Town Centre

POSTPONED to 4th Sept: Midsummer Madness community event at Churchfields

The June 26th Midsummer Madness community event at Churchfields has been postponed to 4th September, because national Covid restrictions have not yet been fully lifted. But we understand that the Monument Green market is likely to go ahead on 26th June with social distancing, subject to Elmbridge approval.

The new date for the Churchfields community event activities of 4th September is expected to include the Brooklands Museum car display, St James bell tower tours and cream teas, all community stalls, live music and performances, and picnic-in-the-park at Churchfields recreation grounds. On Saturday September 4th it is hoped residents and local organisations can finally gather for a post-lockdown family fun day and town-wide social event!

Please note however that Weybridge’s market fayre at Monument Green will likely take place as scheduled on June 26th, with market stalls, live acts and DJ music from Brooklands Radio. Ruth Langford will be on hand to open the festivities and shopping at noon. All activity in this area will be properly socially distanced and manned in accordance with current regulations. It is waiting for the final go-ahead from Elmbridge Borough Council and will update soon.

Weybridge residents are invited to continue to support our local businesses and keep up community spirit as we move our way out of lockdown and to make a note of the new September 4th date in their diaries.

Weybridge Midsummer Fayre & Market

Weybridge’s (and perhaps Elmbridge’s) first post-lockdown public event, Midsummer Madness – Weybridge Fayre & Market was scheduled for Saturday 26th June, subject to the Government lifting sufficient lockdown restrictions. UPDATE: NEW DATE 4th September

The Artisan Market starts at 10 am and runs till 4 pm, and will be located outside Waitrose and on Monument Green. The Community part of the event will be located at the southern half of Churchfields Car Park and will run from 12. noon until early evening.

This event is being organised by the Weybridge Town Business Group, Weybridge Society and the WeyBetterWeybridge Regeneration Project, with support and participation from Brooklands Museum, Brooklands Radio and Elmbridge Borough Council.

The goal of the event is to promote community spirit and give local businesses a boost as we move out of Covid restrictions — so the main aim is ‘fun for all the family’ and encouraging ‘buy local’. It is also an opportunity for the regeneration project to present a vision for the future of Weybridge town centre, for charities and community organisations to display their activities to the public and attract new volunteers, and to generally promote civic-mindedness and environmental awareness, as we will also be encouraging the use of local pedestrian and cycle routes.

Vicki Macleod is seeking members of the community willing to give an hour (or more) of their time to be Weybridge Fayre Stewards, at the car park.

If you are willing to be involved, please get in touch with Vicki at vmacleod@elmbridge.gov.uk

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

Portmore Community Meeting and AGM 2019 – Report

What can residents do to influence development of our part of Weybridge, in the face of pressure for much higher housing density? That was the primary focus of the Portmore Park & District community meeting on 26 June. Other topics included green spaces and paths, flooding, and the parking review. Wall displays covered overviews of local issues, topics and developments, to inform and stimulate thinking. Forty four local residents participated, including three Weybridge Riverside Elmbridge councillors. County cllr Tim Oliver was unable to attend but sent a written update. There was some lively, constructive and positive discussion throughout the event.

Elmbridge Local Plan, and where to put new homes

The meeting drew lessons from the high-density development proposals for Beales Lane (141 local objections, refused) and Bridge House in the High Street (19 objections, consent imminent). Residents at our meeting hope for a less massive, less dominant development in Beales Lane, preferably of houses, certainly something more in keeping with the surroundings.

Government demands mean the planning authority is under pressure to squeeze in higher density developments: the forthcoming Elmbridge Local Plan must find space for 9,480 new homes in the next fifteen years. There will be difficult choices: either much higher density in towns or allowing development on some Green Belt land, or both. The question is where non-damaging high density might be achieved, with adequate infrastructure.

This is already a live issue in other parts of Elmbridge, where residents have become highly mobilised following the 2017 Elmbridge Green Belt review consultations – they want increased density to be elsewhere, and their target towns seem to be Walton and Weybridge.

What can people do locally? Actions discussed were: Take part in the public consultation on Elmbridge Local Plan options, which will run for six weeks from August. Get involved, raise awareness. Work towards constructive answers. Form a neighbourhood forum. Consider a neighbourhood plan.

The importance of green spaces

Other topics at the PPDRA meeting included positive news on local green spaces and paths.

There was strong appreciation of Broadwater Path – used by most participants since being made an accessible public footpath with a two metre wide crushed stone surface – and its role in enabling an application (with Elmbridge support) for national funding to conserve Broadwater lake. Making Footpath 36 (Grenside Road to the Thames) more accessible would also be welcome.

