Portmore Park & District Residents Association

Supporting local heritage, quality of life and community

Help save our local riverside car park

The WLARC car park, with the River Thames in the background

The WLARC car park, with the River Thames in the background

The Environment Agency (EA) proposes to replace some much used local riverside parking with a hot food and drink concession, right next to the Weybridge Ladies Amateur Rowing Club (WLARC) at the end of Thames Street, Weybridge. The EA has applied to Elmbridge for planning consent for this change of use of part of the car park, EBC 2025/0385.

The deadline for comments to Elmbridge is 27 April 2025.

Most residents and visitors we have spoken with think the proposed change would be a very bad idea. 
Here are some reasons why:

  • This popular small car park, in riverside Green Belt, is often fully parked, so removing some spaces would disadvantage riverside visitors
  • The EA plans are inaccurate on number of spaces: the area shown for change of use would in practice remove much more than two parking spaces
  • The EA plans fail to show the Thames Path and National Cycle Route 4, which both pass through the middle of the car park
  • Any queue for food, or standing by the vendor site, would dangerously obstruct the footpath and cycle path
  • There is nowhere to sit and eat, so food would be eaten on the hoof, resulting inevitably in litter along the riverside
  • The EA has a history of failing to maintain this car park, so there is good reason to believe they would fail to manage daily clearing of litter
  • A hot food vending concession here would be out of keeping with the many healthy riverside activities for which people visit this location
  • There are already two excellent food-serving pubs and two riverside cafes within 200 metres, each with ample seating for their customers
  • The application site is Class 3 Floodplain, directly adjacent to the river, and part of the car park was flooded in 2003 and 2014.

Help save our car park by objecting by 27 April to Elmbridge Planning Application 2025/0385 at
https://www.elmbridge.gov.uk/planning/find-or-comment-planning-application.
You can use the QR code below for direct access to the application details:
https://qr-code.click/i/680a17b88e317


EBC Planning Application 2025/0385 – Car Park South West of Weybridge Ladies Rowing Club Walton Lane Weybridge KT13 8LU – change of use from car park spaces to hot food and drink concession.

Update

We note that a different part of the Environment Agency has objected to this Environment Agency planning application, on the grounds that it is in Class 3 floodplain, and the application has no Flood Risk Assessment yet.

We also recall that a corner of this car park was flooded in 2003 and again in 2014.

It is still very important to object for all the other applicable reasons, to prevent an amended application with a favourable Flood Risk Assessment simply getting around that objection.

Some background 

The history of this car park is one of serious neglect by the EA

Elmbridge Borough Council believed it owned this land for many decades. EBC tended it, collected waste from three EBC-owned bins in the car park, and by 2008 had allocated capital for improvements. Then in 2009 the EA registered ownership, as part of its major riverside land registration for the Lower Thames Flood Risk Management Strategy.

When Elmbridge then withdrew its bins on losing ownership, the EA refused to arrange for waste collection from the site, telling Elmbridge, ‘we are not in the business of managing car parks’. Which left some of us wondering why the EA had registered ownership.  Subsequently an agreement was made for EBC to provide and empty three bins and provide a weekly clean up.

Elmbridge also used to maintain the adjacent stretch of riverbank, and kept it immaculately, but the the EA registered ownership, and has rather neglected its upkeep. See before and after pictures of the riverside.

Improvement funding

Some years later, local Weybridge residents worked closely with Thames Landscape Strategy and Elmbridge BC in framing a well-conceived and practical improvement plan, to resurface the dangerously uneven and neglected car park, and create a viewing platform on the sloping land overlooking the river, and remove self-seeded saplings and scrub, opening up the view towards Shepperton weir.

This excellent landscaping project was awarded a grant of circa £72,000 capital funding from the Elmbridge Community Infrastructure Levy.

However the project foundered, we understand because of lack of agreement from the EA about paying for future maintenance of the car park, and the funding has lapsed.

