Save Surbiton Libary: Sign the Petition
At an Kingston Council Asset Strategy Meeting last month, Lib Dem Cllr Liz Green, the Deputy Leader of Kingston Council, expressed her wish to sell off Surbiton Library together with Sessions House. She stated that the British Legion would be kept informed from the outset as to plans for the War Memorial located on the land. The Council will shortly be conducting a Library Review.
The Conservatives, led by Cllr Karen George, have launched a petition to Save the Library and adjoining community hall. PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION NOW BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK.
It’s attracted over 300 signatures so far, and nearly 100 people turned up last Saturday to protest at the Lib Dem administration’s plan to sell off this busy community facility.
Karen said “Thank you to the many supporters who joined us at Surbiton Library last Saturday. For those who haven’t yet signed, please do. We want to send a clear message to Cllr Liz Green and the Lib Dem administration in Kingston – our library is not for sale.”
Ongoing local roadworks
from RBK Highways:
Brighton Road: Severe disruption expected!
- The Bridge has been successfully replaced by Network Rail.
- 13 April to 11 May: NOW EXTENDED TO 25th MAY in order to bring forward overall completion dates of all works and, due to the recent inclement weather, allow Network Rail to complete their ancillary works. Southern Gas Networks will take possession of the closed road to replace the old cast iron mains in Brighton Road with new polyethylene pipes. Gas mains replacement.
- During the closure,
- Kingston Council will improve the public highway under the bridge.
- BT will replace a sunken cover. (Completed)
- Thames Water will install a meter on the main to monitor leakage on their network. (Completed)
- Networks Rail will complete ancillary works (Signage, re-pointing of brickwork, pigeon-proofing, etc).
Tolworth
Kingston Road (A240):
TfL is carrying out carriageway re-surfacing works at night (21:00 to 05:00) under a road closure with diversions. Works commenced on 17th May for 11 nights.
Great support for Surbiton Library
Local residents and councillors turned out in force to support Cllr. Karen George last Saturday.
What was especially noticeable was the absence of any Liberal Democrat councillors, leading some to wonder whether or not they support the bid.
However Conservative councillors and campaigners were out in force.
The picture below features quite a number of them: they are Cllrs. Adrian Holder, Frank Thompson, Michael Burden, Karen George, David Cunningham, Geoff Austin, Andrew Day and Dennis Doe.
Library at risk: petition
Cllr Karen George was once again featured in both this week’s Surrey Comet and Guardian in her protest against Kingston council’s plans to sell off Surbiton library and learning difficulties centre. She is rallying residents to join a protest opposing the plans. Cllr George – Conservative Cllr for Berrylands believes the plans have been in the pipeline for a long time, accusations denied by the council.
She said “We must act now and let the council know exactly how we feel about shutting down our libraries”.
She will be at Surbiton library on Saturday May 19th at 2.30pm gathering signatures for a petition against the sale.
Ward roadworks latest update
from RBK Highways:
Brighton Road: Severe disruption expected!
- The Bridge has been successfully replaced by Network Rail.
- 13 April to 11 May: NOW EXTENDED TO 25th MAY in order to bring forward overall completion dates of all works and, due to the recent inclement weather, allow Network Rail to complete their ancillary works. Southern Gas Networks will take possession of the closed road to replace the old cast iron mains in Brighton Road with new polyethylene pipes. Gas mains replacement.
- During the closure,
- Kingston Council will improve the public highway under the bridge.
- BT will replace a sunken cover. (Completed)
- Thames Water will install a meter on the main to monitor leakage on their network. (Completed)
- Networks Rail will complete ancillary works (Signage, re-pointing of brickwork, pigeon-proofing, etc)
Oakhill: from the northern end to the junction with Oakhill Road.
Footway widening and entry treatment. Works is being undertaken by the Council’s contractors. The estimated completion date was the 2nd of May. Due to adverse weather these works have been extended by another 2 weeks until 18th May.
Planned Works about to start (moderate to severe disruption expected)
Tolworth
Kingston Road (A240):
TfL to carry out carriageway re-surfacing works at night (21:00 to 05:00) under a road closure with diversions. Works commencing on 17th May for 11 nights.
Library in danger?
There are alarming reports in the Surrey Comet and elsewhere that there is some kind of threat to the future of Surbiton Library. Most worrying is the seeming unwillingness of prominent Administration members like Cllr. Liz Green of St. Marks Ward, to deny that closure is a possibility. This is coupled with the all too characteristic silence of the Lib Dem councillors for Berrylands and Surbiton Hill.
A few years ago there was some talk of relocation of the facility into a new ‘community hub’ structure as part of the hospital site redevelopment, along the lines whereby the Chessington Library forms part of the Hook Centre. However that all seemed to bite the dust at least two years ago.
