Welcome to the LOSRA Website
Like any local community, the policies and decisions shaping the character and future of Lower Sunbury are influenced by a combination of local and national government initiatives, alongside market forces and vested interests operating within these frameworks. As with many areas, Lower Sunbury faces challenges stemming from an aging infrastructure, rapid urban development, increasing traffic congestion, and other pressures that impact both quality of life and the distinctive character of the neighbourhood.
In collaboration with local authorities, other residents’ associations and amenity groups, LOSRA plays a vital role in addressing fundamental issues that affect its members' lives. This organisation not only engages with broader strategic concerns but also focuses on the everyday matters that shape community well-being.
To stay informed, we encourage you to subscribe to our regular e-bulletins via the link at the top left of this page. Your continued support is essential to our efforts, and we urge you to join or renew your membership. Subscriptions for 2026 are now payable at £5 per household. Donations are also welcome.
Sunbury BESS – Now to Appeal
In a not-unexpected move, Sunbury BESS Limited has decided to appeal last month’s planning application refusal to the Secretary of State. It has been referred to the national Planning Inspectorate under the Written Representations procedure. With this type of appeal, an Inspector considers written evidence from the appellant, the Local Planning Authority and anyone else who has an interest in the appeal. The site is also likely to be visited, but there will not be the formal Hearing or Inquiry that happens with other types of appeal.
Spelthorne BC Planning has sent notifications to interested parties by both letter and email; these include an invitation to comment on the appeal directly to the Planning Inspectorate, either by letter or online, by no later than 13 November. Instructions for doing this are included on the Spelthorne Planning website for the application, 24/01112/FUL, within the ‘Appeal – Start letter’ on the documents list, which also includes the appellant’s Statement of Case and other related information. We encourage any residents with strong views on this application to submit those views to the Inspectorate.
We at LOSRA are continuing to liaise with the Charlton Village and Shepperton Residents’ Associations. This is to ensure that together we can comprehensively convince the appointed Planning Inspector that no ‘Very Special Circumstances’ do exist to outweigh the harm caused by the application being unquestionably defined as inappropriate development on Green Belt land, and that the Appeal should therefore not be allowed.
Roadworks Alert: Nursery Road Closure at Green Street Junction for Signal Replacement
Bad Influence to Revisit Sunbury Cricket Club on 24th October!
The next Music Night is on Friday 24th October when Sunbury Cricket Club welcomes back BAD INFLUENCE, who haven’t played at the Club for a couple of years, so it’s a long overdue return.
BAD INFLUENCE are one of our most popular bands, and have done some storming shows for the Club including headlining one of their Beer Festivals. They feature Val Cowell on guitar and vocals, Richard Hayes on guitar, Pete Stroud on bass, and Johnny Brister on drums, performing their distinctive brand of hard-hitting up-front blues/rock, blending original material from their albums with interpretations of material from the likes of Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt and Fleetwood Mac.
They have headlined The Marquee eleven times, and done several BBC Radio 2 sessions, and they always perform with passion, power and personality. Another fine evening of archetypal Sunbury Music Night fare can be guaranteed.
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 about 6.30 pm. Doors open about 6.30pm and the band will be on stage around 8.30pm or soon after.
Sunbury BESS – Planning Refused!
At a remarkable Spelthorne BC Planning Committee meeting last Wednesday 17 September, twelve out of fourteen committee members voted against the Planning Officer’s recommendation for approval of the BESS application. The application was therefore refused, on the grounds that ‘The development is inappropriate in the Green Belt and there are no very special circumstances that outweigh the harm, contrary to Saved Policy GB1 of the Spelthorne Borough Local Plan 2001 and the NPPF 2024’.
LOSRA has always been opposed to the concept of a BESS on this Green Belt site and we, together with the Charlton Village and Shepperton Residents’ Associations, have worked hard for more than two years to understand the novel details and technicalities of what was being proposed; this has enabled us to argue knowledgably against the various versions of the proposal, as well as being able to circulate a detailed document to all the committee members ahead of the planning meeting. We also had a three-minute speaking slot during it to present just a few of our reasons for objecting.