Overall this is a sad tale of neglect by the EA. And now the added insult and injury of a ‘hot food and drink concession’ diminishing the parking facility for visitors, and changing the character of this length of riverside, to the dismay of many.  

History suggests that the EA will do nothing effective to manage the daily use of the concession and ensure that all the resulting litter it creates along the riverside is cleared up.

Residents and visitors alike hope to enjoy our beautiful and largely unspoilt lengths of local riverside. This application takes no account of their needs and expectations

Highways hitch delays Weybridge Hospital rebuild

Weybridge Hospital fire July 2017

Weybridge Health Centre proposed design

Weybridge Hospital / Health Centre past and future

More than seven years after Weybridge Hospital burnt down, hopes of the replacement Weybridge Health Centre plans (EBC 2024/3065) receiving consent this month were dashed by a mix up over a secondary pedestrian and cycle entrance.

A proposed new active travel entrance via Portmore Way received strong objections. Planning consent will now be delayed at least until July 2025, the earliest date that Elmbridge Borough Council can consider a slightly revised application.

Why was a Portmore Way entrance proposed?

The NHS Property Services 2024/3065 plans for the Health Centre building and landscaping looked excellent in most respects, but for the unexpected pedestrian and cycle entrance via Portmore Way.

It seems Surrey Highways had insisted the plans should include a Portmore Way entrance, to give easier active travel access for those of us who live in north Weybridge — access previously made easy by Footpath 20 (FP20) from Portmore Park Road to Minorca Road.

Justified objections

This single aspect understandably brought fifty objections, around the undesirable impact of opening up a completely new access from Portmore Way on safeguarding the primary school, and on church parking. This means the planning application has to wait to be decided by a planning committee of councillors, rather than be decided quickly by a planning officer.

A Portmore Way entrance would also bring practical issues and further potential delays, as the hospital site is a metre higher than Portmore Way, and separated from it by mature trees.

So it would mean tree felling, purchase of carbon offset, and also, outside the NHS land, the design and construction by Surrey of a zig-zag sloping connecting path and handrails on Surrey Highways’ adopted Portmore Way land, plus provision of street lighting. How long would that take? And where is the budget?.

Why not Footpath 20 / Minorca Road?

The Surrey Highways’ intent was good, but their active travel solution ignored (or was unaware of) the fact that there was already a much-used active travel route from north Weybridge, via dual use FP20 from Portmore Park Road to Minorca Road, giving — prior to the fire — convenient direct (and level) pedestrian and cycle access into the Hospital site via the pavement which curves from Minorca Road into the site’s NHS land.

Weybridge Hospital Minorca Road entrance in 2016 with pedestrian pavement access

Extract from 2024/3065 Transport Assessment showing Minorca Road access in 2016, with pavement entrance

We are told by NHS Property Services that, while non-emergency vehicle access to the site will be blocked here, there was no intention in the Health Centre 2024/3065 plans to prohibit use of this FP20/Minorca Road pavement pedestrian and cycle entrance. They were simply preventing motor vehicle acccess other than emergency.

Surrey has a history of forgetting FP20. In 2009 it had fallen off their radar and lacked any maintenance schedule. It was becoming very overgrown despite daily use by many residents. But these days it is clearly shown on Surrey’s official online map as FP20, and it is in their dual use pedestrian/cycle active travel scheme. It is a very convenient active travel route from Portmore Park Road.

Amended plans coming

NHS Property Services is very willing to amend its plans and remove any reference to a Portmore Way entrance, which was not part of the original concept, and make it explicitly clear that active travel access will be restored via FP20 / Minorca Road.  It will need Surrey Highways approval, and then Elmbridge planning consent.

The revision will mean submitting updated plans to Elmbridge Borough Council after consulting relevant bodies, plus the statutory 21 days for public comment.

