Portmore Park & District Residents Association
Supporting local heritage, quality of life and community
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.
Parking and turning on private land, obstructing residents
Residents of Grenside Road face school traffic and parking issues which need help from Surrey Highways.
Grenside Road is a cul de sac with no turning space, so things can get fraught when large numbers of parents park up on the pavement and neighbouring land, wait with engines running, then try to turn around and drive out.
The private access to residents’ parking spaces and lock up garages is often obstructed by parents parking and manoeuvring and trying to turn around to depart from Grenside Road.
The school’s use of the Grenside Road gates as a secondary entrance is in line with Surrey’s policy of multiple access points. But the road lacks the parking controls expected around a school entrance. There are still no zigzags or special parking restrictions around this entrance, despite the optimistic comments made by an outgoing councillor, before last year’s Surrey County County local elections, about Surrey making safety improvements in Grenside Road.
St George’s Junior School is trying to make sure parents are considerate, but official parking restrictions from Surrey would allow traffic wardens to enforce better behaviour. PPDRA will continue to draw this to the attention of the new County Councillor, Tim Oliver. Action is needed to improve a situation residents find unacceptable.
Remember Surrey’s 2009 North Weybridge parking proposal? Many residents objected strongly, with good reason. It proposed CPZ restrictions that would have made life difficult in some roads. The plan was scrapped, and other roads that needed parking controls had to wait. Conclusion? CPZ proposals must be designed to meet the very different local needs of different roads.
2009 North Weybridge CPZ proposal – strongly rejected by residents
Our part of Weybridge has traffic and parking issues which vary considerably from road to road. We have several roads used as rat runs, three schools, roads where residents have no off-street parking and others with ample off-street parking.
Previous attempts at strategic parking solutions have failed because they ignored local residents’ differing needs. Can we do better now?
Traffic issues arise from the sheer number of drivers who want to use our local residential roads
The impact of traffic is serious
Parking problems have more causes
The impact of parking varies
Top priorities for PPDRA (discussed extensively over the past ten years: see previous postings), are that parking restrictions and provision:
Here we give some more background on local issues for residents around traffic and parking, and their impact.
Local views on traffic are reasonably clear — most residents don’t want dangerous rat run traffic in their residential roads — but parking is more divisive. One resident’s solution may be another resident’s problem.
PPDRA’s long held view on parking is that local residents are the people who know most about the parking needs and issues in their road and nearby. Residents are the people who have to live with the issues day after day, so their views should be heard.
Of course restrictions must be strategically coordinated across the area, but that must not disadvantage roads in urgent need.
Residents who have to rely on finding an on-street parking space have the greatest need — so PPDRA has long supported residents’ majority calls for controlled parking zones (CPZs) in roads like Elmgrove Road (given a residents-only CPZ) and Dorchester Road (still waiting).
Areas around schools also have particular needs. For example, we have been lobbying for safety improvements in Grotto Road and Grenside Road.
Currently it is suggested that a large area of Weybridge could be made a CPZ, perhaps with inner and outer zones (see the Weybridge Parking Project). Some local residents — including most of the PPDRA committee — were worried by proposals in the original Parking Project report, because they seemed to ignore considerations that some residents feel are local priorities. Happily, the Weybridge Parking Project team appear to be evolving the proposals in response to concerns.
One resident said, after reading the report, “I don’t want to see our town ringed by multi-storey car parks and dominated by yellow lines, clearing the way for faster rat run traffic”.
Other residents (e.g. in Radnor and Glencoe) are aware that a CPZ in their road would significantly reduce their ability to find anywhere to park, because of all the additional yellow lines (see the 2009 plan above).
Reduced capacity, greater rat run danger and increased inconvenience were key reasons behind residents’ overwhelming rejection a proposed 2009 North Weybridge CPZ (see plan above).
The proposal to ban daytime parking on Portmore Park Road was especially unpopular. It would have encouraged rat run traffic, reduced parking options for residents of nearby roads, and caused problems for parents collecting children from St Charles Borromeo.
