Further to the preceding article (10th June) David Murphy of the Environment Agency addressed concerned residents who flocked to the meeting arranged by Monica Chard of Village Matters on June 6th to hear about plans for the River Thames Scheme. MP Kwasi Kwarteng was also in attendance along with local councillors.

At the conclusion of the meeting David kindly offered to send the slides which he had used for the presentation. These have now been received and may be viewed by clicking here.

We will be following this issue closely in coming months.

Further to the notice published on this Site on 19th May, we await the Environment Agency slides before publishing the details of the meeting held at St. Mary's Church Hall on Friday 6th June and will do so just as soon as these become available to us.

The floods which caused such terrible devastation for the Borough earlier in the year were the topic of discussion at a Community Flood Meeting organised by Spelthorne Council and held on the evening of Thursday 5 June at Spelthorne Leisure Centre.

The public meeting, the first of its kind to be organised by a Surrey council, involved all the key agencies responsible for managing the flood crisis and recovery effort; and was attended by over 800 people. The invited representatives came from a number of organisations including the Environment Agency, Surrey Police, Surrey Fire and Rescue Service, Spelthorne Council, Surrey County Council, Thames Water and the National Flood Forum.

The meeting was chaired by Cllr Philippa Broom, Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee and, following the initial introductions, Ian Toames from the Environment Agency gave an overview of the cause and scale of the flooding.

This was followed by a question and answer session during which residents asked questions on a very wide range of topics including how to prevent future flooding, flooding of the River Ash, drainage and sewage problems, the impact o5f Sweeps Ditch, the timing of the army deployment and whether the river should be dredged. Over one hundred questions were submitted in advance of the meeting and residents were also able to ask questions on the night.

Prior to the main meeting, a market place event was held to allow residents to speak directly with the agencies and to ask more detailed questions about their personal circumstances.

Cllr Daxa Patel, Cabinet Member for Emergency Planning said: “Community and Accountability are two of the Council’s core values and this meeting was a very real reflection of our commitment to bring all the agencies together and give residents a voice. As with any emergency, there are always valuable lessons to be learned and together with our partner agencies we are looking at which aspects of the crisis were managed well and which areas need to be improved. Thank you to all the residents who came along and to the organisations which took part.” Daxa was also present at the Sunbury meeting the following day.

Spelthorne Chief Executive, Roberto Tambini closed the meeting with a commitment that Spelthorne Council will work with Kwasi Kwarteng MP and Surrey County Council to narrow the short-fall in funding for the River Thames Scheme and to facilitate local flood meetings to allow the affected communities to continue discussions with the key agencies regarding future flood defences.

Not surprisingly, and given the misery suffered by many Staines and Sunbury residents, both events became highly vocal with residents expressing their well-founded frustration and desperation.The Evnironment Agency and other bodies with responsibility for flood prevention and relief cannot fail to have been impressed by the outpouring of well-informed scepticism and challenges to the status quo.

The next Music Night at Sunbury Cricket Club is on Friday week, 20th June, when the Cricket Club welcomes back The Mustangs after quite a lengthy absence. They continue to consolidate their position as one of the most highly-regarded contemporary blues-rock outfits on the UK club and festival circuit, with a high-energy stage show featuring their distinctive brand of blues-inspired original material. Led by dynamic front man Adam Norsworthy and featuring the blues harmonica of Derek Kingaby, they have just featured on the main stage at the Hebden Bridge Blues Festival, and once again have the Cambridge Rock Festival and Swanage Blues Festival on their agenda during the summer and autumn.

They are about to release their first ‘live’ album before going into the studio with top producer Wayne Proctor to record their next album, and visitors will no doubt hear some of their new material that’s destined for that album, along with some familiar material. They always put on a hugely entertaining high-octane show, and if you’ve only started coming to the Club's gigs recently you might not have seen them before, so make sure you don’t miss them. There’s full information, plus lots of music and videos, on their web site at www.themustangs.co.uk, so check them out there. For once, the Club has managed to avoid organising a gig on the night of an England World Cup match, so looks forward to seeing you there.

 The Association's 2014 AGM will be held at the Riverside Arts Centre, Thames Street, on Wednesday 25th June at 8pm.

You will see from the Agenda that the Environment Agency has kindly agreed to give a presentation on flood relief proposals - a highly topical subject given the misery endured by many local residents this winter. All are welcome to attend.

AGENDA

1. Apologies for Absence
2. Minutes of the 2013 Annual General Meeting
3. Chairman's Report
4. Treasurer's Report
5. To Approve Revised Constitution
6. Election of Officers and Committee
7. Flood Relief Proposals - Presentation by Environment Agency
8. Open Forum
9. Any Other Business

If you have any particular issue you wish to be addressed at the Open Forum (Item 8 above) please notify the Secretary Colleen Cuthbert on 01932 783606 or through the 'Contact LOSRA' button on the Home Page of this Website.