All I can say is that year in, year out, when I was representing the ward, Surbiton Library was just about the best performing such facility in the Borough in terms of footfall and lending. With colleagues I often held surgeries in the adjacent small hall on Saturday mornings and these produced some of the most fruitful meetings with residents, not only from Surbiton Hill, who came to meet us.
If there is a threat to the Library it should be resisted and the Administration should be pressed to make its plans clear now.
cornerHOUSE May newsletter
You can access the latest newsletter from Surbiton Hill’s own community theatre here .
Pinocchio gone walkabout?
I am intrigued to find that at 6.30 this evening there will be a meeting of a body called the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Panel (of RBK). It’s in Sutton, so perhaps it’s joint with Sutton, though the RBK website doesn’t make this clear.
RBK’s representation seems to consist of two Lib Dem cllrs and no-one else. One half of this duo is none other than our very own non-resident, citizen of Elmbridge, non-RBK Council Tax paying councillor, Neil Houston.
Last week was a good week for………
Tony Arbour, who was re-elected to the GLA for the fourth time. Tony’s constituency includes Kingston, Richmond and Hounslow Boroughs and he manages to get round them all and keep abreast of local affairs over this vast area. He used to represent Surbiton on the GLC, when it still existed.
It was also a good week for
Boris Johnson, re-elected Mayor of London. I had the pleasure of meeting Boris a couple of times as he visited Kingston, Chessington and Surbiton on the campaign trail. Because Boris was re-elected it was a good week too for the people of Greater London, whose Council Tax will be kept under the firm control Boris has maintained throughout his first term, ending the profligacy of the Livingstone years.
It was a bad week for
our old friend Pinocchio. Why? His mayoral candidate came fourth and his local candidate was scarcely visible and his candidate in the Coombe Hill by-election came third, behind Labour (and over 1000 behind the Conservatives!) What is more, his famous Focus Team,( you know, the one that’s supposed to work for you all the year round) was nowhere to be seen throughout the local campaign. I counted 6 communications from the Cons, one from Labour (posted), nothing from the Greens, one from UKIP (also posted with stamps at least 30 years old and having half-penny denominations) and one very late, rather desultory Focus leaflet from the Lib Dems which suggested I should find out about their candidate from a website. What about the people not on-line, eh?
Ah well, mustn’t gloat – not much anyway.
At the cornerHOUSE this Friday
| April social plus the cornerHOUSE AGM |
| 7.00 Friday 27 April 2012 |
| The April bar social will incorporate the AGM of the cornerHOUSE. This is a great opportunity to find out how the community arts centre clicks. Key points on the agenda include the Chairman’s review of 2011, the Treasurer’s report on the state of the finances, the state of play on maintaining and improving the premises, how things are with the regular hirers and the programme of public events upcoming.
Then join the trustees for a free drink at the bar, and the chance to put the world to rights informally. Book, CD, DVD exchange available. Doors open at 7.00 |
| more info, should you need it from info@thecornerhouse.org |
New traffic problem Upper Brighton Road
Please note the following traffic information received from RBK Highways:-
Location Outside 23 Upper Brighton Road, Surbiton
Start Immediate.
Work Emergency repair to apparatus to stop gas escape.
Promoter Southern Gas Networks.
Comments Temporary traffic lights in operation for 5 days.
cornerHOUSE Festival
It is festival week at the cornerHOUSE. Nine brand new plays get three performances each. The plays were chosen from 50 scripts submitted for consideration, and cover a vast range of subjects and styles. Each is between 20 to 30 minutes long, each has its own director and cast. Do come and enjoy this festival of community creativity.
April 16th, 18th & 20th
- Tina Soprano
- One Small Step
- Schemers
- Name Dropping
- Book Day
April 17th, 19th & 21th
- The Programme
- I Am The Way
- The Road Less Travelled
- Circus Acts
020 8296 9012
The Cornerhouse
116 Douglas Rd
Surbiton KT6 7SB
16th-21st April 7.45pm £8/6
Fuller details of all cornerHOUSE events on our website :
Please use public transport to come to the cornerHOUSE.
If you have to use a car, there is no dedicated parking; allow time to find a parking space that is safe and considerate for our neighbours.
Oakhill chaos
Happened to visit Oakhill Road this morning. The Health Centre car park is closed off by a chain and the traffic was horrendous as people were trying to get into and away from the surgeries and others, including vans, trying to get through parked vehicles on both sides. One driver of a Land Rover had to park briefly in the middle of the road to allow and elderly and disabled person to get into it. Some people going the other way were less than sympathetic and I was concerned at oe point that frayed tempers might lead to a major row.
