Current priorities and concerns

Unveiling of Cobham Ring

On Saturday 6th March 2010 the unveiling took place at the Elmbridge Museum in Weybridge of the Cobham Ring. The ribbon was cut by our Mayor Cllr James Vickers watched by over 60 guests including the well known local Historian David Taylor together with benefactors and those who have been involved in bringing this important artifact back to Elmbridge.

The ring which is a medieval mourning ring, was found in a farmer's field in Downside in 2008 and has been brought back to Elmbridge by public subscription. The exact location of where it was found must remain a secret!

The ring is over 300 years old and is believed to have belonged to Sir John Vincent who was Lord of the Manor at Stoke D'Abernon and is understood to have been bequeathed to a member of the Carlton family who lived in Cobham. How it came to be lost in the farmer's field remains a mystery and is an incredibly exciting find.

As a past resident of Stoke I am absolutely thrilled to be associated with this find and hope the ring's display at the Elmbridge Museum will attract many visitors. For a photo of the ring please do look on my photo pages.

Twinning Guild decision to disband - Extract from my presentation of the report to Full Council Wednesday 22 April 2009

Elmbridge Residents will be disappointed that despite a long history of over 40 years of Twinning, the decision made by the Twinning Guild to disband means that there will no longer be a formal link with Elmbridge and Rueil Malmaison.

The last exchange visit to France was in 2006. Since then two visits were cancelled during 2007 and despite the Guild writing in both French and English on a number of occasions Rueil-Malmaison were not able to commit to dates for future visits. However there is a possibility of some informal visits and catch-up's by those who remain in communication with our friends in France.

To acknowledge the legacy of Twinning in Elmbridge and the Founder Member and Twinning Life President, the late Paul Vanson who died last year, a proposed "Paul Vanson Memorial Scheme" is being developed. Residual twinning monies will be used to provide assistance to students in the Borough who have excelled in French Language studies.

I should like to place on record, and endorse that of the Elmbridge Twining Guild, our thanks for the support and work undertaken by Officers past and present of the Council, from the Chief Executive's Directorate and Internal Audit Division, and who have supported this programme for over 40 years.

I should also like to pay tribute in particular to ex Cllrs and Mayors, Rosemary Dane for her work as Chairman of the Twinning Committee, and Derek Denyer as the Council's representative on the Twinning Committee, also so many other Cllrs and Mayors over the years, and who as Members will have seen from the report, have worked so hard to keep the Twinning tradition in Elmbridge alive.

Street Lighting

Despite statistics that Surrey is one of the safest counties the fear of often low level crime is great for many older and more vulnerable citizens. One of issues is why many of our street lights fail to work. The light out of action for two years in Rydens Avenue has now been resolved. Residents are grateful to Cllr Roy Taylor for progressing this with Surrey County Council and EDF. The shame is of course that it took EDF so long.

Launch of DisabledGo website

Christine Elmer with Dr Gregory Burke, Chairman and Chief Executive for DisabledGo at the launch of the website at the Cobham Centre on 11 March 2009.

The website is Elmbridge 's first online access guide for people with disabilities and their carers and the online guide provides detailed information on 1,000 venues across Elmbridge helping residents and visitors to decide whether a venue is accessible to their individual disability.

The Online Access Guide for Elmbridge has been funded by Elmbridge Borough Council joining with 60 other UK towns, cities and boroughs on the award winning website |http://www.disabledgo.info/

Walton Traffic management

Surrey County Council is putting a great deal of work into sorting parking problems in Walton. Elmbridge Borough Council has given assistance to Surrey County Council to develop a car parking strategy. The new plans will be implemented later this year and ease what has become an untenable parking issue in many parts of the town.

Vehicle Activated Signs for Rydens Road

Following a letter of representation by local residents regarding concerns about speeding and volume of vehicular traffic on Rydens Road, County Cllr Roy Taylor has provided £3000 from his Surrey County Council allocation to wards the installation of two vehicle activated sign to reduce road speed and increase road safety.

Halfway Traffic Lights

Residents in Walton-on-Thames are pleased with the improvements to the scheme at the junction of the A244 Hersham Road with Rydens Road and Station Avenue. The existing traffic signals at the Halfway have now got wider central pedestrian islands together with new pedestrian signals and push buttons.

There are four crossing points, three of which are staggered so that pedestrians can cross half the road at a time and so not cause too much inconvenience to traffic or increase congestion. All work was carried out within the time specified, and with minimum disruption.

Work on the scheme started on 8 August 2008 and was completed on 7 October, with resurfacing carried out on 14 October and the signals commissioned and operational on 23 October. It was completed within the budget of £120,000. Surrey County Council deliberately scheduled the more disruptive elements of the work during the school holidays, to minimise inconvenience to road users.

This is an extremely busy junction with several schools nearby and is used by large numbers of pedestrians. The new crossings provide better safety precautions for pedestrians and motorists without raising levels of congestion.

Verges, weeds and potholes

Elmbridge BC is poised to take back responsibility for verges and weeds from Surrey County Council this summer and this will hopefully see an improvement in service.

If you want to report a pothole to Surrey County Council you can do this on 0300 200 1003

Planning

Casework relating to planning issues where people perceive over development and infilling is threatening quality of life is high. We have some success in the ward rejecting unwelcome applications but needless to say developers usually go to appeal and our decisions in Elmbridge are often overturned by the Government Inspector acting for the Secretary of State.

Police Panel meetings

I maintain close links with the Walton South Neighbourhood Police team and attend Police Panel meetings, which are advertised locally in the press and through email. If you would like to join my mailing list for bulletins and updates please email me at |celmer@elmbridge.gov.uk.