The subsequent members’ debate on Wednesday evening covered a very wide range of topics, and it soon became apparent that few of the councillors were convinced by the argument that ‘very special circumstances’ existed to overturn the fact that the development was inappropriate in the Green Belt and would result in significant harm. This view prevailed and was reflected in the 12-2 vote against approval. This is obviously a very significant decision, but we will remain vigilant in case of an appeal or further applications being made to develop the site.
Local Residents Secure Tree Preservation Orders at Stratton Road Green Belt
The following notice has been issued by Spelthorne Council following an application by local residents to secure Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) on the Green Belt land at Stratton Road:
Town and Country Planning Act 1990,Town and Country Planning (Tree Preservation) (England) Regulations 2012.
Tree Preservation Order – TPO304/2025- Land To The East Of Bishop Wand Church Of England School And To The North Of Hawkedale County First School Bounded By Stratton Road,Sunbury-on-Thames.
On 09 July 2025 we made the above Area Tree Preservation Order and sent you a copy.
The Council has considered whether or not the Order should be confirmed.
After careful consideration, it was agreed on 11 September 2025 that all the trees of whatever species within Land To The West Of Bishop Wand Church Of England School And East Of Halliford Park, Sunbury-on-Thames, to be included in the Area Tree Preservation Order. Consequently, it was resolved to confirm the Order without modification. The effect of the decision is that the trees within the subject land are now permanently protected and any work to them will normally require the prior written consent of this Council.
A win for local residents. Well done!
The Green Flag Award for Sunbury Park - Judges Comments
The following notice was published on Facebook by The Friends of Sunbury Park: More...
Sunbury BESS – STOP PRESS!
In a frankly inexplicable turn of events, the third iteration of the planning application (24/01112/FUL) by Sunbury BESS Limited for a Battery Energy Storage System installation off Charlton Lane in Shepperton has been put on the agenda for the Spelthorne BC Planning Committee meeting on 17 September, with a planning officer’s recommendation for approval.
In his 34-page report on the application (available on the SBC planning portal), the planning officer repeats many of the reasons previously given as to why it must be considered as ‘inappropriate development in the Green Belt and is consequently harmful’. But then the report, which unfortunately contains a number of inaccuracies, inconsistencies and contradictions, goes on to claim that this harm is outweighed by ‘the environmental benefits of the proposal in aiding the transition to the delivery of renewable and low carbon energy to mitigate climate change and to aid the transition to increased dependency on renewable energy’. This is extraordinary! The proposed scheme has been halved in size in terms of its electrical capability compared to the two previous applications that were recommended for refusal, and yet it is now claimed that somehow its contribution to ‘the transition to increased dependency on renewable energy’ has magically increased to the point where the application can be approved; how can this be?
Also unexplained are the Environment Agency and Health and Safety Executive’s lack of objections to the scheme, in spite of the fact that the design is required to allow for a ‘realistic worst-case scenario’ in safety terms, namely a lithium battery ‘thermal runaway’ fire event. For instance, the scheme is required to include onsite storage of 225,000 litres of water, sufficient to fight a fire for an initial two hours – but there is no indication as to what steps would be taken to prevent this water, once used and toxic, from entering the water table.
For these and many other reasons, LOSRA continues to be adamantly opposed to this development, as do the other Residents’ Associations around the site. It is be hoped that councillors on the SBC planning committee will recognise the extent of this opposition and vote against approval. If they do not, then the inhabitants of Charlton Village, Shepperton and Sunbury will surely be regretting that decision for the next 40 years. Residents can apply to attend the planning committee meeting at 7pm on 17 September by contacting This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; let us hope that sense will prevail!
A Fun Day at the Hazelwood Centre on 30th August
We have just received the following notice from the Administrator at the Hazelwood Centre and are pleased to reproduce it here:
The Riverside Players of Sunbury to Bring Steel Magnolias to the RAC. Book Now!
To book, go to: https://www.ticketsource.co.
Sunbury BESS – The Saga Continues…
Those with the stamina to keep up with this long-running story will recall from our web article on 13 June that Sunbury BESS Limited (SBL) had submitted some further revisions to its Battery Energy Storage System proposals for the site off Charlton Lane. These included almost halving the extent of the batteries installation and providing a Ground Investigation Report in response to the Environment Agency’s (EA) earlier objections to the proposed infiltration drainage system on this former landfill site.
