Latest News

 **LATEST NEWS**

5th March 2022 

The proposal to build 10 extra classrooms for The Priory School has been withdrawn by Surrey County Council.  Given that the school has now removed its sixth form and is reducing in size at an alarming rate this is hardly surprising.  It has, however, taken SCC a very long time to make this decision and even longer to publish it.

WPHAPPDETAIL (molevalley.gov.uk)

 

 

20th September 2021

Minutes of an informal meeting held with Councillor Margaret Cooksey.

WDRG FB Split pdf

21st February 2020

If you have a spare couple of hours it's worth going through the Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment Vol.1 January 2020. It details all of the areas not considered suitable for inclusion in the Local Plan, Future Mole Valley.

 

http://www.molevalley.gov.uk/media/pdf/o/o/SHELAA_Vol_1.pdf

 

It seems that the decisions about what is included and what isn't in the Local Plan are a pretty arbitrary affair. For instance the reasons given to make the decision to exclude Sondes Place on the Westcott Road from the Future Mole Valley Local Plan are given as "Unsuitable impact on the Green Belt, tree cover and parkland setting of mansion house." Using that rationale then I think it would be reasonable to argue that the proposal to build on the field adjacent to Sondes Place Farm bordering the Westcott Road would have an unsuitable impact on the Green Belt, tree cover and parkland setting of the existing original farm buildings now converted for residential use and additionally the severely negative effect on the views of the market town from the Westcott Road heading East into the town.

 

 

 18th February 2020

Information received from one of our residents who attended the meeting on Saturday regarding Future Mole Valley the Local Plan.

Speaking to Margaret Cooksey on Saturday at the consultation meeting on the Future Mole Valley Local Plan she appeared to be very much anti-green belt development and is pushing the government to reduce the 7100 homes required in the local area

She did make a request which seems to make a lot of sense. She asked that in any consultation response people should be clear about what policy people do support as it then gives them a body of evidence as to what the population does want. She used an example of electric charging points being demanded in any development which they can then use to demand it of developers

Feedback could focus on the policy of not developing greenbelt but growing the agricultural economy and environment, all of which are already in the local plan. This means the development of the fields in west Dorking are in contravention of the essential policies of not building on the Green Belt and should not be allowed.

Only one point worthy of note is that the online consultation is a bit of a mess because although you can respond to all of the questions you have to do it in one sitting or submit multiple responses because the system they have used does not allow the user to revisit their submission.  She did say that probably the best way is to complete whatever you can and submit and then revisit to complete additional sections and submit separately, this could potentially have a negative impact on the number of submissions sent in, a lot of people will not have the 'staying power.'

Regarding The Priory School expansion, she has her suspicions (as we have) that someone in SCC is driving this very hard, she could not understand how a school with 255 spare places is applying for a multi million pound development to expand.  SCC say they need an extra 300 school places in the Dorking area but this directly contradicts various reports which say that the Mole Valley does not need extra school places.  It might be being paranoid but there is obviously an ulterior motive here, this is being pushed very forcefully through committee by SCC for some reason best known to themselves.
DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED TO SCC COMMITTEE

Surrey County Council Officers are now recommending that the plans to build a new Science block at The Priory School be approved.

https://mycouncil.surreycc.gov.uk/documents/s65922/The%20Priory%20Completed%20report%20for%20Committee.pdf

The document they have presented for consideration by Committee continues to refer to the school's change of admission arrangements and increase in admission numbers as a reason to approve the application.  The reality is very different.  These figures were obtained from the school under a Freedom of Information request.

The Priory School number on roll

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actual numbers BELOW PAN

 

2013/2014

2014/2015

2015/2016

2016/2017

2017/2018

2018/2019

2019/2020

  

Planned admission number (PAN)

150

150

150

150

150

180

180 (210)

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Year 7

141

159

152

138

136

138

107

103

Year 8

130

147

151

149

141

133

137

43

Year 9

170

131

143

150

147

137

134

16

Year 10

170

170

120

145

146

148

139

11

Year 11

147

170

164

119

140

143

148

2

Year 12

98

74

71

77

21

28

29

?

Year 13

55

68

49

36

46

13

21

80

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Total pupils on roll

911

919

850

814

777

740

715

255

 

If the Committee document is correct then the school should have taken in 210 pupils into Year 7 in September 2019, they did in fact recruit 107, a shortfall of 103.  The Committee document also ignores the inaccuracies in the revised Transport Plan which uses a figure of 130 sixth form pupils, as can be seen by reference to the above table this is not the case, there are 50 students in the sixth form.  According to the school's own figures and using the Transport Plan estimate of 130 pupils in the sixth form, the school should currently have 970 pupils, they have in fact 715, they have 26% empty places.  This equates to 255 spare places, nearly enough to accomodate the 300 extra that SCC say they need.

The Committee document also refers obliquely to the MVDC local plan 'Future Mole Valley' and it's reference to plans to build on the Green Belt area known as Sondes Place Farm.  As part of this proposal the document seems to suggest that the addition of pick-up, drop-off and coach parking to the proposed development of this Green Belt site could somehow resolve some of the local traffic problems.  The idea that coaches and cars entering the Dorking one-way sytem to access the Westcott Road and the proposed development shows a complete lack of any concern for Dorking residents who already have to endure the interminable delays on Vincent Lane and Westcott Road.  The report also totally ignores the existing bottleneck at the junction of Hampstead Lane and Coldharbour Lane at school pick-up and drop-off times.