Lobbying Surrey County Council

Following discussions of the issues with our Weybridge Surrey County Councillor, Tim Oliver, we have been told that if NHS amend their plans to make it clear they include pedestrian [and cycle] access from a FP20/Minorca Road entrance, the issue should be resolved without the need to open up a new entrance via Portmore Way.

Local support will help

Given the 53 current objections, it would be really helpful to have at least as many letters of support for the revised plans. And then we may at last get a proper Health Centre to replace our much missed Weybridge Hospital.

You can read a full case against having a Portmore Way entrance in this document [2MB pdf], which was shared with SCC Councillor for Weybridge, Tim Oliver, along with the following covering note:

To Tim Oliver from Miles Macleod, 10 April 2025

Submission re Surrey Highways view on Portmore Way vs FP20/Minorca Road for active travel access (EBC 2024/3065)

Tim
Thank you again for your very prompt and helpful responses on this. The highly negative impact of creating a new Portmore Way access is an extremely important topic locally, as is avoiding any further unnecessary delay in rebuilding the hospital.

I attach a submission summarising what we believe is a very strong case for an active travel entrance to Weybridge Health Centre via Minorca Road & FP20 and NOT via Portmore Way. This was compiled after meeting with representatives from the local community, the church and school in Portmore way, NHS Property Services, NHS Surrey Heartlands and an EBC councillor. Please do look at it, and share with Surrey Highways.

I understand that NHS Property Services will be submitting amended documents showing no access from the Portmore Way site boundary, and reinstating the former pedestrian and cycle access from Minorca Road. The hope is that this updated application can be considered and accepted by EBC planning (sub-)committee in July, so that construction can at long last start this summer. Plainly it would be helpful if Surrey Highways are supportive. Further delay would be hugely unpopular.

The Transport Assessment will also be modified accordingly, but I note that even in the current version para 5.3.8, limiting Minorca Road access to ‘emergency vehicles only’, sits under a subheading ‘Vehicular Access’, and would not therefore apply to pedestrian and cycle access. I understand from NHS Property Services that there was no intention to prohibit pedestrian and cycle access from Minorca Road.

I hope the attached submission proves sufficiently persuasive for Surrey Highways to revise their view. It seeks to be self explanatory, but failing that, I would very much welcome a meeting to discuss the issues with you and Surrey Highways.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,
Miles
———————
Miles Macleod

Response from Tim Oliver, 14 April 2025

Miles
I have discussed the matter with […] the officer at SCC dealing with the application. His simple point is that in the absence of pedestrian access from Minorca Road the existing footpath would mean a long loop round via the High Street to access the site. If the NHS are now saying, there will be pedestrian access then I think the matter will be resolved without opening up a route from Portmore Way.
Kind regards
Tim

Tim Oliver OBE
Leader of Surrey County Council

Watch for updates

Once the amended plans are submitted, we will update this posting accordingly, and we hope the revised plans will receive strong local support.

River Thames Scheme Consultation 2024

New Thames foot/cycle crossing from Desborough and across new Flood Relief Channel weir

Proposed new Thames foot/cycle crossing from Desborough and across new Flood Relief Channel weir

The River Thames Scheme statutory consultation starts on 22 January 2024 and runs until 4 March 2024. While the flood relief elements largely benefit areas upstream of Weybridge, the landscaping proposals contain a major win for those of us who have campaigned for better sustainable travel linkage between Weybridge and Shepperton: a plan for a new pedestrian/cycle bridge across the River Thames from Desborough Island, giving access to Shepperton, and to a network of new riverside walks and green areas alongside the new flood relief channels. This will be a major step in sustainably linking our communities.

The consultation is open to all.

PPDRA has participated in stakeholder meetings and consultations since the start of the River Thames Scheme. We were originally greatly concerned about potential flooding around Walton Lane Weybridge from the discharge of a flood relief channel opposite D’Oyly Carte Island, and about the amenity impact of proposals to displace the Thames Path in widening Desborough Cut.

