In an attempt to listen to feedback I have tried to keep this article shorter and more punchy; thank you to those who gave the feedback – some a little more blunt than others but all meant in the spirit of honesty and helpfulness!!
MVDC has now settled down after the May elections and I am pleased to report that the postponed Village Open meeting to hear initial plans on “Modest additions to larger rural villages” will now be held on TUESDAY
WestFestwas again a great success this year, brilliantly organised and well supported. The Village Association made just over £900 on the Bottle Tombola and Cake Stall. Thank you to all those generous donors who raided their wine and spirit stocks to provide a very enticing display of drink, and thank you to Sandra Ede who declined any contribution to the cost of the ingredients for her cakes as her way of thanking everyone who supported her after her operation. The money will go towards supporting the work of the WVA.
Membership of the WVAis gently increasing and this year’s subscriptions have seen a healthy increase on last year. PLEASE,if you are not already a member of the WVA go onto the website and sign up. Please alsoconsider contributing your annual subscription by standing order from your bank. It’s quick, easy and helps ensure that we have funds available for the work we do. £5 is the minimum (the equivalent of less than 10p a week), but if you are able to give more, we would really appreciate this.
Housing Development in the village is something the WVA monitor closely. You may be aware that both the Crown Public House, and Indigo Spice (formerly The Cricketers) have had planning applications submitted. The former is being supported by the WVA, the latter not because of the lack of any sort of parking provision. We suffer across the village from a chronic shortage of parking provision; we will oppose any development which exacerbates the problem.
I have been assured that now a new builder and a new Dorking based Architect have been appointed to manage the Garden Hill site in the centre of the village, work will be restarting shortly – but I have not been given a date. When the work is complete, and with the new renovations being done to the exterior of the property on the corner of Parsonage Lane and the A25, the village centre will start to feel a bit more looked after.
This year sees the centenary of the end of the First World War, and to mark the occasion the Village Association, The Church, and The Hut all made donations to The British Legion in support of their valuable work supporting veterans and families of military personnel. The Silent Soldier Memorial “Lest We Forget”is now proudly displayed on the bank below the church. My thanks go to Andrew Lewis and Howard Walden (below) for helping me put it up, and to The Wotton Estate for agreeing to allow us to place it there.
We all survived the Ride London cycle event again this year, although the weather dealt a blow to many of the riders. I am very conscious that the event elicits very mixed feelings both for and against, and hopefully Surrey County Council will listen to the feedback from 75% of respondents who have pleaded with them and the organisers to vary the route in future. Unfortunately this will not be before 2020 at the earliest, so until then we all will continue to stay and enjoy the event, escape the village beforehand, or simply make the most of a day at home.
Another date for the diary. We have arranged a Litter Picking eventin the Village for Saturday 8thSeptember. MVDC will provide all the necessary equipment so come and join in the community spirit and make our village look great. Look out for more information.
Finally, in the coming weeks I and other members of the Committee will be at meetings to try to address
· parking in the village at weekends,
· unacceptable noise from motorbikes, and
· speeding vehicles through the village.
Interestingly all three are a problem to almost all the villages in the Surrey Hills as I discovered at a recent meeting of Mole Valley’s Residents Associations. All work in progress for the WVA.
As always, I invite residents to write to me on issues which concern them, and the WVA will do their best to address them. timway.westcott@gmail.com