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

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:

Walton Lane Open Space designated a Local Green Space

We are delighted that Elmbridge Borough Council has now recognised Walton Lane Open Space as a designated ‘Local Green Space’ in its 2023 Draft Local Plan, submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.

This follows a PPDRA objection to the omission of this space from the 2022 EBC Draft Local Plan list of Local Green Spaces , an objection we submitted as part of the formal Regulation 19 Consultation.

The Local Green Space designation should help give lasting extra protection against any building development on this significant and much used local green open space.

Extract from Elmbridge Draft Local Plan SA Addendum 2023

M4.2 ENV3 46 Additional Local Green Spaces to be designated:

Stoke D’Abernon Memorial Park; Walton Lane Open Space; Kingston Grammar School Playing Fields/ Ditton Field, Thames Ditton

To improve accuracy and ensure soundness and compliance with NPPF para. 101 and 102.

No- these additional sites do not affect the SA of the policy.

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

 

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.

 

CIL funding available for local infrastructure projects

Elmbridge has announced a new round of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding for local projects. The application deadline is 29 March. Previous rounds have funded local improvements ranging from surfacing Broadwater Path to additional school facilities. Local residents can prepare and submit applications — you can find out more below and on the Elmbridge website.

Application process for CIL local funding

Elmbridge Borough Council is currently inviting applications for local funding from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

What is CIL?

CIL allows the Council to raise funds from some forms of new development to help fund the physical infrastructure needed to mitigate the impacts of new development. As part of the process, the Council annually allocates the local portion of CIL funds to be spent locally on smaller infrastructure schemes that are required in the communities where development took place.

Successful local CIL applications for funding to date have included projects such as capital improvements to state schools to better enable them to meet the needs of an increasing school population, improvements to community facilities, cycling facilities, footpath works and countryside access improvements.

Who decides?

The Council has formed settlement area committees known as Local Infrastructure Spending Boards where local Councillors will decide on how these local CIL funds will be allocated. In the case of Claygate, the local proportion of CIL funds will be passed directly to the Parish Council.

How does the process work?

Applicants will need to review the guidance notes and complete the application form in full, demonstrating how the project addresses the demands that development places on the area and show a community impact. Any applications which fail to provide the correct information will not be successful.

The application period for this round of allocations will run until 29 March 2020; applications received after this date will not be considered.

Local Spending Boards will be held in June and early July 2020. Applicants will be invited to attend these meetings to present to the board and answer any questions.

The guidance notes and application form are available from www.elmbridge.gov.uk/cilfunding.