Dear Villagers,
It is a new term for your Parish Council. This year, for the first time in many years, we had an election for the Woldingham Parish Council. We welcome back seven Councillors and welcome two new Councillors to the Parish Council team. Your Woldingham Parish Council (WPC) team is comprised of myself (Deborah Sherry), and Councillors Alex Foulds, Peter Holbrook, Peter Hutchinson, Daniel Mann, Leanna McEwan, Jason Moore, Carole North and Chris Underwood.
We were pleased to see the highest turnout we have had for a purely local election. We give thanks for their hard work to retiring Councillors Kate Holmes and Irina Hoble-Aldersley. Our external auditor Clifford Catt has served the Parish Council and the community for 21 years and is also retiring this year. We give great thanks to Cliff for all his work over so many years. We owe many of our process improvements and controls to Cliff and we are truly grateful for all that he has contributed.
The Annual General Meeting of the Council
On the 9th of May we held the Annual General Meeting of the Parish Council, which is the statutory meeting of the WPC at which the Chairman is elected. I was re-elected Chairman and Councillor North was re-elected Vice-Chairman. Councillor Peter Hutchinson was re-elected Head of Finance and Councillor Peter Holbrook was re-elected Head of Planning.
The Annual Parish Meeting
We also held the Annual Parish Meeting in which we updated the community on the work of the past year, highlighting a few specifics areas.
In the Chairman’s update, we reminded that the role of the Parish Council is to look after the welfare of the community and represent the views and concerns of the residents of the parish to the parish council itself and, through it, to the district, the county and the police. It is also to:
- Implement the Neighbourhood Plan and ensure the fulfilment of its aims on an ongoing basis
- Serve a statutory consultee on planning to the District Authority
- Deliver local services not covered by other authorities: primarily road gritting on private roads, but also where viable, upkeep of public areas
- Encourage community through events and activities
Over the past year, the WPC upgraded it’s CCTV equipment on Church Road, started Speed Watch (see Councillor Fould’s update); deeply engaged on airspace issues (see Councillor McEwan’s report), set up a community meeting with the Surrey Police Commissioner and team, kicked off its environmental and climate change work (see Councillors Daniel Mann and Carole North’s report), worked hard on planning commentary, including engaging on issues with local travels and the proposed Chalkpit quarry estate (still pending). We note that planning applications had been running at 50% higher than previous years, until the last two months of the year when only 6 applications on total were received for commentary (compared to 82 for the year).
Speedwatch
Councillor Alex Foulds reported that we owe a huge thanks to Jeremy Wormington, our Speed watch leader, and all the Speedwatch volunteers. Speed watch started in December 2023, after many, many years of hiatus. Speedwatch has been going well and has identified a couple of good sites that catch either commuters or the school run, where we see both high numbers of vehicles and therefore higher instances of speeding. In particular, vehicles entering the village along Northdown Road are twice as likely to be speeding than those coming up Station Road, with almost every instance of vehicles exceeding 45 mph using Northdown Road and a number in excess of 50 mph. There have been a number of drivers being repeat offenders, which ultimately results in a police visit to their home. As you can see, we record any vehicle exceeding 35 mph, with 1 in 7 exceeding this threshold within the village.
Due to lack of volunteers, we are restricted to a few sites and also where we feel we can have greater impact. If Speedwatch is to achieve the aims from last year’s AGM, where speeding was cited as the number one issue in the village, then we require more volunteers. All we require is one hour per week and the training in online, which also takes about an hour. On a lighter note, one driver was heard complaining that Speedwatch is ruining the village as a nice place to drive through. That person failed to mention that they were caught doing 45 mph in the village 30 mph zone. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Karen Newman, Parish Clerk at parish.clerk@woldingham.com
Airports and Airspace
Councillor Leanna McEwan updated us on the engagement she and Councillor Peter Holbrook have had with the Southern Airspace review and the Biggin Hill Airport team. She noted that there is a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) review of the entre Southern airspace, which proposed to modernise and redesign our airspace. The Future Airspace Strategy Implementation – South (FASI – South), is the initiative which impacts us, covering Biggin Hill, Bournemouth, Farnborough, Gatwick, Heathrow, London City, Luton, Manston, RAF Northolt, Southampton, Southend and Stansted.
Gatwick Airport also has a consent order for the Northern Runway Project. In conjunction with the proposed Northern Runway and FASI –South review, Gatwick Airport is preparing an Airspace Change Proposal (ACP) to redesign the arrival and departure routes that serve the airport’s operation.
Councillors Holbrook and McEwan participated in consultation and in public information sessions on the FASI-South review and continue to be involved and will receive notifications about the Examination and a copy of the Secretary of State’s decision on the application once they are made.
Councillor McEwan also shared the detailed engagement with the Biggin Hill Airport team and CEO and the Biggin Hill flight path consultation. The consultation has focused on introducing a new satellite-based Area Navigation Instrument for both Approach and Missed Approach Procedures with 3 arrival options and 1 missed approach option to be considered. Councillors McEwan and Holbrook will continue to participate in this specific consultation on-going. The proposed approaches would move Biggin Hill air traffic away from Woldingham so hopefully will be accepted by the CAA once the consultation and trials are complete.