There were also worries of impact outside the proposed CPZ boundary, in Thames Street and beyond.
So what factors must be considered now, and what principles would bring the best outcome? The Local Priorities listed above by PPDRA draw on years of input from local residents.
SHARE YOUR VIEWS AT OUR COMMUNITY MEETING & AGM ON 13 SEPTEMBER
7:30 for 8:00 pm at St Charles Borromeo school hall, Portmore Way, Weybridge
In summary, PPDRA, rather than proposing specific parking solutions, seeks to
At its heart, our position is that any strategic parking solution must reflect the differing needs of different roads.
Our part of north Weybridge has some very specific parking and traffic issues, which vary enormously across the area.
We have many attractive narrow fronted Edwardian and Victorian homes within walking distance of the town centre, busy schools, local businesses, tree-lined suburban boulevards with large houses, and traffic trying to avoid main road jams.
Traffic and parking issues vary from road to road:
Many residents have long believed that strategic action is needed, with the councils working together. Surrey County Council is responsible for controlling on-street parking, Elmbridge for off-street.
A strategic approach to parking and traffic issues will only succeed if it addresses the different issues facing different roads in north Weybridge. It must be sensitive to local priorities and the different needs of different roads.
Strategic solutions are difficult, which means they take time. Hence many residents are disturbed at suggestions that urgently needed local changes should be put on hold pending an overall strategic solution. It should perfectly possible to agree more immediate local changes, in line with an overall strategic vision, to relieve severe problems.
There is a cost to local residents in failing to meet their needs!
SHARE YOUR VIEWS AT OUR COMMUNITY MEETING & AGM ON 13 SEPTEMBER
7:30 for 8:00 pm at St Charles Borromeo school hall, Portmore Way, Weybridge
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We have added a further clarification from Pauline O’Sullivan on CPZ proposals from the Weybridge Parking Project, which illustrates how the Project is being responsive to local concerns.
Weybridge residents and visitors alike are enjoying lakeside walks along Broadwater Path, between Grenside Road and Cowey Sale. Its dedication as a public footpath and its new crushed stone surface give year round access to the lakeside – a beautful, tranquil, historic local feature, rich with wildlife.
What many don’t know is that the path is essential for the future of the lake itself. Without formal public access, the lake would not qualify for the public funding needed to stop it silting up. Broadwater is a centuries old man made lake, which requires maintenance.
Without dredging, the lake silts and becomes marshland, growing rushes then self-seeded trees. In the 14 years that residents (including PPDRA) pressed for the path, silting got worse at the Greenlands Road end. The middle length also silted badly, until residents raised funds to dredge.
Last year Elmbridge BC contributed a CIL grant, which helped fund some urgent dredging. The Broadwater Conservation Society is now seeking public funding from national sources, and wider local support.
This historic lake is an important part of local heritage. So PPDRA proposes to become affiliated to the Broadwater Conservation Society. To be voted on at our AGM on 13 September.
Broadwater Lake and Path, August 2018
Fourteen years of effort by local residents and councillors have gone into getting agreement and funding for the Broadwater Path, along the edge of Broadwater Lake. As well as being a magnificent facility for the community, the path will help ensure the future of the lake itself. But there is an unexpected last minute obstacle.
Just as Surrey County Council was poised to complete formal dedication of Footpath 40 (Broadwater Path) in April 2016 and to begin work on laying the surface (with CIL funding agreed by Elmbridge BC), local residents were dismayed to learn that St George’s Weybridge had decided to oppose dedication of the path across its newly acquired land, despite a previous Deed of Planning Obligation.
So everything is on hold, except the continuing decline of the lake.
Broadwater Lake is progressively silting up and desperately in need of substantial dredging works and maintenance. Formalising public access to the lakeside will do more than simply give walkers a better path: it will open the way to public funding for maintaining this historically significant lake and exceptional local natural environment.