Detailed flood modelling discussions from 2015 onwards were reassuring, and also established that lowering the riverbed downstream of Desborough Island would have a more positive effect on flow and flood relief than widening the Cut. Combined with proposals for the long hoped-for cycle/footbridge to Shepperton, this gives the scheme a much more positive impact for Weybridge residents and users of the Thames Path and National Cycle Route 4.

You can read more about previous RTS consultations and PPDRA questions and input on this website, including:

………………………………………………………………………………..

Here is a copy of the RTS 2024 Statutory Consultation announcement email:

Have Your Say on The River Thames Scheme- 22nd January 2024 to 4th March 2024

“I am writing to you to notify you that statutory consultation on the River Thames Scheme (“the Scheme”) will run from 22nd January 2024 to 4th March 2024.

The Scheme is being delivered by the Environment Agency and Surrey County Council, in partnership with other local authorities and interested parties. It represents a new landscape-based approach to creating healthier, more resilient, and more sustainable communities. The integrated Scheme responds to the challenges of flooding; creating more access to green open spaces and sustainable travel routes, in addition to encouraging inclusive economic growth, increasing biodiversity and responding to the dual challenges of climate change and nature recovery.

Once built, the flood channel will be considered in legal terms to be a ‘flood defence structure’ and it is intended that it will also be a ‘main river’. Further information on what this means is contained in the statutory consultation brochure and on the consultation website set out below.

The Scheme includes the following proposals:

  • The creation of a new flood channel in two sections through the boroughs of Runnymede and Spelthorne, totalling over 5 miles (8.5km) long;
  • Capacity improvements to the River Thames through lowering the middle part of the bed of the River Thames downstream of Desborough Cut;
  • Capacity improvements to the Sunbury, Molesey, and Teddington weirs to increase the amount of water that can flow through them by installing more gates that can be opened when river levels rise;
  • New green open spaces associated with the flood channel, with access for local communities and facilities such as sports fields, accessible pathway network, nature play spaces and associated new landscape features;
  • Priority areas for habitat creation, enhancement and mitigation, which link existing and new wildlife corridors, improve fish passage and build upon the network of existing wildlife sites;
  • New or improved active travel provision associated with the flood channel corridor in areas of enhanced public connection, linking to the existing network and two new pedestrian and cycle bridges across the River Thames at Chertsey and Desborough Island;
  • Changes to the road layout and utilities, including temporary diversions during construction;
  • Temporary construction features such as site compounds and materials processing and storage sites; and
  • Temporary car parking for construction workers.

Following a direction from the Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Scheme has been designated a project of national significance for which development consent is required. As such, the Environment Agency and Surrey County Council will be required to submit an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO). The Scheme is currently in the pre-application stage of the DCO application process.

We are now holding a statutory consultation on our proposals and this is your chance to help us shape the design we submit to the Planning Inspectorate as part of the DCO application.

To find out more:

  1.     Visit our consultation website: www.riverthamesscheme.org.uk to access our consultation materials, including interactive maps and online feedback form.
  2.     Come along to one of our consultation events- where you can speak to a member of the project team and view the consultation materials.

Additionally, we will be hosting virtual events for those unable to attend the in-person events. To sign up to one of these events, simply email:  enquiries@riverthamesscheme.org.uk.

The consultation will run for a period of six weeks between 22nd January and 4th March 2024. The deadline for submitting responses will be 11:59pm on 4th March 2024.

Have your say by:

  1.       Completing the online feedback form: www.riverthamesscheme.org.uk
  2.       Completing the paper feedback form: Available at our public consultation events and returning it to the address below.
  3.       Writing a letter to: FREEPOST RTUK – RBLY – XUBT, RIVER THAMES SCHEME, 5 First Street, Manchester, M15 4GU
  4.       Sending an email to: enquiries@riverthamesscheme.org.uk

The Environment Agency and Surrey County Council will consider and have regard to all responses when developing the DCO application following the consultation. Please note that responses and other representations will be recorded in and form the basis of a Consultation Report and, therefore may become public. For further details please see our Privacy Notice on the Scheme website www.riverthamesscheme.org.uk/privacy.