This report is reminiscent of the reply sent by MVDC to SCC when the first application was made, totally ill-informed and ill-considered.  It completely fails to recognise the flagrant disregard the school has shown for MVDC planning restrictions by totally ignoring previous requirements regarding on-site parking and the views of local residents.  It also fails to take into account any of the important issues MVDC have raised with SCC regarding resident's parking and the additional need for an extra 20 vehicles to find somewhere to park during the working day.

Planning and Regulatory Committee Thursday, 6 February 2020 10.30 am

 

 

Common Sense Prevails

MVDC have now responded to the SCC application to expand the school.  Last year when SCC first submitted the plans to MVDC for approval they were 'rubber stamped' with NO OBJECTION and returned to SCC.  This second application has now been discussed by the relevant MVDC planning committee and common sense seems to have prevailed

MVDC Officers Report

 

 

The Priory School Expansion.

We have just received this revised planning application (click on link below) from SCC regarding the proposed expansion of The Priory School.
At first glance it looks as if they have completely dismissed the idea that there could well be an extra 300 cars dropping off and picking up children at the school in the morning and evening.  They are suggesting that due to the school's erection of fencing around their car park, picking up and dropping off pupils will have to take place in the roads surrounding the school with additional parking at Milton Heath car park.
This will have major implications, not only for the residents of Hampstead Lane, Longfield Road, West Bank but also for anyone affected by the increase in traffic caused by extra vehicles using the Milton Heath car park and the impact it will have on the already congested Westcott Road.
 
The Priory School Expansion

 

 

Notice of closure of Surrey Community websites.

We have received notification that the free Surrey Community website service is to close in March 2020.  The contents of the email notification are copied below.

 

"Dear ********,

 We are writing to you because you are listed in our records as an administrator of the website below, which is hosted on SurreyCommunity.info.

 SurreyCommunity

  • https://www.surreycommunity.info/community/

 As you may know, we set up SurreyCommunity.info in 2006 to address the need for an easy-to-use and affordable solution for community groups to publish content online. Since then, the online world has changed enormously in terms of possibilities, expectations and requirements.

 Although we’ve been able to sustain SurreyCommunity.info for over a decade, we’ve not been in a position to develop it in any significant way for several years. To continue to maintain SurreyCommunity.info so that it meets current and future security and accessibility requirements, and to be able to update it to offer the features and facilities that other hosting services provide would require substantial investment.

 Because of this, and because the need that we originally set out to address no longer exists – there are a large number of free and affordable website providers now – we have, following discussions with borough and district colleagues, regretfully concluded that SurreyCommunity.info is no longer viable, and have decided that it will close.

 This is not a decision that we have taken lightly. We understand that, for many of you, this will be a significant inconvenience, so we are putting some measures in place to help lessen the impact:

  • The county, district and borough councils have provided funding to keep the service running for another year. SurreyCommunity will close at the end of March 2020, to allow you sufficient time to manage this change and help with any impacts, in line with the Surrey Compact.
  • If you no longer need your website, let us know and we’ll close it for you.
  • If you set up a new site with another provider and notify us once your new site is running, we will set up a redirection on your SurreyCommunity site so that any visitors are automatically taken to your new site.
  • We have a help page at https://surreycommunity.info/closure with answers to some of the most commonly asked questions, and we will continue to update this with advice and guidance until SurreyCommunity closes.
  • We will continue to provide support through enquiries@surreycommunity.info as usual. Do contact us if you have any queries, but note that although we can help with any aspects of using SurreyCommunity, we can’t answer questions about other providers’ systems.

To help us gauge the kind of support that will be most useful to you, we’d be grateful if you could take a couple of minutes to answer a short survey:

https://www.surreycommunity.info/closureinformation/survey/respond?survey_id=21481447

Lastly, we’d like to thank you for using the service. You and your groups have all contributed to making Surrey a better place to live, and we appreciate that you chose SurreyCommunity to help you do this.

Kind regards,

The SurreyCommunity.info support team"

Yet another community service cut.

 

 

Letter from a concerned resident.

This is a copy of an email received from the owner of #66 West Bank regarding the recent major works carried out by Thames Water by the bottom gates opposite the school entrance.

"Dear Association,
My house is 66 westbank. About a month ago we had a very unpleasant  event where the sewers were blocked in the road and sewage backed up and cane out of our drains and flooded the back of my garden. Thames water came out and after 2 days managed to clear the blockage and sanitize our garden. They said that the blockage was most likely due to someone flushing face wipes / baby wipes and they caused the blockage.
Everything was good for a month and it has happened again! Thames water restated that they saw the cause as someone in the street flushing face wipes.
We are at the bottom of the sewer run and that is a problem.
Can I ask you to contact all the westbank houses and let them know about not flushing face wipes /baby wipes and hopefully it will prevent another blockage. May be worth letting the school also know in case it is coming from them and backing up.
Thank you"

The advice from Thames Water can be found on their website and some useful information can be found by clicking HERE.

 

A planning application to drill for oil in the Surrey Hills is to be withdrawn after the government decided not to renew a lease, an energy firm has said.

 

Europa Oil and Gas Ltd. have applied for permits to drill for oil and gas in an area close to Coldharbour near Leith Hill. A petition calling on the Environment Agency (EA) to reject the environmental permit applications made by Europa Oil and Gas Ltd., for Leith Hill in Surrey related to oil drilling has been published.