Local community groups have lobbied the school, seeking a change of mind. On 21 April 2016, PPDRA Chair Miles Macleod, presented a comprehensive case for permitting the dedication – you can download a copy of the PPDRA Broadwater Path Submission to School Governors here. You can also download the maps and plans. As you can read in the submission, the path may possibly be formalised with or without the school’s agreement, but school consent would greatly reduce the unexpected delay.
Subsequently the school has informally suggested a possibility of permitting a re-routed path. This would involve a diversion away from the lakeside before the school land, and along the paved lane from the health club.
In sounding this out, we have heard some strongly expressed views that the school should permit the original lakeside route. At our May PPDRA Committee meeting, after extended consideration of matter and of the school’s alternative route proposal, the view of the committee was strongly in favour of continuing to press for dedication of Broadwater Path along its original proposed route. We also agreed to continue seeking further views from the local community.
The path alongside Broadwater has been used informally and unopposed for as long as anyone can remember. Formalisation of the path alongside Broadwater Lake would bring benefits for the school as well as the community.
What are your views? Please do take a look at the facts set out in our submission.
Note: The picture on this page shows the new land purchased by the school in red, the Broadwater Path (proposed Footpath 40) in green, and Footpath 36 (which separates the old and new school land) in yellow.
On 17 January 2016, PPDRA sent the following to the Surrey Highways Parking Strategy & Implementation Team. It draws on extensive local discussion by our committee, input from residents at meetings and via a survey, and discussions with local groups.
Portmore Park & District Residents Association (PPDRA) recognises that Weybridge needs adequate parking for residents, shoppers, visitors and workers, if our town is to thrive. We also know that this is a difficult balance to achieve.
The PPDRA committee broadly welcomes the principle of reducing parking restrictions to help increase capacity, where that is possible and desirable, so long as
We welcome the principle of consulting residents of individual roads about the specific needs of their road, especially where residents are being displaced from limited parking spaces in their own road.
PPDRA believes there is a very strong need for more public off-street parking, priced more affordably, and convenient for Weybridge town centre. This is a view which has been widely expressed by local residents in our community meetings and surveys. Cheap or free short stay parking in particular could help the town centre thrive. Affordable long stay off-street parking is also much needed, within reasonable walking distance.
We recognise that allowing on-street parking can have positive outcomes beyond a simple increase in parking capacity, especially in potential rat runs. Traffic speeds in our local residential roads are a major issue. Parked cars can be a positive natural form of traffic calming: for example, Portmore Park Road and Thames Street are unclassified residential roads which without parked cars might become high speed rat runs for through traffic.
Thames Street and Portmore Park Road include schools and a church, which have different parking needs and impacts on the community, meriting additional thought about how best to enable the required mainly short stay parking nearby. PPDRA has met with St George’s Junior School 3 times a year since 2002, liaising on issues including how best to manage school run drop off and pick up parking. We have also discussed parking issues with representatives of Christ The Prince of Peace church and other local groups. We note that Thames Street has recently faced issues of excessive obstruction caused by inconsiderate parking at the upper end between the junction with Grotto Road and Monument Green.
The most serious parking issues locally arise close to Weybridge High Street. The Portmore Park and District area of north Weybridge has a fair density of mainly Victorian homes with no off-street parking. The lack of private off-street parking is a particular issue in roads adjacent to the High Street, where shoppers and town centre workers look to park their cars. The result has been that residents of these roads, returning from a school run or shopping journey, risk finding nowhere to park within walking distance of their home. Hence many living in these roads favour residents’ parking schemes.
PPDRA has long supported the principle that Surrey County Council should consult residents of individual roads about specific residents’ parking schemes for their road.
The PPDRA committee also recognises the need to permit short term shopper and visitor parking in such roads, with a good level of churn, so long as it allows for the needed level of daytime residents’ parking. It is not good to see ‘residents only’ parking zones with few parked cars in daytime, when shoppers can find nowhere to park and when local shops are in need of footfall.
