Draft Minutes – to be approved at AGM 2021
TATTENHAM & PRESTON RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
Annual General Meeting
Held via Zoom December 2nd 2020
Present were:
Committee: Kath Chattelle (Chairperson), Richard Mantle (Treasurer), Assadulah Jamil, Ian Mockford, Councillor Bob Harper, Councillor Nick Harrison, Councillor Jill Bray.
Guests: Rue Stanley, Rosemary Tisdale, Mike Humphreys, Carole Strutt, John Kemp, Chris King, Richard Bates, Police Sergeant Vinny Wagjiani of Surrey Police. Peter Dec joined later.
Kath Chattelle opened the meeting at 7.00pm.
(Ian Mockford used the share screen facility at various points during the meeting to illustrate matters under discussion)
Kath welcomed those present, thanked them for giving up their time and explained the format.
Surrey Unitary Council-Nick Harrison explained the idea behind Unitary Councils and that the issue had been deferred by Central Government.
Question by John Kemp – An alternative of smaller boroughs had been suggested. Your thoughts please?
Nick explained that some of the boroughs at the East of the county could be one unit as could other boroughs in the South West and North of the county. However the position taken by Surrey County Council is that it should be all or nothing.
Guest Speaker Police Sergeant Vinny Wagjiani
PS Wagjiani cheerfully introduced himself as the new officer in charge of the Neighbourhood Team in the North of the Borough. His antecedents were CID centred and he had just finished working at the Ministry of Justice.
Believing in intelligence led policing he intends to create a framework within which his team would have more autonomy to deal with local incidents according to the situation.
To help in this he intends to send out more information to the community.
He mentioned the following as part of his initial activities;
Speeding – He had contacted Speedwatch to hold and obtain surveys to establish where the problems are.
He hopes to set up a Community Speedwatch with a view to targeting the relevant areas and prosecuting offenders through the courts.
Stop vigilante behaviour in the South of his area. Moving the convicted person away from the area in order has stopped this kind of activity.
Tadworth Estate- To prevent and reduce drug taking and the use of NOS canisters. Send letters to the registered keepers of vehicles regularly seen in the areas. Apply pressure by knocking on the doors of dealers.
Catalytic Converter theft is on the increase in the Borough most recently Banstead Golf Club and Asda Car Park. He was having problems with the car park because both the council and Asda denied liability.
Nick was able to give him a definitive answer that Asda owned the carpark and stated he would provide confirmation of this.
PS Wagjilanni is arranging posters about this type of theft for the area, to make people more aware and help them spot it.
Toyota and Honda are particular targets for this crime. In line with other manufacturers they are attempting to reduce the high value materials used in the converters and to design antitheft components to make it harder to steal them.
The law is to be used to force scrap metal dealers to pay for these high value materials using bank transfer and cards only. To prevent payment by cash in an attempt to remove the places where the material is sold. A scrap metal dealer who persistently paid by cash might find his license revoked or not renewed.
Bob Harper explained how lawful garages were required to send the converters back to the manufacturers when they changed one.
Nick thanked PS Wagjianni for his comprehensive report.
There followed brief comments by guests and committee members regarding the area and roads most effected by speeding and noisy vehicles.
Nick named Fir Tree Road, Epsom Lane North and the small roads around Chetwode. The one way systems which had been considered were discounted because the roads were too narrow and speeders might feel safer if they knew nothing was coming the other way.
Mike Humphreys emphasised the issue with speeding and the theft of catalytic converters.
PS Wagjianni stated he had just sent one of his team on a speed gun course and would be happy to have him working in those areas as well as Headley and Great Tattenhams.
Rosemary Tisdale suggested there was a circuit the racers were using and perhaps this should be looked at.
Bob Harper mentioned the amount of NOS canisters on and around the Downs which might have some connection to the speeding and noisy vehicle driving.
PS Wagjianni asked for the names of these roads so his team could target them at the relevant times.