Since then the EA has reacted to the Report by providing a response which disagrees with some of its conclusions and maintains its objections to the proposals. The applicant has in turn submitted just two additional documents, published on the planning portal on 28 July. The first of these is a ‘Statement of Community Involvement’ covering the various interactions between SBL and local residents’ groups and other stakeholders.
The second document is titled ‘Drainage Assessment’ and appears to be an attempt by the EcoDev Group (of which Sunbury BESS Limited is part) to overcome the EA’s objections by requesting the agreement of it and Spelthorne Borough Council to a conceptual approach to the drainage design at this stage; in return EcoDev would commit to a series of detailed conditions attached to a planning approval - presumably in lieu of providing a definitive revised drainage scheme as part of the application itself.
LOSRA remains fundamentally opposed to this latest iteration of the BESS proposal and has submitted new objections to Spelthorne Council. These have just been published on the planning portal and can be viewed from the documents list here.
A Reading - The Search for Anne Frank by Geoff Buckingham
4th August at 7.30pm, The Studio, Riverside Arts Centre, Thames Street
Written by local playwright, this is a powerful story of Anne Frank, her family and others caught in the horror of Nazi occupied Amsterdam.
This is a free event, with tea and biscuits available.
Geoff would appreciate some advance notice if you intend to be there so that he can plan casting and ensure there are enough copies of the script.
Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Another Green Flag Award!
We are so pleased to announce that Sunbury Park and Orchard Meadow, together with the Sunbury Walled Garden, have been awarded Green Flags for 2025. In previous years this award has been granted in respect of the Walled Garden only; so it's particularly gratifying to see the inclusion of Sunbury Park and Orchard Meadow for the 2025/2026 award.Closure of the A308 in Hampton – A Further Update
At the time of writing there are fewer than 12 hours to go before the scheduled closure of the westbound A308 in Hampton. Over the last 48 hours some residents in Lower Sunbury have finally received a letter from Thames Water advising of the closure, which for many will have been the first official information they have received about the project.
The Thames Water letter includes some brief details of what is to be expected, including the timeframe (7 July to ‘the end of October’, so now 17 weeks) and the fact that there will be ‘diversion routes’ in place for westbound A308 traffic – although details of these are not given in the letter. We know though from elsewhere that the agreed diversion route is through Hampton and Hampton Hill, which is – unlike the A308 – within the London ULEZ zone and includes a night-time and weekend HGV ban. The letter refers to these points by noting:
‘ULEZ and weight limit restrictions: We are currently liaising with both TFL and London Councils on this to ensure that no one receives any fines using the agreed diversion route. We will be aiming to come back and provide with an update a definite response soon via our webpage: https://www.thameswater.co.uk/hampton-barrier ’
There are currently no such updates on the TW webpage, so we have to assume that the closure may well start without any confirmation on those ULEZ and HGV assurances, which is unfortunate. Richmond Council published a brief news item on the closure on 3 July; it gave just few details and a link to the Thames Water webpage for more information! Surrey Council’s ‘Major utility company roadworks’ information page does not include the A308 closure at all, although it does suggest a link to a third-party database (the Causeway one network map) that does include the references of the closure notice (last updated in February) - and a link back to Richmond Council’s homepage!
So, as LOSRA has pointed out in previous articles, there is basically no indication that the implications for traffic through Lower Sunbury of this nearly four-month closure have been considered by any of the authorities involved. At this late stage we can only hope that the majority of motorists take note of the illuminated signs that have recently been put up asking them to ‘avoid the area’ for the duration of the closure. Needless to say, it is a request with which many of us cannot comply – simply because we live here and therefore have no choice now but to face the consequences of this ill-prepared scheme.
A Letter from Sahara Andrews - PCSO Lower Sunbury
PCSO Sahara Andrews, the designated Officer for Lower Sunbury, and her colleague Connor attended the LOSRA AGM, but were called away on a ‘shout’. Click here for the report on their local activities they would have presented had they been able to do so. Callers at the Walled Garden café yesterday may also have seen them having a ‘Cuppa with a Copper’!