The project team and I look forward to meeting you at one of our consultation events and receiving your feedback on the proposals presented.

If you have any queries about this correspondence, the Scheme or the consultation, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at enquiries@riverthamesscheme.org.uk.

Yours sincerely,
Jeanne Capey
River Thames Scheme, Project Director ”

 

Weybridge Library Hub – Drop-In Event 25 Jan 2024

Plans for Weybridge Library and Community Hub will be on show at Weybridge Library in a Surrey County Council engagement event on 25 January 2024  from 4:00 – 7:00pm.  This is for anyone who wants to find out more about the plans for the new Weybridge Hub and the timetable for the refurbishment of the library due to open in Spring 2025.

There will also be co-design opportunities for children and their parents and carers during the scheduled rhyme-time and story-time activities between 11:00-11:30am on 25 January and 30 January.

Residents who attended PPDRA Community Meeting in September 2023 will be aware of very positive plans for a modern flexible library. This is a chance to learn more, and talk with those behind the plans.

The Weybridge Hub plans also include space for targeted youth support and accessible community spaces for hire, and commercially lettable space, although  some residents feel that these Hub elements of the proposals miss opportunities to create a really positive local community hub and fall short of community aspirations.  What are your views?

At the event, information will be available on all the improvements and collaboration taking place to create the new Hub and partnership work being undertaken with Elmbridge Borough Council to provide a library provision during the refurbishment works. Attendees will be able to view approved plans for the library and input their ideas to the look and feel of the library and future event programming of the library space.  Video content showing a 3D walkthrough of the plans for the improved library area will be shown.

Surrey County Council staff will be available during the afternoon event to answer questions.

The building works will include comprehensive external refurbishment of the existing structure, a single storey infill of the rear courtyard to expand the ground floor and full internal refit of all interiors providing accommodation for a variety of services and partners.

More information will be available in the library and online from the 25 January 2024.  Whilst staff will be available at the drop-in session from 4-7pm, the information boards will remain in the library and online for comment until the 7 February 2024.

PPDRA comments on plans for Weybridge Library

The following comments on the Surrey County Council plans for Weybridge Library Community Hub have been sent by PPDRA to SCC Leader and Councillor for Weybridge, Tim Oliver.

Dear Tim,

Below are some comments from the Committee of Portmore Park & District Residents Association on the Surrey County Council plans for the Weybridge Library building, as set out in the Consultation Planning Application submitted to Elmbridge (EBC 2023/2312) which offered no opportunity for public comment.

We believe the comments below reflect feelings widely held within the local community, and hope that you and the Library Community Hub design team will give them genuine consideration.

Support for aims

  1. We strongly support the use of the Carnegie model to guide and inspire redevelopment of Weybridge Library as a library and integrated community hub.
  2. We are delighted that Surrey County Council has allocated budget for this.
  3. We believe that there is a great opportunity to create an appealing, engaging and popular new library and integrated community hub in the current library building, if a more community-centred design is developed.

Disappointment with current plans and process

  1. We are very disappointed that the current SCC plans for the library building show a lack of imagination and integration, and appear to ignore community input, particularly in the proposals for hub elements on the first and second floors, which seem like little more than refurnishing existing rooms.
  2. We implore SCC to reconsider, and to reshape the design with more community involvement (which we understand is already envisaged for finalising the ground floor library element).
  3. We are disturbed by the opaque planning process by which SCC can grant itself planning consent, without any clear opportunity for public comment on the current plans: EBC says “please consult the relevant authority”, yet the SCC website doesn’t suggest how to do that.
  4. We want to avoid a repeat of the 2004 New Walton Bridge fiasco, when SCC spent hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money awarding itself planning consent for a deeply flawed, oversized bridge and twin-loop junction design, and on trying to fend off public opposition (happily unsuccessfully, as a public inquiry imposed a much better bridge and junction design which conserved valuable riverside public amenity land and saved Weybridge residents from the extra rat run traffic the twin loop junction would have invited).
  5. We hope for a planning process for the Library Hub where evidence and community input and comments are recorded and publicly visible (an essential element of the EBC planning process).