This may all be a consequence of the current building works and a purely temporary phenomenon. I hope it is but I worry that it might be a precursor of the delivery and collection of children from the large new primary school. This is what local residents feared all along and what their councillors since 2010 turned a deaf ear to.
Stormed at by shot and shell……..
Some parts of the ward are in the wars at the moment.
- There’s the Star and Garter building at the junction of Upper Brighton Road and Langley Avenue. I did once notice some mud in the road on Langley Avenue, but that was in the days when it used to rain and the impression now is that the construction is being done as sensitively as possible. If I’m wrong, please let me know.
- Lower down Upper Brighton Road there are the works to the railway bridge. These are probably long overdue but they are causing problems for pedestrians as well as motorists and increasing traffic in Oakhill and Ditton Road and Ewell Road. It seems St. Mark’s Lib Dems are claiming credit for the bridge works, but I’m not going to suggest either that they are responsible for them or that you should blame them for any inconvenience caused!
- Speaking of Oakhill there’s the ongoing works on the hospital site, with attendant heavy lorries. The impression I have formed is that materials are coming in and spoil is being taken out via Ewell Road exclusively – certainly this is the impression gained by sitting in traffic jams on the road while lorries manoeuvre in and out. Again, if I’m wrong, please let me know.
- The Red Lion site and the police pound site on Ellerton Road are still very quiet, it seems, and likely to stay that way for some time.
We don’t as yet have precise information on when all these works will come to an end. I’m sure Star and Garter will be a good neighbour to Southborough and I hope the bridge will not need further repairs for some years. Pedestrians will benefit from it becoming less attractive to roosting pigeons! The new health facility will be a boon to residents, not having been sold off for housing as some of our correspondents wanted! I hope residents’ fears about the impact of the new school on Oakhill are not realised – time will tell!
Coming up at the cornerHOUSE
Monday April 16th to Saturday April 21st – oneACTS 2012 – a festival of new playwriting
The antics of a troupe of clowns, skulduggery at an interview, and a young man’s fatal decision are just some of the subjects which feature in nine plays in this year’s festival. The plays, which have never been staged before, are between 15 to 30 minutes long. Four will be performed on one night and five on another, on alternate evenings throughout the run. “There’s some great plays in the festival this year,” said oneACTS chairman Jon Constant. “There’s a real mix of high quality, entertaining drama and comedy – something for everyone to enjoy. The oneACTS is a great way for talented local playwrights to get their voice heard, but it’s not all just about the playwriting, we’ve got a lot of talented actors who auditioned for around 40 roles which were available and we are looking forward to seeing them bring these plays to life for the first time on stage.It should be a cracking week.” The festival is in its eighth year and has become a well established and highly respected part of the local arts scene.
The plays in this year’s festival include:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Tina Soprano by Tim Harrison; One Small Step by Sam South; Schemers by Eoin Carney; Name Dropping by Susan Cooke, and Book Day by Mary Petley.
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday: The Programme by Ian Davies; I Am The Way by Colin Irwin; The Road Less Travelled by Sean Lang, and Circus Acts by Katie Davison.
Tickets for each night are £8 (£6 concessions). Box office on 020 8296 9012 or email boxoffice@thecornerhouse.org to book your tickets.
Tuesday April 24th – Gala for the Wild Intelligence exhibition -Come and meet Sarah Tucker and Thomas Edward Benjamin, the artists whose exciting new exhibition is gracing the wall of the cornerHOUSE during April. Sarah works in acrylics on canvas, and says of her work: “It is inspired by the fields around my home in France. The paintings convey the continual movement in nature, and that the landscape is never ‘still’ or ‘serene’ just giving an illusion of it.”Colours, textures vibrate and looking closely at the work, you should feel the vibration. I call the exhibition Wild Intelligence because it’s a combination of imagination, lateral thinking, spontaneity and instinct that go into the creation of each work.”
The artists will be pleased to discuss their work at the gala and share with you a glass of bubbly!
Friday April 27th – cornerHOUSE AGM and social - The April bar social will incorporate the AGM of the cornerHOUSE. This is a great opportunity to find out how the community arts centre clicks. Key points on the agenda include the Chairman’s review of 2011, the Treasurer’s report on the state of the finances, the state of play on maintaining and improving the premises, how things are with the regular hirers and the programme of public events upcoming. Then join the trustees for a free drink at the bar, and the chance to put the world to rights informally. Book, CD, DVD exchange available.
Key dates for May :
3rd – Polling station
4th – quiz night
8th – exhibition gala
18th-19th – ROYAD performances
25th – monthly social
31st – first night of Hound of the Baskervilles
More information at www.thecornerhouse.org
