Portmore Park & District Residents Association

Supporting local heritage, quality of life and community

Archives for September 2016

Community Event and PPDRA AGM – 5 Oct 2016

Portmore Park & District Residents Association

Portmore Park & District Residents Association

Local residents are invited to our Portmore Park & District community event on 5 October, from 7:30 pm in the St Charles Borromeo School Hall, Portmore Way.

Keep in touch with what’s happening locally

  • Meet fellow residents and local councillors
  • Find out about things that affect our local community
  • Share your views

The evening will have ample opportunity for asking questions and raising concerns.  It will incorporate (briefly) the PPDRA AGM.

County Councillor Ramon Gray, and Elmbridge Borough Councillors Andrew Davis, Michael Freeman and Andy Muddyman plan to be there.

There will be opportunities to learn more about — and give your views on — topics including

  • Broadwater Path update
  • Weybridge Parking Review
  • River Thames Scheme flood relief
  • Community Resilience
  • Weybridge Point riverside consultation
  • Weybridge town centre
  • town planning and
  • other local matters.

Is there a local topic you would like us to include?
Please do let us know: email contactus @ portmore.org.uk

Provisional Programme

7:30    Chat and light refreshments
8:00   Hear about and discuss local matters as a whole group
9:00   Brief AGM formalities, followed by
discussion in smaller groups of topics of most interest to people
9:45    Close

We hope to see you there!

TLC needed for Weybridge Thames riverside

Weybridge-Riverside-NE-2009

Wouldn’t it be lovely to have a riverside we can be proud of?  Many Weybridge residents recall how attractive our local stretch of Thames riverside was, up until autumn 2009 (see our main picture).  A well-tended riverbank where people could sit on the grass in the sunshine or in the shade of a tree, and enjoy fine views and tranquility.

Then the Environment Agency cut down the trees and fenced off this prime stretch, between Weybridge Ladies ARC and the foot ferry, in the course of works to install concrete moorings. They left the temporary fence in place and the riverbank untended for five years, despite local protests. It looked like this in 2014.

weybridge-riverside-ne-23-09-2014-web4

PPDRA along with local residents pressed for access to the riverbank to be restored and the brambles removed…

ppdra-riverside-story-10-2014

…and the mesh fence was eventually removed, and the brambles that had grown up behind it were strimmed.

But the riverbank has subsequently been left untended, and has again become an unattractive bramble patch. Below is a photo of the same stretch of riverside as in our main picture, showing how it looks in September 2016: overgrown, with brambles and scrubby growth obstructing access and views.

This is the first length of riverside seen by people joining the Thames Path at Weybridge.  It is a significant local amenity.  Surely it deserves some TLC?

weybridge-riverside-oct-2016-ne-1136

We want to see this important piece of riverside getting the care it deserves, with a proper mowing regime to maintain it as a grassy riverbank people can enjoy.  Together with the Weybridge Society, we are lobbying councillors to bring back regular mowing of the grass along this prime stretch of riverbank, to give residents something they can be proud of once more.

LINKS:

Read about the history of the riverbank work here

Read about the ‘Thames Gate-Wey’ moorings scheme here