The meeting welcomed the retention of the whole of Churchfields Allotments, and heard about community efforts to enhance the maintenance of the allotment site. There was no support for building a car park on the Churchfields Recreation Ground bowling green.

Roundabout care

A resident raised the very poor state of the roundabout by Morrisons. Participants compared this with the excellent condition of some roundabouts in adjacent boroughs, where garden centres sponsor roundabout landscape maintenance in exchange for discreet advertising signs. There was strong support for Elmbridge to adopt this.

Flooding

There has been little news on further progress with the £700,000,000 River Thames Scheme for flood diversion measures between Datchet and Teddington, which is still seeking to fill a £350,000,000 funding shortfall. But there has been a rehearsal of temporary flood barrier use to protect Walton Lane and Dorney Grove.
The meeting heard of years of active local resident liaison with the Environment Agency, over River Thames Scheme proposals — a major flood diversion channel would discharge opposite the canoe club — and flood modelling. This included PPDRA lobbying to reverse plans (happily subsequently changed) to cut into the south bank on the Desborough Channel, which would have meant relocating the Thames Path closer to the Walton Lane road. Work on the River Thames Scheme recently seems to have gone rather quiet, with some EA personnel moved to other work.

Walton Lane residents have been in continuing contact over local temporary flood response measures. In October 2018 there was a successful Environment Agency rehearsal of putting up a temporary flood barrier from Weybridge Point to the first Desborough Bridge.

Parking Review

The meeting included a discussion on parking, and contrasted the 2009 and 2019 Elmbridge Parking reviews.

A decade ago, in 2009, Surrey County Council proposed a large Controlled Parking Zone west of Thames Street, a north Weybridge CPZ. The proposals proved very unpopular. They were rejected by local residents for multiple reasons, including loss of capacity leaving some residents unable to park near their homes, a parking ban along Portmore Park Road opening the way to more and faster rat run traffic, and serious displacement issues along the CPZ’s eastern boundaries.

The 2019 review in contrast sets out more localised changes. The proposals aim to: increase safety; make it easier for residents to park close to their homes in Dorchester & Gascoigne Roads; maintain on-street parking capacity; avoid displacement; and create space for daytime two hour waiting by shoppers. These are all aims which are in line with principles long supported by PPDRA and by many residents.

Several participants felt more CPZ space should be allocated for joint use, to permit shopper/visitor two hour waiting as well as long stay residents’ parking.

Grenside Road & St George’s Junior School

Parking problems persist in Grenside Road, and there was disappointment that nothing has been done in the parking review to improve this, beyond the useful addition of double yellows lines on the Grenside Road junction with Grotto Road to help improve safety.

It was noted that St George’s Junior School on-site staff parking is limited, resulting in many staff vehicles having to park on-street. PPDRA understands that the school was advised by an Elmbridge planning officer that a potential application for car parking space on their newly acquired land at the end of Grenside Road would be unlikely to succeed. PPDRA has suggested that the school might consider seeking consent to put a staff car park on their new land immediately next to the Bannatyne Health Club car park, as the least damaging location.

Thames Street warehouse

A resident raised the continuing issue of concern around inadequate asbestos management on the Thames Street warehouse site. It was agreed that the issue might usefully be given additional publicity in the Weybridge Society newsletter, and PPDRA will follow that up.

Collaboration with the Weybridge Society

It was suggested that closer collaboration with the Weybridge Society would be sensible on major issues affecting our town. It was agreed that collaboration is a good thing, and the committee would again follow this up.

PPDRA Committee 2019-20

The meeting thanked members of the committee for their contribution over the past year, with particular thanks to two committee members who were standing down: Doug Myers of Walton Lane, and Ian Bonnett of The Willows, who has served as Treasurer for many years.

Members of the Association were delighted to welcome Michael Freeman back onto the committee (in the role of Treasurer), following his term as Elmbridge Borough Councillor, and to welcome onto the committee Lester Gange of Walton Lane. We are still seeking a new committee member from the Dorchester Road/Thames Street area.

The committee elected for 2019-20 comprises:
– Miles Macleod (Chair), Clinton Close
– Michael Freeman (Treasurer), The Swansway, PPR
– Jane Heard (Secretary), Portmore Park Road
– Eleanor Butler, Church Walk
– Lester Gange, Walton Lane
– Pippa Graeme, Elmgrove Road
– Sarah Jane Groves, Grenside Road
– Barbara Molony-Oates, Greenlands Road
– Pauline O’Sullivan, Wey Road
– Diane Phillips, Portmore Park Road
– William Rutherford, Mount Pleasant

Concern at plans for Bridge House in Weybridge High St

Bridge House viewed from Monument Green Conservation Area

Proposals to replace Bridge House (opposite Waitrose) with a much taller and more massive building are facing strong objections. Planning Application EBC 2018/2989 – Bridge House, 41-45 High Street, seeks to replace the current three storey building with a far bigger five storey rectangular building, housing three retail units and 28 flats.

