Portmore Park & District Residents Association

Supporting local heritage, quality of life and community

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

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.

 

 

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.

WeyBetterWeybridge – PPDRA comments

Imagine breathing life back into Weybridge town centre, with better coordinated community facilities, enriched by our green open spaces…  The WeyBetterWeybridge project is looking to do just that, in the redevelopment of the Weybridge Hospital site and the library site.

PPDRA has provided comments to the project, from residents in the Portmore Park area, on what would help make it a success.

For the project to succeed, we see it as imperative that:

  • Community use of both sites is retained and enhanced for people of all ages
    • with increased youth provision and facilities for young people
  • Better linkage is achieved between the sites
    • with pedestrians’ needs put ahead of passing motorists.
  • The massing of buildings is harmonious with the setting
    • remain close to Church Street on the South (library) site
    • allow the open space behind to stay sheltered from road traffic noise and pollution.
  • All the green space and tranquility of Churchfields is retained and safeguarded
    • the open view of St James’ Church from Churchfields is conserved
    • the togetherness of park, allotments and church respected.
  • The green space between the North site and Portmore Park Road is safeguarded.
  • Facilities are multi-functional and flexible
    • maximise use and differing needs across age groups
    • make available for extended hours
  • Car parking provision is sufficient, but not intrusive or dominant
    • e.g. with undercroft parking on the North (hospital) site

We understand that the project is considering multiple possibilities. We want to see community facilities on these town centre sites, and not to lose them to other purposes, such as high density housing or commerce.  And we want to ensure our green open spaces are not lost or diminished.

View to St James’ Church from Churchfields Recreation Ground (across Churchfields Car Park), Easter 2021

  • It is key to retain the natural open views from Churchfields park, towards the Church and allotments
    • building in the southern two thirds of the car park would have an overbearing and negative impact on the open character of Curchfields park and allotments
  • Any new buildings on the South site should extend no further south than the office building adjacent to the entrance to Churchfields car park
  • New building on the Church Street library site should fit with our characteristic Weybridge town centre gabled street scene
  • New build on the North site could cover most of the hospital site
    • incorporating extensive undercroft parking
  • There would be strong opposition to a tower block or excessive height
  • The North site can benefit from a green and tranquil aspect across the Youth Centre field.

PPDRA’s comments for weybetterweybridge share local residents’ thinking on facilities needed, young people’s needs, linking the sites, traffic, parking issues, nearby town centre improvements, and more.

You can download a copy of our full PPDRA comments for weybetterweybridge here

 

Houses to replace garages in Grenside Road?

Traffic chaos in Grenside RoadResidents have mixed views about a planning application to build four terraced houses on the site of 22 lock up garages in Grenside Road (EBC 2020/3495). While new homes would be welcome, and would look much smarter than the current garages, the resulting loss of parking spaces for local residents is a serious worry.

Unfortunately, the application seems misleading about parking – it claims there are ZERO spaces at present (where even the application’s own photos show parked cars) and that it would be creating four additional parking spaces: ‘Existing spaces 0, Proposed spaces 4’.  In reality, it would be taking away spaces used by current residents, and giving some of them to the new homes.

The application’s Transport Technical Note explains that ‘the garage site is within private ownership therefore cannot be relied upon for off-street car parking’. It does not mention the currently used parking spaces on the access road, where the ‘new’ spaces are proposed.  Strangely, it even gets the site location wrong – it shows the development site covering part of the Broadwater Path and a large patch of St George’s Junior School land.

What is needed is some coordinated action to ensure Grenside Road residents have somewhere to park – for example, on-street in Grenside Road, where currently places are taken by heavy school-related parking during termtime.  If suitable controls can be brought in, then residents may even welcome the addition of smart new homes.

The challenge is that while planning consent is given by Elmbridge Borough Council, on-street parking controls are decided by Surrey County Council.  Yet Surrey have repeatedly refused to acknowledge that the parking issues (and traffic issues) in Grenside Road are serious enough to require effective action – despite evidence like the photos accompanying this article.

PPDRA strongly supports residents’ attempts to get the parking issues looked at again, in the light of this planning application.

