Parish Council News Update – October 2024

Letter from the Chairman

Dear Villagers,
With winter on the way and the close of the calendar year before us, the Parish Council begins to review budgets for the next fiscal year as well as its grants budget and disbursements. The Woldingham Parish Council tax, known as the Precept, is on average just over £60 per household. Of course, the actual amount varies by band. The total Parish Council budget is £46,284. The precept in Woldingham for a band D house is £38.33. Our band D precept is lower than the average of Parish/town Councils in Surrey Band D households, which is £60.60, and much lower than the national average of £87.74 per Band D household.

In light of all the economic strains of the past few years, the Parish Council has not increased the precept for 3 years. It is therefore likely as we review our budgets in November and December and finalise them in January, that this may change. While each year’s expenses vary, generally after operating costs the Parish Council has £17,000-£20,000 in discretionary spend, including a grants budget of £8,000. This is also the time of year we disburse the bulk of our remaining grants budget.

Grant Applications deadline 22nd of November.

Every year the Parish Council makes grants to village organisations. While we can do so throughout the year, we allocate most of our grants budget during our November meeting. If your organisation would like to apply for a grant, please do so by the 22nd of November. Instructions and the grant application form can be found on our Grant Application web page.

Councillor Roles.

The Parish Council, to better manage this work, allocates a number of roles to Councillors. As previously noted, Councillor Peter Holbrook is Head of Planning and Councillor Peter Hutchinson is Head of Finance. We have now also appointed the following roles: Head of Environment – Councillor Cat Neave, Head of Events & Community – Councillor Carole North, Head of Head of Speedwatch and Litter Pick – Councillor Alex Foulds, Head of Airports and Airspace – Councillors Peter Holbrook and Leanna McEwan; and Head of Social Media – Councillor Cat Neave.

Speedwatch.

Speedwatch leader Jeremy Wormington shared the following:

“Speedwatch was less active during the summer holidays with volunteers either away or traffic being particularly light with many people also on holiday. We picked up activity during late August & September, with 7 sessions completed with the focus on Station Road during the peak times when traffic from the village towards the station is particularly high and fast. During that period, we had over 75 vehicles exceeding the 35mph monitoring speed (20% of all vehicles) with a large number in excess of 45mph up to a peak of 50mph.

Early indications in October are that residents are most likely to speed during the morning commute, despite speeding being cited as a high priority to curb. We have spoken to some local delivery drivers who also mentioned that Station Road can be difficult when pulling out of a driveway and a speeding vehicle comes around a corner. We will continue to monitor Station Road in the coming weeks.”

And please remember, Speedwatch needs you! We need more volunteers. The minimum age to participate is 18, the time commitment is light (and as you can). Speeding has been raised repeatedly as a concern in the village. However, all of our roads are too small / have too little traffic to qualify for speed cameras, therefore we must manage speeding with Speedwatch teams. We are grateful to Speedwatch leader Jeremy Wormington and all those that volunteer. But we still have too few volunteers. If you can spare one hour a week (most weeks, or even every other week), then please consider volunteering. Speedwatch monitoring is always in pairs. If you might be able to help, and wish to learn more, please email our Clerk, Karen, at parish.clerk@woldingham.com.

Litter Pick, 9th of November, 10am.

The next community Litter Pick, orchestrated by Councillor Alex Foulds, will be on the morning of November 9th, commencing at the Glebe. All ages help and there are drinks and cakes afterward. Save the date!!

Carols in the Crescent, 7th of December, 6pm.

Every year the Parish Council run this well attended event, usually with the North Downs Consort and others providing choral music, with mulled wine for the adults and hot chocolate and glow sticks for the kids. Save the date!!

All the best,
Chairman Deborah Sherry

Biggin Hill Airport Update

We as a Parish council continue to monitor flights and engage with Biggin Hill Airport. As we have previously reported, we are concerned with the number of low flying planes over the village – generally when the wind is easterly. As planes need to land against the wind, this causes their flight path to come over the village. Three years ago, we were successful in agreeing to divert the flights south of the ridge but unfortunately the proposed new flightpath was rejected by the CAA (the aviation governing body).

