Hersham Residents Association Blog

Following the submission of a petition from the Hersham Community Council Steering Group, Elmbridge Council, has set the wheels in motion to carry out a formal review on the proposal to create a Community Council by getting the opinions of local people and organisations.

For more detailed information about the Community Council including what it is, how it would operate, and why it would be beneficial for Hersham, see the HCCSG website

The terms of reference for the consultation were agreed with the Hersham Community Council Steering Group, and were endorsed by Elmbridge Councillors at a full council meeting on 18 July. The agenda for this meeting included a helpful report which explains the background and more about the consultation (called a community governance review), the report can be found on the Council’s website click here

The report agreed by councillors suggests a timetable as follows:

28 August 2018 Council to publish Terms of Reference.
Eight-week consultation period commences with local people and interested parties.
23 October 2018 at 5.00 p.m. Closing date for consultation period.
24 October 2018 Period of consideration of submissions received starts. Final recommendations are prepared for Council meeting.
5 December 2018 Council to consider consultation responses and determine final recommendations.
10 December 2018 Final recommendations are published – concluding the Review and initiating any required actions.

Apologies that the HRA Hersham blog hasn’t been kept up-to-date over the last few months (since the AGM) with the usual efficiency, this is due to temporary pressures of work and life on members of the committee. However, normal service is being resumed – and some new additional items have been added – but backdated to maintain the blog’s date order continuity. You might want to scroll down through the last few items to see what’s new.

It was with great sadness that the HRA committee and members heard that Andrew passed away on 10th June 2018, aged 100, at St Mary’s Church, Oatlands where he was attending a social barbeque event.

Andrew was a founder member and later President of Hersham Residents Association (the HRA). He was a lynchpin, an inspiration and active HRA committee member to the last. He was a passionate campaigner on local issues and championed the ongoing campaign to create a community council for Hersham. He contributed perceptive and detailed comments and provided leadership at meetings and on email right up to the end of his life.

His enthusiastic, positive and determined approach to living and his sense of fun will be remembered by all who knew him. He will be much missed by family, friends and the local community.

At the next meeting of the HRA committee (on 8 August) a suitable tribute to Andrew will be considered.

If you have recently moved to Hersham – this leaflet is for you!

HRA resident welcome leaflet

…. longer term residents might also be interested – why not take a look and pass this leaflet to a new neighbour in your street?
Weblinks to local facilities / Services clubs etc are included – if you pass the leaflet on electronically. It’s also designed to work as a bi-fold leaflet if you print it out to hand directly to a new neighbour.

This leaflet was distributed at the HRA AGM on 17 May 2018 – (this is a word version posted here for potential update when necessary)

The HRA held its Annual General Meeting on 18 May 2018. This was a very successful event and provided an opportunity to hear about and debate current local issues including planning matters, the recent local elections, parliamentary boundary proposals, Riverside Park and the campaign to create a community council for Hersham.

It was agreed to maintain the same membership fee as last year and to make small donations from HRA funds to: Hersham in Bloom; Friends of Hersham Library; and the Hersham Youth Trust. Membership of the committee was agreed for 2018/9.

Following the formal business there was a fascinating talk about Hersham History from one of our members who works a volunteer at Elmbridge Museum. The talk focused on archived writings from a Hersham resident who described a walk through the village. The account painted a picture of Hersham between the wars and highlighted tensions between development and conservation which are still very familiar to us today.

Draft minutes including a summary of the Chairs report are available here.

On May 24th it was announced that the Drake Park development which proposed over 1000 houses on land north of Hersham Station had been rejected by the Government Planning Inspector who had been brought in to make a judgment between the opposing views held by the council and the developers. As far as the HRA is concerned this was good news.

The HRA was one of the local organisations who have consistently opposed this development on the grounds of infrastructure generally and particularly road capacity on the Molesey Road and in the Hersham area generally. The HRA has submitted formal comments at all key stages in the process (supporting Elmbridge’s position) most recently to the Government Planning Inspector.

The HRA committee were extremely pleased with the inspector’s final decision. The HRA’s comments to the inspector were posted on the HRA blog (responses section) here http://www.hershamresidents.info/blog/?page_id=317 scroll to item dated 22 June 2017)

The announcement on Elmbridge BC’s website can be accessed here : – http://www.elmbridge.gov.uk/news/outcome-of-the-drake-park-planning-inquiry/

Do come along – all are welcome, whether you are an HRA member of not. This year after some short AGM business, wine/soft drinks etc our speaker will tell us about her work at Elmbridge Museum, and a project she is researching about Hersham during the 1st and 2nd world wars.

During the evening there will be a chance to hear about, raise and discuss local issues. There will be an update on Hersham Youth Club and the Hersham Community Council campaign. – So please join us for an interesting, informative and sociable evening. We look forward to seeing you at the WI Hall at 7.00 – for a 7.30 start.

[The WI Hall in Burhill Road is the green painted building 50 yards up Burhill Rd after you turn off Burwood Rd by St Peters Church.]

This years HRA AGM and public meeting will be on 17 May (7.00pm for a 7.30pm start) at the WI Hall Burhill Road as normal.

We are in the process of arranging a speaker of local interest and will post further details on this in due course. In the meantime please see a flyer for the event which you can download and use to promote amongst your family, friends neighbours – all are very welcome whether or not you are a member of the HRA.
AGM notice for 2018

M25 Junction 10 / A3 Wisley interchange Improvement Scheme – Comments on the Statutory Pre-Application Consultation from 12 February 2018 until 26 March 2018.

This consultation was discussed at the last HRA committee meeting. It was pointed out that although some of the suggested highway improvements do not fall within the area of Hersham, the above scheme will nevertheless affect road journeys for Hersham residents for many years to come.

Whilst badly needed maintenance to improve the Seven Hills Road is not in the scope of the consultation, this issue is referred to in our response to reflect the view of our committee that local road users would identify major resurfacing of that road as a more immediate priority.

The comments submitted can be downloaded here.