all over Europe, as well as also performing as a member of The ‘60s All Stars and The Eel Pie All Stars.
He is joined for this gig by Tony Marten, formerly with George Michael, on bass, and drummer Wez Johnson, a colleague of contemporary US blues rockers Kirk Fletcher and Ariel Posen. A top class night of blues/rock in the classic tradition of Sunbury Music Nights is guaranteed.
There’s more information at https://robinbibiband.co.uk/, including links to some great videos on YouTube.
Admission is £10.00 on the door, payable by cash or card. Hot food, prepared by the expert chefs from our resident caterers from the community food distribution organisation Surplus To Supper, will be available from 7pm.
The Long 'Pause' on the Local Plan Examination in Public Comes to an End
Following the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 6 June 2023 a motion was agreed to pause the remainder of the Local Plan examination hearings, the Chief Executive wrote to the Planning Inspector to put forward this request on behalf of the Council.
After what seems like an eternity, the 'Pause' will be over on 28th January, some 18 months later. The hearings are open to all to observe, but only those who previously made representations relevant to the matters being considered in response to previous consultations on the plan, and who registered a request to participate, will be allowed to speak.
The program has now been published here
Of particular interest is Main Matter 9 – Green Belt, Main Matter 16 – Infrastructure & Delivery – see in particular the representation from Riverside Residents, and Main Matter 17 Allocations Years1-5 – see in particular the representation from Redrow re Kempton Park.
LOSRA Committee members will be attending on a number of the relevant dates.
