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.”

Brighton Road: Severe disruption expected!

• The Bridge has been successfully replaced by Network Rail.
• 13 April to 11 May: NOW EXTENDED TO 25^th 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 17^th May for 11 nights.

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.

Cllr Karen George 

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 19^th at 2.30pm gathering signatures for a petition against the sale.

Brighton Road: Severe disruption expected!

• The Bridge has been successfully replaced by Network Rail.
• 13 April to 11 May: NOW EXTENDED TO 25^th 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 2^nd of May.  Due to adverse weather these works have been extended by another 2 weeks until 18^th 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 17^th May for 11 nights.

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.

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.

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.