News roundup, week ending 12 April

The Haslemere Herald like almost the entire national press, has been somewhat taken over this week by one particular piece of momentous news, so there is nothing to read about Haslemere on the front page this week.

There is however an article on page 5 of today’s edition, about an anonymous blogger, http://waverleymatters.com/ who has a good line in acerbic comment on the shenanigans at Waverley Borough Council’s offices at the Burys, Godalming.  I won’t attempt to display the article here, as the identical article also featured in last week’s edition of the Farnham Herald (no relation?) and can be read on this website.  The blogger also has an amusing line in doggerel, having adapted the old song “Oh dear, what can the matter be, three old ladies locked in a lavatory” to lampoon the WBC leadership.

I have to say that I think that if we have a problem with imperious or high-handed behaviour (allegedly) at The Burys, we only have ourselves to blame.  WBC elections on the last occasion returned a council composed entirely of Conservative candidates, bar the honourable exception of the excellent Diane James, who sadly seems to have lost her way lately.  Some of those conservative councillors are now deserting to become independents or join UKIP, and Farnham is talking about secession.  What I think would make more sense is for the electorate, next time round, to return far more non-Tories – independents, or other parties such as Lib-Dem.  This is not a criticism or Torydom in particular, but it is not healthy for anyone to live in a one-party state.

Perhaps we can similarly hope that Surrey County Council will be less dominated by Conservatives after 2 May, with more independents or members of the other principal parties – yes, even UKIP, if that is what residents actually want.  A vigorous opposition helps to ensure good government.

Returning to those Surrey elections, the Herald had a number of election-related letters this week. 

As I was having difficulty uploading photos of the items I have saved a pdf copy of the letters page here. (It can take a few seconds for the image to resolve to focus, so be patient).

The featured letter challenges Councillor Mulliner for seeking a new office which arguably conflicts with his existing two, and for taking on more responsibility when he doesn’t obviously discharge the ones he has as conscientiously as he might.  Ian Sutch of Beech Road writes to challenge Independent candidate Nikki Barton’s record for engagement and listening to residents.  Michael Edwards  apparently supports Nikki Barton on the basis that the Tory administrations are not looking after the interests of their residents when they levy “huge” 10p per hour increases in charges for one of Waverley’s four Haslemere car parks (the other three being unchanged).  I commented on this last week. 

 

Councillor Mulliner writes an election address which curiously has been labelled as a letter on the multi-storey car park.  Finally, our UKIP candidate writes to deliver her election manifesto which, to my eye, is rather wrapped up in Brussels.  Evidently she has not heard of the EU policy of “subsidiarity” which aims to push decisions down to the lowest appropriate level, but which has been substantially blocked over the years by British governments, of all political stripes.

 

All we need now is for the Labour and Lib-Dem candidates to write their addresses to the Herald – perhaps next week?

Finally, on the Herald, they print a correction to last week’s article on the proposals for housing at the old Syngenta site south of Fernhurst.  They misquoted the website address for submitting comments to the developers, via their estate agents Savills.  The correct address is http://sites.savills.com/fernhurstpark/en/page_67092.php - then click on “Document Library” at the top of the page.  You can read what I thought about this development here. However, it is a fair conclusion that this development, and a nearby development at the old King Edward VII hospital site, would in no way assist the relief of on-street parking congestion in Haslemere, as the developers will presumably have no obligation to address the public infrastructure issues created by their developments.

 

 

Much of Chichester will soon see the implementation of a 20mph limit on residential and commercial streets.  20 limits, unlike zones, don’t rely on traffic calming such as speed humps, so are considerably cheaper to implement and so can be implemented much more widely for the same cost.  They do, of course, rely entirely on compliance and police forces tend to be unco-operative about enforcing them, but nevertheless they have been shown to achieve meaningful reductions in the average and “85^th percentile” speeds (ie the speed below which 85% of traffic is moving), and consequently reductions in the frequency and severity of collisions.

I understand that although West Sussex County Council are now claiming credit for this development, they had to be dragged kicking and screaming to it and it was only when 75% of responses to a consultation were in support that they saw the writing on the wall and came on side.  (According to RAC research, a 4:1 majority in favour of 20 on residential streets which are not classified (A or B) roads is pretty much a national result).  It gives hope that Surrey CC will eventually concede the issue, if they see similar levels of support in Haslemere.

 

The Haslemere Society is holding its Spring meeting next Friday, April 19, at 7:30 pm in the Haslemere Hall.  There will be a presentation to commemorate the centenary of the death of the society’s founder, Robert Hunter, who with Octavia Hill was co-founder of the National Trust, and who founded the Haslemere Commons Preservation Society,  which subsequently became known as  the Haslemere Society, in 1884.