Wey Road parking restrictions proposed

A controlled parking zone (CPZ) is proposed in Wey Road and Round Oak Road, “to increase space for short stay visitors to Weybridge by discouraging all day parking by non-residents in these roads”.  Surrey is inviting comments on the proposals by 2 October 2020.

Surrey County Council has put forward these proposals as a late addition to the previously drafted Weybridge parking review, in what we understand is an exceptional move in response to a request from residents in these roads.

We have heard very diverging comments on the proposals from local residents, and will make a summary of these available online.

Details of the Wey Road and Round Oak Road CPZ proposals are available on the Surrey County Council website, with the statement of reasons being the primary document, and the weybridge parking review drawings showing what is described in the statement of reasons.

If you would like to object, support, or comment on the proposals, you must do so by 2 October 2020, by either:

UPDATE – SCC Elmbridge Parking Review January 2021 findings and decisions

Wey Road, Round Oak Road

Overview:
  • Objections: 140
  • Other comments: 6
  • Support: 24
  • Final decision: do not proceed.
Analysis summary
  • 11 objections (58%) and 8 comments in support (42%) from Round Oak Road residents
  • 29 objections (66%), 12 comments in support (27%) and 3 other comments (7%) from Wey Road residents
  • 76 out of 79 responses (96%) from outside of the two proposals roads were objections
Conclusion

Given that the analysis shows residents to be against the scheme and would be even if considerable amendments were made to it, and that non-residents were vehemently against the proposals, we have decided not to proceed with any changes to parking in Wey Road and Round Oak Road at the current time.

 

Beales Lane plans cause concern for residents

Plans for a three storey block of 17 flats and 11 houses in Beales Lane, with 53 bedrooms, are being considered by Elmbridge Borough Council (application 2019/0386). Over 100 objections have been registered with Elmbridge.  Read our PPDRA letter here.

Bigger, higher, denser, closer to road

The new block would replace the existing St Catherine’s buildings (lacking merit but inconspicuous, total 27 bedrooms) with a significantly taller block, of more than twice the mass, with its bulk much closer to the road.

See the photo and plans above to get a feel for the proposed scale. It is 55% higher from ground to rooftop compared with present, towards the Thames St end.

The plans propose parking spaces for 28 cars behind the block, accessed via a height-limited entrance mid-building.
The style of the proposed building is quite unlike other properties in north Weybridge. Some residents feel strongly that it is wrong for the location.

Many are concerned about the excessive bulk, and negative impact of the proposed development on the streetscene, traffic and parking – that it would transform the character of Beales Lane, and not in a good way.

Open, light, green and small scale

Residents are worried that the character of Beales Lane will be lost.  Beales Lane is green and open towards its Thames Street end. The St Catherine’s buildings are low and mostly set well back. Their layout is staggered so it doesn’t impose.

The houses opposite are a traditionally styled 1998 development, in keeping with the character of Weybridge.

It is currently a pleasant suburban lane, leading to the historic small cottages of Church Walk.

The new building would present a much larger and more dominating profile along its length, and project closer to Thames Street.  It would be a massive difference.

The current St Catherine’s building as seen from Thames Street

The proposed building would be 55% higher, far wider and project much closer to Thames Street

Below we list some objections to the development plans, raised by local residents.

How to give Elmbridge your views

Comments to Elmbridge Borough Council are invited by 29 March, but will be accepted after that. The application will be decided by the South Area Planning Sub-committee.  To register your comments, search for 2019/0386 at www.elmbridge.gov.uk/planning

It is helpful if objections are on grounds that relate to relevant planning legislation / relevant sections of EBC Local Plan. Below are relevant issues of worry to local residents. We list things that Elmbridge Borough Council must consider in deciding planning application 2019/0386:

  • Oppressive bulk and mass
    • The proposed development is EXCESSIVELY MASSIVE compared with neighbouring properties
    • It is taller, with its bulk closer to the pavement, and would dominate a road that is currently open and spacious
    • Its bulk and mass would be excessive for this suburban site.
    • Beales Lane leads to the historic riverside small scale cottages of Church Walk, the contrast is stark
  • Lack of fit with local streetscene
    • The proposed is quite unlike other buildings in the area, in appearance and style as well as scale
    • North Weybridge is characterised by Victorian/Edwardian dwellings with traditional roofs and lots of gables
    • The proposed vertical and rectangular lines might look fine as worker accommodation in Rotterdam, but don’t fit well here
    • It would have a very negative visual impact, transforming Beales Lane
      • from a light, open, airy road with chimneys the highest points & St Catherine’s largely set well back
      • to a visually narrower street dominated by a high, massive, alien building along its south edge
  • Excessive density
    (not a likely winner, given current pressure for increasing density, but worth arguing)