Fast forward to today, we are still engaging with the airport, who have now designed a new flight path which will skirt Woldingham completely and cross over The Ridge at the Oxted Chalk Pit. This will be a great result for the village if it is agreed by the CAA, as it will have a further advantage of much reduced noise. Currently we are attending meetings at the airport which considers noise, flight paths, improvements to the airport infrastructure and future fuel sustainability. The testing of the new flight path when planes need to land from the west is likely to commence this November and will take several months. We will continue to report low flying planes over the village and we encourage anyone else to do the same or contact us.

We will keep the village updated via the magazine and the website on each step of the process for the new flight path.

Councillors Peter Holbrook and Leanna McEwan

Nature Corner: Garden Waste options

Now that Autumn is undeniably underway, and gardens are arguably starting to look a bit scraggly, it may feel like time to begin a bit of tidying up. Hedge trimming, removing dead annuals (or perennials that didn’t quite make it!), weeding, and clearing leaves to name but a few of the tasks keeping many gardeners busy. It is also, therefore, an excellent time to start thinking about how best to make use of so much garden “waste”.

One answer is, of course, compost.

A fantastic, easy, and environmentally friendly way to recycle much of your garden waste and avoid having to buy quite so many expensive bags of compost. The final product can be used as a mulch or soil improver – it can have a positive impact on soil structure, fertility, aeration, and moisture retention. It also increases biodiversity, providing a home and food for a plethora of important creatures that thrive on decaying material.

Simply creating a compost heap in a corner of the garden would work, but it’s much more time- and space- efficient, not to mention neater, to use a compost bin. If you’re feeling handy, they’re not too hard to make, but if you’d rather buy one there is so much choice! They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, so you should be able to find one that’s just right for your garden and aesthetic preferences. And, if your garden is definitely too small for a compost bin, there are always worm composters to consider. Place your compost heap or bin in a shaded or partially shaded corner of the garden if possible and get ready to work magic.

If you Google “home composting” or ask an experienced gardener for their thoughts on the matter, it is pretty much guaranteed you will get all sorts of different answers and conflicting advice, especially when it comes to the finer details. However, the broad facts remain the same.

You need a combination of “green” and “brown” waste. Everyone has their own preference but broadly 25-50% of your compost material should be green, leafy waste (you can include grass clippings but they should not dominate) and the remaining 50-75% should be chopped up brown, woody material or brown cardboard. Any woody material that is too large to reasonably chop up can always go in your brown bin if you are signed up to the Green Waste Club or, if you have space, can make a brilliant wildlife log pile to help support some of our smaller local species including hedgehogs, toads, frogs, and newts. The insects that would also set up home there can provide food for many native bird species, many of which are now also under threat.

One question that often pops up is about weeds. But the good news is that YES, you can compost weeds! Try to avoid putting seed heads in your compost bin unless you are using a hot bin (in which case they can all go in, as the heat kills the seeds off) but the rest of any annual weeds are fine, as are perennials. If you’re worried about any rooting weeds, you can drown the roots by simply leaving them in a bucket of water for a week or so.

Just keep adding green and brown material, and either turn the ingredients periodically (being mindful that protected species such as slow-worms may well seek out the warmth of a good compost bin or pile) or at the very least alternate what you are adding. It’s worth noting that the “to turn or not to turn debate” can get surprisingly heated amongst the right crowd. I think the answer is that there’s no right answer! The material will still break down and you will still, 6-24 months later, you will have your own supply of home-made organic compost, and an undeniable feeling of slightly smug satisfaction. And, as in my case, you may realise that one compost bin simply isn’t enough…

Fortunately, Surrey Environmental Partnership offers a discount on various compost bins: https://www.surreyep.org.uk/reduce-reuse-recycle/garden-waste/composting/compost-bin-sales/

And if you really don’t have the space (or inclination!) for composting, or end up with too much waste, the Green Waste Club is a local green waste collection service. Unfortunately it is currently at capacity but they do run a waiting list which you can join by following the link: https://www.greenwasteclub.co.uk/component/greenwasteclub/?view=newsignup

Councillor Cat Neave