He finished his presentation by mentioning the upcoming SuperJag meeting at 2.30pm on 26th December, where burglary across all four Eastern Boroughs was to be discussed. The intention is to create resources to identify the criminals responsible. A public Q and A session will be held the day before to generate information and questions.
Councillors Reports:
Councillor Jill Bray – Playground and Youth Centre. Jillspoke about the idea of a child’s playground at Tattenham Corner. This would be for very young children from 0 to 5 years old. The equipment being considered is made of natural materials and is very small e.g. a swing only a metre high, so of no interest to older youths. The area was once a small garden and it will be good to use it again.
Phoenix Youth Centre- is to continue to be used for youth groups at little or no cost.
Jill put forward a request from Steve Boegeto put a notice of his youth football team meeting on the 11th December.
Trees – Jill Bray stated that CIL money is still available for the planting of trees in the borough. Residents who would like a tree outside their house and are willing to water it for 2 years should email Jill. Planting to begin in Autumn 2021.
Councillor Nick Harrison: New Hospital – It is confirmed that the new hospital will be built on the site of the Sutton hospital.
£500 million has been set aside for the build. It will deal with A&E, Critical and Children Care. Epsom Hospital would still remain open.
Highways update
Nicks’ standing joke about the horizon never getting any closer was appreciated by those present, but nonetheless he was able to report that The Horizon policy started 8 years ago has seen 43 projects completed.
In 2019/2020 There have been improvements at Tattenham Corner, Merland Green and Chapel Grove. 2020/2021 is the turn of Tangier Wood, The Brindles, Chetwode Road, Homefield Gardens and the A217.
Nick pointed out that the periodical consideration for new yellow lines was due soon. He invited requests for yellow lines to be submitted to the committee.
Planning: Jill Bray – Before giving an update on the current applications Jill gave a brief description on how the planning application system including appeals worked.
Downswood – the application has been refused and returned. The residents have employed a consultant to argue their case in committee.
Sparrowhawk – Application was refused but a resubmitted application for four houses has been accepted. Work has begun
23 to 33 Great Tattenhams – New application for 30 apartments. There are many reasons to refuse this application.
Chavecroft – there has been a pre application consultation for 5 houses and 18 flats. There are parking issues with this one.
Chris King stated that the development in Chavecroft will produce more traffic and asked about previous discussions regarding a one way system.
Jill Bray replied that during those discussions many local residents were worried that this would make the speeding issue worse. The speeders would feel more confident because they knew nothing would be coming in the opposite direction.
Nick Harrison confirmed this and stated that the public comments for and against a one way system were 50/50.
Jill suggested we wait until all the building work is finished and then revisit the matter.
Associations Web Site : Kath thanked Ian Mockford and Assad Jamil for the excellent work they’ve done redesigning the website and making it more user friendly.
Whilst Ian placed the appropriate pages on the shared screen Nick explained the various pages regarding Planning. It was a good demonstration. He stated that the website had been useful given that there have only been two newsletters this year.
Unfortunately the photograph of a lake on the opening page could not be identified when John Kemp asked the question. (Note:- It is Painshill Park , near Cobham)
Treasurers Report:
Richard Mantle – Richards succinct report on the associations finances was very upbeat.
Covid 19 had prevented us knocking on doors to collect annual subscriptions but the new policy of direct bank transfer has been very productive. The payment envelopes delivered to households with the newsletter had also worked very well and subscriptions were still arriving.
The total collected for this year was only a couple of hundred pounds less than normal.
Payment by envelopes were the most popular method by 2 to 1.
Because envelopes had been so successful Richard put forward the idea of envelopes being distributed with the appropriate newsletter. If the local Road Stewards agreed, those envelopes could be dropped through the Stewards’ letterbox for later collection either by himself or other committee members. He felt this would be easier for the residents and therefore more likely.
There was no other business.
Kath thanked everyone for attending and pointed out that the email addresses of the committee members were on the website.
The meeting was closed at 8.45pm.