The site is next to the Monument Green Conservation Area, and the new building would dominate the streetscene in a very different style.

Onsite parking would be reduced to 20, and the 28 flats would have to share 17 spaces, risking severe loss of nearby on-street parking amenity in an area already under great parking stress. The three retail units would each have one space.

Conservation Area

Central Weybridge has attractive conservation areas, with some lovely buildings at either end of the High Street, separated by a mix of traditional gabled buildings and the results of some poor quality post-modern planning of the 1970s.

Bridge House is one of those 1970s buildings. It sits next to Monument Green Conservation Area, and is visibly out of keeping. Thankfully it is low enough not to dominate entirely, but it has little else to commend it, and some people think it is an eyesore because of its vertical and angular style.

Many residents hope that any redevelopment of the 1970s mistakes would be more in sympathy with the character of our historic Weybridge townscape. There is a real opportunity with any redevelopment in Weybridge High Street to create new buildings which are in harmony with the traditional setting.

This application fails to take that opportunity. Instead it tries to cram the largest mass of building it can seek to justify, into a constrained site, regardless of the negative impact.

Dominating height and mass

The current application would dominate and detract from the charm of the Conservation Area, and be detrimental to the streetscene. The proposed new five storey building would be over 50% taller than the current three storey Bridge House (reaching up to the label in our picture above), and would stand out far more prominently next to the Conservation Area.

The streetscene plan shows it alongside its neighbours, and the contrast in bulk, mass and height.

The proposed new building for the Bridge House site (no, it’s not a multi-storey car park) would dwarf its neighbours

To find out more about the plans and make comments: search for 2018/2989 at www.elmbridge.gov.uk/planning

Comments to Elmbridge Borough Council are invited by 14 Dec, but will be accepted at tplan@elmbridge.gov.uk after that. The application will be considered by the planning sub-committee at some date in the new year.

PPDRA Objection

PPDRA has submitted the following objection to Elmbridge Borough Council Planning Services:

Re: Application 2018/2989 – Bridge House, 41-45 High Street, Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 8BB

I am writing on behalf of the committee of Portmore Park & District Residents Association to object to the proposed construction of a five storey building comprising 3 retail units and 28 flats.

There is great concern among local residents about its negative impact on our town, in terms of:

excessive bulk and mass resulting in the building dominating the streetscene
excessive height making it dominate views from the Monument Green Conservation Area
the façade clashing with the traditional buildings in the High Street and Conservation Area
inadequate parking provision (17 spaces for the proposed 28 flats), increasing an already high level of local on-street parking stress, to the detriment of local amenities

Impact of height, bulk and appearance

The proposed building is massive. At five storeys, it would dwarf its neighbours and tower above the Monument Green Conservation Area.

The building’s appearance would be entirely at odds with the traditional buildings in the High Street and conservation area. It offers no architectural nod to the predominant traditional local architectural styles. People are asking if it was inspired by a multi-storey car park. Surely a new building in this prominent site should take the opportunity of complementing its surroundings?

The strong horizontal and vertical elements of the proposed development would overwhelm its neighbours’ historic brick, slate and gables. It would loom over the southern part of the conservation area, and would dominate the view from the north.

Impact of inadequate parking provision

How does the parking provision comply with Elmbridge Parking Standards? We understood these to specify 1.5 spaces per two bedroom unit:

Elmbridge Parking Standards for Residential Parking (DMP Appendix 1)
Locational Characteristics Town Centre/ Edge of Centre

1 bed residential unit : 1 space per unit
2 bed residential unit : 1.5 space per unit

This suggests that with 9 two bed and 19 one bed flats there should be 33 spaces (9 x 1.5 + 19) for the residential units, rather than the 17 proposed.

Elmbridge Development Management Plan Policy DM7 states:

“The proposed parking provision should be appropriate to the development and not result in an increase in on-street parking stress that would be detrimental to the amenities of local residents.”

Yet this application proposes reducing total number of parking spaces on the site from 28 to 20, while greatly increasing the number of residential units.

The roads adjacent to Weybridge High Street face what some residents describe as a worsening parking crisis, as successive new infill developments and changes to residential use have been permitted by Elmbridge with limited or no parking provision.

These roads include a lot of Victorian/Edwardian homes, with relatively narrow frontages and with limited or no off-street parking. Hence many residents have to rely on being able to find somewhere to park on the street. That has become increasingly difficult.

Surely Elmbridge Borough Council, as our town planning authority, should be working to improve the amenities of local residents, rather than adding to problems?

