Due to engineering problems, there has been a delay with the posting of postal vote forms.

The postal votes for the forthcoming Police and Crime Commissioner, Surrey County Council and the Staines South By-Election were due to be posted to postal voters today, however the printers the Council appointed have had engineering problems which has meant that there has been a delay.

This is beyond the Council's control and the postal votes will now be posted on Monday.

A number of enquiries have been made regarding a licensing application for the Hazelwood Centre which runs the London Irish site.

Dog walkers, in particular, will have seen the notices posted around the Hazelwood pitches.

The Association has been in touch with the Centre and we are advised that London Irish.has had to reapply for its premises licence as a result of a change in the legal entity which runs the site. The current entity Hazelwood Community Company which is set up as a not for profit organisation replaces the old Hazelwood Centre LLP. This change necessitated a new licence application, which is based on exactly the same terms as the one which expired at the time of the change.

It should be noted that opening times are identical to those approved under the previous licence.

As part of EnterpriseM3's skills activity in working towards a local Digital Skills Partnership, and with thanks to the South East LEP Digital Skills Partnership, they are sharing a series of FREE online sessions that will help individuals and families find a job and/or learn more about being safe online.

The first session starts on 21 April and the last ones are on 9 June:

April 21: Find Your Career Goals

April 28: Update Your CV and Cover Letter

May 5: Build Your Personal Brand Online

May 12: Productivity for Working Remotely

May 19: Safety First: Protect Yourself Online

May 26: Keep Your Family Safe Online

June 9: #IamRemarkable Sessions (For more info on Google's initiative, take a look here)

The final sessions on June the 9^th are #IamRemarkable sessions, part of the Google initiative to empower women and other underrepresented groups to celebrate their achievements in the workplace and beyond.

To register for one or more of these sessions, individuals should go to: https://digitalskillspartnerships.eventbrite.co.uk. Please feel free to share with your networks and contacts and encourage individuals to come along.

The following is a press release from Spelthorne Council:

Spelthorne Borough Council is making preparations to ensure the safe reopening of our high streets across the Borough for residents to shop for necessary items and enjoy outdoor hospitality.

The Council works closely with various partners, including the Elmsleigh Centre, Two Rivers and Visit Staines and our Town Centre manager provides support for businesses in Sunbury, Shepperton and Ashford. Over the past year, we have strived to ensure measures are in place to make our high streets Covid-safe for residents, visitors, and traders. We continually review these and have made adjustments to improve these measures.

From Monday 12 April, people will be able to visit non-essential retail outlets such as clothing stores, hairdressers and jewellers as well as outdoor hospitality, providing they can meet COVID-19 safety and security guidelines. The Council are looking forward to welcoming back residents to our high street and we would encourage you to shop locally.

The Council continues to have banner railings, posters and digital screens around our high streets reminding people of the social distancing measures that are in place. This is being done to ensure that residents and visitors can continue to observe the social distancing guidelines.

We have been working with Staines Market over the past 12 months to ensure they can operate in a manner that is safe for residents. The handwashing station on Staines High Street will also be remaining in place.

All measures will be revised and amended accordingly with additional phases introduced in due course.

Over the course of this pandemic, the Council have worked to support businesses by issuing government backed business grants (totalling over £16million). We continue to offer guidance to traders changing the way they do business providing hygiene and environmental health advice to help takeaways improve and we will continue to do so as we enter the next recovery phases.

Residents can help stop the spread by remembering Hands, Face, Space and taking care when they are shopping.

The car parks below allow you to park free for one hour, however, you must make sure that you obtain and display a free one hour ticket from the pay and display machine:

• Abbey Drive, Laleham
• The Broadway, Laleham Village car park
• Dumsey Meadow car park
• Manor Park car park
• Shepperton Village Hall car park
• Orchard Meadow car park
• Thames Street car park
• The Walled garden car park
• Sunbury Park/Green Street car park
• The Old Bathing Station car park

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the awards evening was unable to be held in 2020 but all entries and nominations are being carried over to this year's competition.

There are 13 categories to choose from and entry is free. Businesses must have a trading address in the Borough. Online entry is live until 31 July 2021 and the black tie gala dinner to announce the winners will take place on 14 October 2021 (subject to change depending on the Coronavirus situation).

Click here for further details

Sadly,  the late Peter Francis the LoSRA Committee member who fought tirelessly on behalf of the Association and for SATEP (Spelthorne Against the Eco Park) is no longer with us to share this news.

Peter, a chemical engineer, had claimed from the outset back in 2012 that the installation of an incinerator on the Charlton Lane site was both unviable and potentially dangerous. He was able to support his claims by drawing on years of experience in the petro-chemical industry.