To view the minutes of the 2013 AGM, click here

5pm – 7pm market place, Staines-on-Thames, 7pm – 9pm presentation and questions and answers session at Spelthorne Leisure Centre, Knowle Green, Staines-upon-Thames, TW18 1AJ

To see the flier advertising this event, please click here

In addition, on the following day, the 6th June residents will have their chance to put flood related questions to our MP, Kwasi Kwarteng. The editor of Sunbury Matters, Monica Chard, has asked him to meet the community at St. Mary's Church Hall, Green Street at 4pm. All residents are welcome to attend this event.

The latest Trading Standards Alert draws our attention to, amongst other things, car sale scams conning Surrey residents out of thousands of pounds, parcel scams, Paypal phishing and much more besides.

To view the Alert, click here

Many of our readers already subscribe to this service but, tor those who don't, the following email from Spelthorne Council will be of interest: 

Good morning

I have been asked by the Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee to circulate a link to the borough’s electronic newsletter, to all residents’ associations, with the request that this is sent out to all your members and other contacts as soon as possible.

Please send via email, or include an item in your own leaflets and newsletters.

The Council is keen to encourage as many channels of communication as possible and the monthly e-news is an excellent way of keeping up to date with news and events.

Visit this page on our website http://www.spelthorne.gov.uk/enews and click on the green box on the right of the page.

Thank you

Regards

Joanne

Joanne Jones

Community Development

Spelthorne Council

Council Offices, Knowle Green, Staines-upon-Thames, TW18 1XB

Surrey County Council has refused permission for the Weylands Waste treatment plant in Walton citing:

"The applicant has failed to demonstrate factors which either alone or in combination demonstrate ‘very special circumstances’, which clearly outweigh the harm to the Green Belt by virtue of the harm to openness, inappropriate nature of the development and the other harm from noise, traffic and air quality impacts. The applicant has not produced a robust alternative site assessment or demonstrated that the site would be well related to the source of waste arisings it would receive. The proposal therefore does not accord with the National Planning Policy Framework 2012, Policy CW6 of the Surrey Waste Plan 2008 and Elmbridge Borough Core Strategy 2011 Policy CS1."

It is interesting to note that the County Authority is using in its grounds for refusal the same objections as were advanced by Spelthorne Council and its residents to the construction of an incinerator at the Charlton Lane Recycling Centre, (aka the 'Eco Park'). The Weylands waste treatment plant would have been more efficient than Charlton Lane; and would have used tried and tested technology, unlike the untested, experimental technology approved for Charlton Lane.

It seems that there are two different standards being applied, depending on which side of the river you live.

The next Music Night at Sunbury Cricket Club falls on the 23rd May, when the Club is delighted to welcome back The Jackie Lynton Band, who gave a hugely entertaining show last year. Jackie is one of the larger-than-life characters of the British music scene, with a colourful career that goes back to the late '50s when he had a residency at the legendary 2is coffee bar in Soho, and was part of the equally legendary Larry Parnes package tours of the day. He had recording deals with Pye, EMI and Decca during the '60s and early'70s but the elusive big hit single never came, despite numerous releases, produced by the likes of Tony Hatch and Mark Wirtz, and featuring the top session players of the day - his version of The Beatles' "LIttle Child" includes a guitar solo by Jimmy Page. In between times, he helped decorate John Lennon's Weybridge house!

The '70s saw him joining The Savoy Brown Blues Band, touring the USA with ZZ Top, and while there establishing a relationship with Colin Pattenden, a Sunbury resident who was touring with Manfred Mann's Earth Band, and who now plays bass in Jackie's Band. He also hooked up with Status Quo, for whom he later wrote "Again And Again", and with whom he still occasionally guests during their tours. The '70s also saw him establish The Jackie Lynton Band, with an appearance on "The Old Grey Whistle Test" and at the Reading Festival. Jackie is a marvellous raconteur and has written comedy scripts for various well-known comedians as well as appearing in bit parts on TV shows like "The Bill".

The Club guarantees a thoroughly entertaining evening of rock 'n' roll and lively banter with Jackie and his band, which as well as Colin Pattenden on bass, includes Adrian "Spud" Metcalfe, formerly with The Nashville Teens, on drums, and Mike Windus and Chris Bryant on guitars.

Staines: park all day Sunday for just £2

Spelthorne Council has announced that visitors to Staines-upon-Thames will now be able to park all day on a Sunday in the Council’s town centre car parks for just £2.

The new charge is being introduced as a trial for six months. Previously the charge for parking all day on a Sunday in these car parks varied from between £7 and £12.

The new charge applies to the following car parks:-

• Bridge Street, TW18 4TG
• Tothill multi-storey, TW18 4PN 
• Elmsleigh multi-storey and surface, TW18 4TL 
• Kingston Road, TW18 4LQ
• Riverside surface, TW18 4UD