What a better design can offer

  1. We hope to see an integrated library and community hub created, with:
    1. Appealing, inviting entrances from Church Street and Churchfields
    2. More open and flexible design of the hub elements to meet multiple community uses, creating a desirable destination for all kinds of local residents
    3. Outdoor spaces as well as indoor spaces (including a terrace, and a landscaped seating area by an improved Churchfields entrance, as recommended by Elmbridge Borough Council)
  2. We hope for a design which makes the first floor of the Community Hub a more desirable community destination, through increasing its space and enhancing its facilities, e.g. by:
    1. Extending its area laterally, incorporating doors onto a new open air terrace on the roof of the planned single storey extension, with outdoor seating and tables (thereby, as a visiting county councillor observed, making it a far more profitably lettable space for functions)
    2. Enhancing its catering potential by expanding the kitchen area (in line with comments from Elmbridge Borough Council), not reducing it
    3. Offering cafe facilities for visitors, to help make the hub a genuine local destination
    4. Increasing the flexibility of the internal space of the whole first floor, making it more open and adjustable to accommodate more varied community activities
    5. Providing controllable shading for the west facing windows, to reduce the main room’s greenhouse-like summer heat, without reducing its admirable winter light
    6. Reconsidering the design and location of a business hub element, to make it better suited to use by multiple small businesses and individuals (the current design looks outdated and inappropriate), and thereby enhancing income.

Wider community involvement

  1. We support suggestions by the Weybridge Society for bringing the building to life by having a visibly operating Brooklands Radio live broadcast studio on the ground floor, as part of a more open plan, integrated and flexible hub design, shaped with the help of community input.
  2. We support the views of local EBC councillors that it is essential to have wider community involvement in defining and shaping local community facilities which will serve Weybridge into the future.

Transition arrangements

  1. There are strong local concerns about negative impact on the Centre For The Community of transition period proposals to relocate Library services there, displacing current activities.
  2. We wish to see transition achieved in a way which avoids negative impact on the Centre For The Community.
  3. We would support a proposal to relocate library books to the former bowling green pavilion (subject to relocation of current services provided there to other EBC owned properties) for the duration of any works, with the more socially interactive library services relocated to the Centre For The Community.

Lifetime management costs

  1. We wonder if sufficient consideration has been given to the longer term benefits of investing more now in energy efficient measures (e.g. triple glazing, insulation, heat recovery, etc), which could significantly reduce lifetime energy costs.

 

Thank you again for suggesting that comments are sent to you, in your role as our county councillor.

We sincerely hope that there will now be an opportunity for proper public input into the creation of an amended and improved design for the community hub within an extended library building: a design which is much more community-centred and user-centred than the current proposals.

Kind regards,
Miles Macleod

Chair, Portmore Park & District Residents Association

Positive PPDRA Community Meeting and AGM

Our Portmore Park & District RA community meeting and AGM on 20th September was well attended and had a very positive mood. Around 60 people, including five local councillors, were there despite horrible weather — a deluge from the remnants of Hurricane Lee.

First we heard participants describe numerous local community activities and groups, each outlining very positive voluntary activities which help make our local community a lovely place in which to live and participate.  Then we heard guest speaker Sue Wills MBE speaking about the inspiration and plans for the new Weybridge Library, and finally Surrey County Council Leader Tim Oliver gave an update on local matters.

All our speakers were very well received. We look forward to a positive future for the Weybridge Library and Community Hub, and rapid development of new health facilities on the Weybridge Hospital site.