    • This is a much higher density than neighbouring dwellings
    • It squeezes a large volume of habitable space (11 new houses and 17 new flats, 53 bedrooms) onto the site
    • The floor area and number of bedrooms doubles
  • Loss of privacy
    • Neighbouring residents are concerned about loss of privacy, especially in their back gardens
  • Loss of light
    • Neighbouring residents are concerned that the proposed high building will block their light. Some question the measurements supplied in the application, for the height of windows opposite.

Visitor parking being used by school parents for child collection; note narrow roadway

  • Impact on safe traffic flow, safe delivery access, and safe manoeuvring, given lack of turning space
    This is a Surrey matter (so it is worth also writing to our SCC councillor, tim.oliver@surreycc.gov.uk, on this aspect). We are surprised that Surrey Highways has no objection
    to the prospect of large vehicles having to reverse out of Beales Lane into Thames Street (a road which Surrey’s own figures show carries around 5700 vehicles a day) right next to a school crossing:

    • Beales Lane is directly opposite the entrance to St George’s Junior School, so there are special safety factors
    • As sheltered elderly housing (27 bedrooms), there were previously very few residents’ vehicles associated with St Catherine’s
    • Beales Lane/Church Walk is a cul-de-sec with no turning circle
    • It gives resident and delivery access to circa 43 homes (apart from St Catherine’s)
    • Delivery and traffic flow would be greatly increased by 17 new flats and 11 new houses (53 bedrooms)
    • Currently the St Catherine’s visitor parking space is used for turning by delivery vehicles and visitors
    • It is heavily used at school drop-off/pick-up times (scores of vehicles using it to turn)
    • The proposed design would remove current turning facilities, and mean large vehicles having to reverse into Thames Street, which carries high traffic flows and has a school crossing adjacent to St Catherine’s; reversing vehicles would risk the safety of pedestrians including school children and obstruct traffic flow
    • The design does not allow headroom for vehicles higher than approx 2.5 metres to access the rear parking, so big delivery and removals vans would have to park up obstructing narrow Beales Lane
  • Impact on parking
    • 28 parking spaces are proposed to serve 28 dwellings  (9 x 1 bed; 13 x 2 bed; 6 x 3 bed)
    • 40.5 spaces would be required to meet Elmbridge Parking Standards:
      • Development Management Plan – Appendix 3: Elmbridge Parking Standards (DM21 – Access and Parking)
        1 bed residential unit : 1 space per unit
        2 bed residential unit : 1.5 spaces per unit
        3 bed residential unit : 2 spaces per unit

Learn more and register your comments

The number of people who comment is crucial to the future of Beales Lane and Church Walk.

Search for 2019/0386 at www.elmbridge.gov.uk/planning.

Comments to Elmbridge BC are invited by 29 March, but will be accepted after that.  Use the comment form on the EBC website or email tplan@elmbridge.gov.uk.

The application will be considered by councillors on Elmbridge Borough Council South Area Planning Sub-committee.

If you feel it is important that they are all aware of your comments, you can email them directly:

Cllr Barry Cheyne (Chair)                            Oatlands and Burwood Park
Cllr Mrs Dorothy Mitchell (Vice Chair) Cobham and Downside
Cllr James Browne                                         Cobham and Downside
Cllr Andrew Burley                                          Oxshott and Stoke D’Abernon
Cllr Oliver Chappell                                         Oxshott and Stoke D’Abernon
Cllr Andrew Davis                                            Weybridge Riverside
Cllr Michael Freeman                                      Weybridge Riverside
Cllr Peter Harman                                            Weybridge St George’s Hill
Cllr David Lewis                                                 Oxshott and Stoke D’Abernon
Cllr Mrs Charu Sood                                         Weybridge St George’s Hill

bcheyne@elmbridge.gov.uk; dmitchell@elmbridge.gov.uk; jbrowne@elmbridge.gov.uk; aburley@elmbridge.gov.uk; ochappell@elmbridge.gov.uk; adavis@elmbridge.gov.uk; mfreeman@elmbridge.gov.uk; pharman@elmbridge.gov.uk; dlewis@elmbridge.gov.uk; csood@elmbridge.gov.uk;

Traffic and parking issues are the responsibility of Surrey County Council, who will prepare a consultation report in relation to planning application EBC 2019/0386.