We sincerely hope that after considering Application 2018/2989, Elmbridge Borough Council will refuse this application, because with its excessive height, bulk and mass the building would dominate the street scene, with negative impact on views from and towards the Conservation Area, and because its adequate parking provision would cause additional on-street parking stress detrimental to the amenities of residents, failing to comply with acceptable standards.

Weybridge Community Hospital — concern over which services will return

St James’ church was packed to capacity for two meetings on Tuesday 17 October. Around 800 local residents attended, hoping to hear positive news about health services returning to our town, after the destruction of Weybridge Community Hospital in the disastrous fire back in July.

The news was mixed. Good news is that the hospital site will be retained, interim accommodation for the two GP practices is being constructed as rapidly as possible, and should be up and running in December, and a new permanent building will be constructed on the site over the next three years or so.

The bad news is that Weybridge is unlikely to get back the Community Hospital as it was, with its Walk In Centre, X-Rays and extensive outpatient services.

What about the Walk In Centre?

So what will we get? North West Surrey Clinical Commissioning Group (NWS CCG) is responsible for deciding. The meetings were led by Matthew Tait, of NWS CCG, along with representatives of NHS Property Services and local GP practices.

The publicity handout headed ‘services returning to the former Weybridge Community Hospital Site’ (see below) made it clear that GP practices, a range of treatment room services, and Lloyds Pharmacy will return. Beyond that, all is up for discussion.

The great area of concern for residents at both meetings was the future of the Walk In Centre and X-rays etc. Will the Walk In Centre be returning?

We were told that Walk In Centres are now an outdated concept, that CCG thinking has moved on. But there will be treatment services. There is no short-term replacement for the Walk In Centre, as there is no space on the site and no other suitable site has been found. [Surrey County Councillor Tim Oliver on 20 Sept told local residents that part of the library building had been considered for a replacement Walk In Centre, but proved not to be feasible.]

CCG ‘engaging with community in NW Surrey’

About NW Surrey CCG

Residents were told repeatedly by Matthew Tait of the NW Surrey CCG, and his colleagues, that they would be engaging with the community of North West Surrey to understand local needs, and that future services would be shaped to meet those needs.

It appears that NWS CCG are starting with a clean sheet of paper, and looking at the needs of local towns from Ashford to Woking and beyond, in deciding what future facilities we will have in Weybridge.

Before the fire at Weybridge Community Hospital, Weybridge was a hub for local community health services. The loss of the Community Hospital means that we are no longer a working hub.

The services delivered in Weybridge in future may be better or worse than before the fire, NWS CCG cannot say at present, but CCG have a duty to look at the overall clinical needs of North West Surrey.

Weybridge concern about LOCAL provision

For many Weybridge residents, the important question has a different emphasis: ‘will we get back the LOCAL provision of health services that we lost in the fire?’

NW Surrey CCG cannot promise that we will get them back. But CCG want to engage with the community, and the massive turnout at the two meetings — CCG had originally planned to hold them in a room with a capacity of 100 people! — is a sure sign that Weybridge residents care deeply about local provision of those services.

There are natural concerns that our town may be diminished by a long-term loss of local provision of services which we value highly and rely on.

But as Matthew Tait has said, we may get something better and more future-proof. Perhaps the voice of local residents will be heard.

Three years of interim services

20 ‘pods’ (portakabins) have already been sited on part of the Weybridge Community Hospital site previously used for staff car parking, and these are being fitted out as GP Surgery facilities, plus treatment rooms.

The interim facilities on the former hospital site should be up and running by December 2017, at which point the Church Street Practice and Rowan Tree Practice will return to Weybridge. Another pod will house Lloyds Pharmacy.

Limited parking

There will be parking on the interim site for about 30 cars (presumably this will mainly be for staff parking?), including disabled spaces. The impact of this reduction in parking over the next three years is likely to be significant.

[If the remainder of the site will not actually be built on until two years time, would it not be possible to level most of it, and use it for temporary parking until building actually starts?]

There were questions about the possibility of increasing parking space longer term via underground parking (too expensive at £15,000 per space, according to NHS Property Services) or a multi-storey car park on the site (not dismissed, but likely to face cost and planning issues).

Three year plan

The majority of the interim site will become a building site for construction of a new building by NHS Property Services, following commissioning by CCG, in a process expected to last around three years:

12 week consultation in NW Surrey looking at community clinical needs
Followed by a feasibility study & further engagement
Outline business case + procurement
2-3 months design
3-4 months for town planning consideration and consent
8 weeks tendering process
12 months of building and fitting out

Community Engagement

Throughout the meeting, the words ‘engage’ and ‘engagement with the community’ were repeatedly used. PPDRA looks forward to genuine consultation, and has asked to be part of the process.