Elmbridge ‘No objection’ to Weybridge Library Hub plans – with reservations

Elmbridge Borough Council has registered ‘No objection’ to the Surrey County Council plans for Weybridge Library Community Hub redevelopment, with reservations. Surrey has the right to permit or refuse its own plans on Library redevelopments, following due consultation.

Reservations

However, the Elmbridge BC Officer Report requests “that greater consideration is given for the creation of increased community space provision on the first floor, e.g. enlarged kitchen/servery along with break out seating areas for community groups“, and that there is a ‘missed opportunity’ around the treatment of the entrance from Churchfields.

This EBC judgment aligns with some strong local feeling in Weybridge that the Community Hub element requires more space and facilities, and a more thoughtful approach to creating a flexible community Activity Hub on the first floor, to help it become an appealing community destination.

Library vision good, but Community Hub limited

The Library element of the redevelopment proposals, drawing on the Carnegie model, seems very positive in creating a Library which will enable and promote more community involvement, and bring increased cultural, social and learning interaction.

But the small community ‘Activity Hub’ on the first floor misses the opportunity to go beyond the limitations of the current first floor community hall (apart from adding toilets). The majority of the first space is taken up with tightly fitted traditional office desks and chairs, in a large open plan ‘Business Hub’ and in meeting rooms. It even seems to move away from adaptable community use by proposing to turn two potentially flexible current spaces, a Tea Room and Staff Room, into small traditional office-style meeting rooms.

Yes, residents want to see facilities for local business use. But is this an effective design, when there is a golden opportunity to create a well designed integrated Community Hub within the Library building, supporting multiple local activities?

Surrey County Council has a statutory duty to provide Library services, but not wider community facilities, and that rather shows in the proposed design. 

Here is the existing Weybridge Library first floor plan.

Community input overlooked?

During the public consultation phase there were many suggestions about how to make a first floor Community Hub a more desirable community destination, through increasing its space and enhancing its facilities, e.g. by:

  • Extending its space laterally, incorporating doors onto a new open air terrace on the roof of the planned single storey extension, with outdoor seating and tables
  • Increasing the flexibility of the internal space, to accommodate more varied activies
  • Enhancing its catering potential by expanding the kitchen area
  • Offering cafe facilities for visitors, to make it a local destination
  • Providing controllable shading for the west facing windows, to reduce the room’s greenhouse-like summer heat, without reducing its admirable winter light

Support for a more appealing Hub

Proposals for enhancing the plans and shaping the Hub more around what people want received strong support in the WeyBetterWeybridge Stakeholder Reference Group. A visiting Surrey County Councillor at one meeting said that a terrace would be a great idea and a significant improvement. It would greatly enhance the potential income from letting the space for social functions, since many people want the option of access to a terrace and fresh air for function guests.

A Surrey County Council Officer who presented draft plans agreed that a terrace would be an achievable addition to the Activity Hub, at modest extra cost (including repositioning some rooflights), and suggested that it could be added to the planning application as a minor amendment.

Joined up thinking needed

Subsequent local discussions have gone further, and suggested a far more integrated approach to the design of the building’s interior layout, combining the Library and Community Hub and Brooklands Radio elements in a way which would be much more inviting, appealing and engaging. This seems entirely in line with the aims of the Carnegie model, which is an inspiration for the redesign and extension into a community hub.

Improving access from Churchfields

The EBC Officer Report also suggests improving the design of the the access from Churchfields.
“The approach from the rear car park / pedestrian footpath is an important secondary access. Whilst some improvements have been made to the approach over the existing arrangement, it is considered that this is a missed opportunity to create a more welcoming space with better permeability/ connectivity through the site which would help encourage an increase in footfall and activity within the area. It is considered that this could be improved further by creating a more prominent accessibility entrance at the rear with an enhanced landscaped setting with a seating area through the relocation of car parking spaces to the main car park.”