The Surrey County Councillor for Weybridge is Tim Oliver
tim.oliver@surreycc.gov.uk

You can download a pdf copy of our March 2019 newsletter about application 2019/0386 here

Flats or Flats & Houses?

Some residents are puzzled by the reference to 17 flats and 11 houses in the planning application, when the drawings appear to show a single large block of flats, arranged over three floors.

Below is an extract from the 2019/0386 Application Form

Grenside Road school parking

Traffic chaos in Grenside Road

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.

Traffic and Parking – What do YOU want done?

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

2009 North Weybridge CPZ proposal – strongly rejected by residents

Parking and traffic: problem twins…

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

  • As a rat run
  • Or for the school run
  • Plus some driving irresponsibly fast where possible

The impact of traffic is serious

  • Reduced safety for pedestrians and cyclists
  • Greater disturbance for residents from noise and fumes.

Parking problems have more causes

  • Limited on-street capacity, in roads where residents have no off-street parking and finding anywhere to park is a challenge
  • Short term school run parking obstructing driveways, pavements and junctions
  • Workers and visitors wanting free long-stay on-street parking
  • Shoppers wanting convenient free short-stay parking

The impact of parking varies

  • Massive and prolonged negative impact when residents are displaced from parking near their home
  • Short-term inconvenience and great annoyance when access is obstructed by school run parking at key times
  • Recurrent annoyance from seeing a road being used as a free car park
  • Positive effects when considerately parked cars reduce excessive traffic speed (natural traffic calming).

Local priorities

Top priorities for PPDRA (discussed extensively over the past ten years: see previous postings), are that parking restrictions and provision:

  • Reflect local needs, which vary from road to road
  • Draw on the views of residents in each road
  • Give highest priority to safety
  • Give very high priority to ensuring residents with no off-street parking can find somewhere nearby on-street to park (e.g. by local CPZ in badly affected roads)
  • Give special attention to school & school-run parking issues, and their impact on residents
  • Allow ample convenient short stay parking for shoppers
  • Allow all-day on-street visitor parking where appropriate
  • Are strategically coordinated across the area to reflect overall needs (without forcing ‘one-size fits all’ restrictions on residents)
  • Strategically relate on-street controls to off-street (public and private) parking capacity
  • Provide adequate affordable off-street capacity, without sacrificing the character of our townscape (i.e. avoiding visually intrusive multi-storey car parks or paving over public green spaces)
  • Don’t use strategic planning as an excuse for inaction: where there is an urgent need, action must be urgent.

Residents’ views matter

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.

Wide area CPZ concerns

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.

Impact on our area

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”.  

Reduced capacity

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).

Previous proposals rejected

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

PPDRA position on parking

In summary, PPDRA, rather than proposing specific parking solutions, seeks to

  • listen to residents’ concerns about parking and traffic, which may vary from road to road
  • focus on the principles around parking and traffic that matter for our community
  • lobby Surrey and Elmbridge Councils to act in line with those principles, and find strategic solutions which are sensitive to the differing needs of different roads in north Weybridge

At its heart, our position is that any strategic parking solution must reflect the differing needs of different roads.

Problems vary across our area

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.

Diverse issues

Traffic and parking issues vary from road to road:

  • roads of narrow fronted homes with no off-street parking, where residents have problems finding anywhere to park
  • roads used as rat runs which would be dangerous without effective traffic calming
  • shoppers and visitors needing somewhere to park, and displacing residents
  • roads where school run traffic and parking dominate parts of each school day
  • workers seeking all day parking, and displacing residents

Strategic needs

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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UPDATE 11 Sept 2018

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.