Finance
Councillor Peter Hutchinson, Head of Finance, reported that the WPC annual precept is £46,284 and has remained unchanged for two years (unlike inflation). Councillor Hutchinson noted that staff and running costs consume roughly half of the WPC budget and therefore the level of the precept limits our ability to fund expenditure but also ensures that WPC delivers value for money whilst concentrating on the things that matter most to our community. He further explained that in addition to running costs, the WPC spends the precept across 3 key categories of expenditure: 1. Grants to local clubs, societies and worthy causes; 2. Purchase of assets needed to conduct council activities; and 3. Major projects to the benefit of the community.
During the 2023/24 fiscal year, the WPC gave grants totalling £7,890 to: The Village pantomime group, Woldingham Horticultural Society, St Agatha’s Churchyard, Woldingham Cricket Club, Neighbourhood Watch, Woodlea School and for Madeira Walk upkeep. The budget for 2024/25 is £8,000 and interested parties can apply through the process explained on the Woldingham Village website: www.woldingham.com
During 2023/24 fiscal year we also spent a total of £5,619 on new (and upgraded) CCTV for Church a replacement Parish Notice Board, a new Laptop for the Clerk and a portable projector Screen. During the 2024/25 fiscal year we expect to spend £3,129 on enhanced CCTV for the Glebe.
During 2023/24 the major spend was £8,470 for the costs of various activities to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III. And in 2024/25 we expect to spend a further £8,500 on Village Green Bunds to replace the concrete blocks, the Village D-Day commemoration, Crescent remedial works, and environmental projects in light of climate emergency mitigation.
Councillor Hutchinson also clarified the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and its use, noting that CIL is a tax which is collected by Tandridge Council from entities who carry out certain types of development in the District.
CIL receipts are primarily intended to be used to fund new infrastructure or to renovate existing infrastructure which is necessary to mitigate the effects of growth (but not for specific damage caused by a specific developer). Where development takes place in Woldingham that is subject to CIL, Tandridge must forward part of the levy to WPC to deploy within the village. During 2023/24 £3,381 was received and will be used against qualifying requirements within the next 5 years, the first such funds to be received in over 2 years.
Finally, Councillor Hutchinson reminded us that to give the council the flexibility to respond to the unexpected it is necessary to hold money in reserve. Accordingly, WPC holds reserves amounting to approximately one year’s precept income, built up over many years. Whilst not a large sum, it does give some protection that should expenditure be necessary in the best interests of the Village Community, the Council has some capacity to act quickly in response. No one knows what unexpected events will happen, but history tells us there will be something!
Environmental work
Councillors Daniel Mann and Carole North are working together to kick off a variety of projects to help address the climate emergency and to ensure that the WPC and the parish are working to conserve and enhance the natural environment, making space for nature and wildlife through the restoration of valued habitats, biodiversity and green spaces whilst protecting key landscape features.
Councillor Mann noted that there were 5 key areas the WPC could focus its efforts.
1. Planning. Make use of the new law relating to biodiversity improvement and identify spatially where we want to improve our biodiversity, explicitly supporting Green/Low Carbon planning projects that are in line with the Woldingham Plan and using planning tools to fund climate actions and nature restoration projects.
2. Entertainment. The WPC can consider ecological and carbon footprint of regular events, including use of plastics, transport arrangements, energy use and recycling facilities for events.
3.General Spending. The WPC should use local suppliers where possible and maximise use of social media platforms to engage with the community, accepting that not all parishioners will have access to social media, and using printed matter sparingly as needed.
4. Land and footpaths. Take action to keep footpaths in use and in good order, encouraging community working groups to help. Encourage good use and understanding of paths, wildlife, farming and the countryside. Promote walking and cycling opportunities instead of driving.
5. Litter. Support anti-litter campaigns.
6. Highways. Ensure continued adherence to the absence of road lighting in line with the Woldingham Design Guidance, which enhances nature and wildlife; encourage and signpost community transport schemes; take opportunities to plant trees (without reducing visibility) and manage verges for wildlife by encouraging reduce verge cutting; and Considering sites for communal charging points (in line with Tandridge Action Plan).
Councillor Mann explained that the WPC are considering a host of projects and initiatives across a yearly calendar and is seeking volunteers to help define the calendar and orchestrate some of the events. The Glebe also mentioned it had projects ton which the WPC and the Glebe could collaborate. If you might be interested in helping, please email our Clerk, Karen Newman, on parish.clerk@woldingham.com.
The WPC had a busy year and with a full programme ahead, we hope that some of you will be available to help on some of the community projects or speedwatch. As ever, please be sure to read Woldingham.com or see our Village Noticeboard on the Crescent for the latest updates and please let us know if you have any feedback, requests or questions. And hopefully we will see some of you across the summer at some of our community events, from the village fete, to the D-Day commemoration and other events.
All the best,
Chairman Deborah Sherry