This aligns with views of the Stakeholder Reference Group about the significance of this entrance, and the fact that this area of the Library exterior is the most tranquil and sheltered from A317 traffic nuisance.

Note that Elmbridge stated that its ‘No objection’ was ‘subject to consideration of the issues above’ listed in the Officer Report.

An opportunity for improvement

We hope that the Surrey plans for the refurbishment may yet be amended, to achieve a more effective and appealing Community Hub by exploiting the great potential of an extended and improved Library building.

At the very least the first floor Activity Hub design must be improved, something which can be done at modest cost if incorporated now while there is the opportunity. Preferably the entire redesign of the building will be revisited, to offer an integrated community hub which is closer to what the community wants. But it is entirely up to Surrey County Council to decide this.

What currently seems unclear is how to get effective feedback to Surrey County Council about the proposed plans, other than by contacting our councillor for Weybridge Division, Tim Oliver.

We are still seeking clarification on how residents can make publicly visible comments on this Surrey County Council planning application.

 

 

St George’s Junior School neighbours event

St George’s Junior School is extending an invitation to neighbouring residents to join an ‘Open House’ drop-in event between 6pm and 8pm on Thursday 28 September.

This will be a social and informational evening for our local community, open to all neighbours of the school. It will include an opportunity to learn more about the school’s parking plans, plus optional tours of the school site.

See the invitation above for more details.

PPDRA Community Meeting 20 Sept 2023

Find out what’s happening around north Weybridge at our PPDRA community meeting and AGM
> 7:30pm – 9pm, Wednesday 20th September 2023, CPP Parish Hall, Portmore Way, KT13 8JD.

Our theme is positive local activities:

Guest speakers:
> Susan Wills MBE, Assistant Director, Art, Culture, Heritage & Libraries, SCC.
> Tim Oliver, Leader, Surrey County Council, divisional member for Weybridge.
> Representatives from local voluntary community groups and clubs, sharing information about local activities you can participate in.

A great opportunity to find out more about current and future community activities in our town.

All interested Weybridge residents welcome

We hope to see you there!
And if you are part of a local community group/club/activity and would like to contribute to the meeting, please do contact us and participate.

Download our latest PPDRA newsletter and meeting flyer

After 20 years of portmore.org.uk website, we have now finally set up something on FaceBook:

Weybridge Library Community Hub Redevelopment Plans

Surrey County Council’s consultation planning application (2023/2312) for Redeveloping Weybridge Library as a community hub is now on the Elmbridge Borough Council website.
This is a consultation, as the Library planning application will be decided by Surrey itself.
Update 1 Sept: the full set of 25 plans is now listed on the EBC website, up from the 2 originally listed.
Update 17 Sept: The Elmbridge BC decision on the consultation application is “No objection”.

Application Headlines

Address: Weybridge Library Church Street Weybridge Surrey KT13 8DE
Description : Consultation from Surrey County Council: Change of existing library, museum, public hall (Use Class F1) and Brooklands Radio (Class E) to new community hub to include library with single storey infill extension (Use Class F1), youth support (Use Class F2), flexible community/commercial including public hall (Use Class F1/E) plus external alterations to existing elevations, installation of photovoltaic panels and roof top plant and associated parking and landscaping.
Application Type : Surrey County Council Consultation
Status: Registered. Not decided by EBC. Please contact the relevant authority to make a comment.

Surrey County Council Cabinet on 27 June 2023 approved capital spending to fund the Weybridge Library Community Hub redevelopment.

There is some useful information in the comprehensive Report on WEYBRIDGE HUB REDEVELOPMENT presented to Surrey Council Cabinet on 27 June 2023.

Surrey also provide a summary of the options considered.
The original long list of options to deliver Weybridge Library Community Hub included a complete re-build of the existing building and alternative leasehold or freehold acquisitions to re-site the building.
These options were discounted due to the cost and carbon footprint to deliver a new build and limited alternative sites capable of delivering the spatial needs of Council Services.