Further from the High Street, many homes in Portmore Park & District have private off-street parking. For roads where there is no issue of residents being displaced from essential on-street parking, as a general principle the majority of the PPDRA committee would favour only minimal restrictions, simply where safety issues demand double yellow lines on dangerous corners. However, we appreciate that there is concern among residents in some roads (particularly Wey Road and Round Oak Road) about potential displacement of parking into their roads if CPZs are introduced elsewhere, and we feel this issue needs careful consideration by Surrey.
We are aware of specific issues in Radnor and Glencoe Roads where there is a very high density of houses and almost no off-street parking, and Church Walk which has very limited parking. Some residents of these and other roads rely on their parking being able to overflow into on-street parking in Portmore Park Road.
PPDRA would be happy to contribute further on any way possible to help support Surrey County Council (and Elmbridge Borough Council) in finding ways to achieve adequate parking for Weybridge residents, shoppers, visitors and workers.
PPDRA is conducting a survey of local residents’ concerns and wishes for Weybridge, to help us continue to reflect local views.
Our Survey 2015 covers:
Survey forms are being distributed with our October 2015 PPDRA Newsletter.
You can also download copy of PPDRA Survey 2015 here.
Residents of north Weybridge are invited to share views at our
Portmore Park & District Residents Annual Meeting
Meet other residents and local councillors
Tuesday 3 November, 7:30 for 8:00 pm
St Charles Borromeo School Hall, Christ The Prince Of Peace (Portmore Way)
7:30 – Chat and light refreshments
8:00 – Hear about and discuss local matters which affect our community
We will also briefly conduct the formal business of the PPDRA AGM
Elmbridge Borough Councillors for Weybridge North, Andrew Davis and Ramon Gray, plan to be at our meeting to listen to and speak with residents. This year Ramon Gray was also elected as Surrey County Councillor for Weybridge (his predecessor Christian Mahne was at last year’s meeting).
We hope also to have a guest to speak about the parking review.
Note that PPDRA and our AGM are always careful not to be party political.
Download our October 2015 PPDRA Newsletter (pdf, 1334KB) here.
You can also download copy of PPDRA Survey 2015 (pdf, 508KB) here.
St George’s Junior land purchase (in red)
St George’s Junior School has completed the purchase of the adjacent Green Belt land at Greenlands Farm — part of the remaining riverside farmland between Weybridge and Walton — which had been offered for sale as a ‘strategic development opportunity‘.
Ownership by the school looks to be a significantly better outcome, in terms of impact on our local community, than the land being sold to a property developer or to someone interested in extracting the underlying mineral aggregate.
For the immediate future, the land will remain as grazing land.
St George’s has provided information about their new acquisition, and an informative set of answers to frequently asked questions. Download the details of the land purchase here. While the extra land adds substantially to the estate of the school, the land purchase “is not expected to increase pupil numbers”.
The purchase includes the road leading to the Weybridge Health Club, and the lane linking to the school. This opens up possibilities for an additional access route to the school. The purchase also includes the source of the Engine River and a length of Broadwater, adjacent to the gardens of houses in Greenlands Road.
Double yellow lines are appearing in places where they may not be needed: notably on Thames Street opposite St George’s Junior School. Many residents feel that single yellows with no waiting at school drop-off times are all that’s required here.
PP&DRA has long campaigned to have double yellow lines on dangerous corners, where they are essential to give safe visibility — especially around the junction of Grotto Road with Thames Street.
But with such limited local space for on-street parking, north Weybridge cannot afford to have ‘no parking at any time’ on long stretches of road, away from junctions, in places where where parking is not a safety issue.
We gather that further double yellow lines, away from junctions and with no apparent justification on grounds of safety, may be appearing in the coming year. We have urged our County Councillor to try to reverse this at the next review, and ensure that in future double yellow lines are used only in places where there is a strong safety case.