Regrettably, his efforts remained unrewarded as, not for the first time, politics trumped science and the incinerator was given the go-ahead by the Planning and Regulatory Committee of Surrey County Council in 2014.

The following is a the press release from Surrey County Council which may ultimately vindicate Peter and his professional opinion:

Campaigners cautiously optimistic as Surrey County Council start legal proceedings over polluting incinerator in Spelthorne

16 March 2021

Campaigners are holding their breath as Surrey County Council has announced it is now in legal proceedings, which they hope will lead to the Council abandoning plans for its gasification incinerator in Spelthorne in north Surrey.

At the Council meeting on 16 March 2021, the Cabinet Member for Environment & Climate Change announced: “after exhausting other options available, we have now entered legal proceedings with Suez to resolve our issues. We hope to bring this to a swift conclusion to allow us to move forward with the Eco Park and resolve the matter.” SATEP had raised numerous issues, most of which remain unresolved.

The Council first approved an incinerator on this site in March 2012, and approved the current version in March 2014, despite strong opposition by local residents and campaigners.  It was part of the Charlton Lane ‘Eco Park’ though campaigners say there’s nothing ‘eco’ about a waste incinerator of inefficient design, which would emit toxic pollutants and carbon dioxide, increase the transport of waste, and limit recycling.

Ever since, the Eco Park has been beset by technical and operational difficulties. It is a source of considerable disruption and concern to residents, affecting quality of life in the area and triggering health fears among the most vulnerable. The company that made the gasification plant has now stopped making them for municipal waste.

Adrian Corti, local resident and member of Spelthorne Against the Eco Park (SATEP) said: “Now is a time to cautiously celebrate in Spelthorne and across Surrey at this process which could spell the end to the Eco Park gasification experiment. We also hope that this is backed by a firm commitment to no other new forms of waste burning in Surrey, which will benefit the health, welfare and environment in many ways.

“Now is the time to right the wrongs that have got us here, rather than dwelling on the past. I hope we can finally put the last decade, which has been an absolute nightmare for local residents, behind us. It has brought us together as a community for the wrong reasons and is not something we would want to wish upon anyone else in Surrey.

“The Eco Park experiment has clearly demonstrated that gasification is not just dirty and dangerous, but a non-viable way of disposing of household waste.”

Local Green Campaigner Paul Hollingworth said: “We would like to thank those who have campaigned tirelessly over many years against these latest plans for waste incineration in Surrey, particularly the Spelthorne Against the Ecopark (SATEP) campaign. SATEP should be proud of their persistence. We would like to acknowledge the efforts of Peter Francis and Ian Robinson, who are sadly no longer with us to share in this decision today. Also we would like to thank UK Without Incineration Network (UKWIN) for their support in highlighting the waste, climate and health impacts of incineration (which includes gasification technologies).

“The individuals and groups who opposed the Eco Park will stand strong in opposing any future attempts to impose incineration of waste elsewhere in Surrey.”

Jonathan Essex, Green Councillor for Redhill East said:  “The Eco Park has been a complete waste of taxpayers’ money, which could have been used to improve the quality of life of residents.

“The case against incineration technologies, including gasification, continues to grow. Incinerators block investment in reuse and recycling, and lock-in carbon emissions. This is unacceptable as Surrey, among many other Councils, have declared a Climate Emergency.

“This week’s announcement should signal a shift in both Surrey County Council’s and the government’s strategy. Instead of pouring money into polluting technologies such as complicated and expensive waste disposal methods that create a perverse incentive to burn recyclable waste, it is time to shift investment to making it easier for all of us to reduce, reuse and recycle.”

Shlomo Dowen, Coordinator of the UK Without Incineration Network (UKWIN) said: "The Spelthorne gasification failure joins a long list of such false starts that have proven to be a costly distractions from building the facilities that are needed to make our economy ever more circular. UKWIN salutes the determination and persistence of local campaigners who helped Surrey Council start the difficult process which we hope will lead to end to plans for incineration in Surrey. We look forward to Surrey being freed to pursue a path towards greater resource efficiency that will bring environmental benefits alongside creating much-needed green jobs.”

In September 2020, Surrey County Council announced its plans to submit a proposal to Central Government, to amalgamate its 11 District and Borough Councils into one single, Unitary Authority. The proposed move would be part of its new 'Putting Residents First' strategy, which, it claimed, would bring decision making and services closer to local communities.

Spelthorne Borough Council wholeheartedly rejects this proposal of creating the UK's largest single Unitary authority encompassing a population of 1.2 million and on the 24 September 2020, Members of Spelthorne Borough Council voted unanimously to agree motions to oppose a single Surrey-wide Unitary Authority.

Depending on one's point of view, the move by SCC was intended in part to introduce economies of scale or, more cynically, represented a blatant political land-grab.

To see the whole press release, click here