Parish Council News Update – April 2022

Woldingham Village Green

The ownership of Woldingham’s village green currently sits with Tandridge District Council. This beautiful green is an integral part of Woldingham and, for that reason, the Parish Council approached the District Council who agreed to pass ownership and the maintenance of the green back to us. The legal process is underway and we will let you know when it is completed.

Vice-Chairman Carole North

 

Openreach – Fibre broadband

Following the application, submitted in May 2021, for Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) for the 344 properties in Woldingham that do not have it yet, we have finally received a response. The reason for the delay was the pause to applications due to overwhelming demand and changes to the government’s ‘Project Gigabit’, which provides funding for the installation. The voucher process has now changed and every household having FTTP installed has to mandatorily sign up to a fibre broadband contract. In addition, the current installation quote would not be covered by the voucher scheme – there is over £300,000 shortfall. As not every resident will want to sign up to fibre broadband, the chances of there being an even bigger shortfall is high.

The Parish Council is in dialogue with Openreach to review the quote and identify any properties that have excessively high installation costs. We are also in communication with Surrey County Council who have advised that they will benefit from significant Government investment (currently estimated between £101m and £171m) to connect approximately 99,000 homes and businesses to gigabit-capable broadband speeds. The exact value and number of premises that are likely to benefit is being determined by the Government through several engagement activities with communication network operators including a forthcoming Public Review.

We will continue to share updates with you as the discussions progress.

Vice-Chairman Carole North

 

ANPR Cameras Have Arrived

ANPR cameras have been installed in the village. What is an ANPR Camera and why are the police deploying them? ANPR stands for Automated Number Plate Recognition. An ANPR camera is a mass surveillance device that performs optical character recognition on images to read license plates, inform the police, and prevent criminal activities. The vehicle registration numbers are instantly checked against database records of vehicles of interest and the cameras are monitored 24/7.

As a result, these cameras help the police spot and track vehicles. While license plates can be and are changed, the location data received is still very valuable for police operations and successful tracking. Real-time data enables real-time response and the data is often invaluable evidence that leads to criminal convictions.Upon the recommendation of Surrey Police, the Parish Council have paid for 3 ANPR Cameras in Woldingham. A total of 17 cameras have been installed in Tandridge, to form part of a protection ring covering the whole of the Tandridge area. These link up with additional cameras in Reigate and Banstead, as well as cameras from the Met Police jurisdiction, to ensure a seamless overview of all relevant routes.

Signs will be installed to let people know ANPR cameras are in use, but not where the exact camera is, to protect the camera itself.

Chairman Deborah Sherry

 

Save the Date for the APM

The Annual Parish Meeting will be in on 26th May 2022 at 7.30pm in the Woldingham Village Club. Please note the change of venue! We hope many of you can join us. We will summarise what the Council has worked on and spent money on in the previous year and most importantly, we will be holding workshops to get your input on a variety of topics. Please save the date and join us in our lovely village Club.

Chairman Deborah Sherry

 

New Emergency Plan

The Parish Council have drafted a new emergency plan and are setting up a resilience team. If you are interested in being part of the team or leading it, please contact parish.clerk@woldingham.com. The current leader is your Parish Council Chairman but I would love to see more volunteers involved.

This community resilience group has been set up in case of any incident in the Parish of Woldingham in recognition that prepared communities are stronger and quicker to recover. The plan is being set up in coordination with Tandridge District Council and Surrey County Council. We are also working closely with the other parishes in the north of Tandridge, with whom we regularly meet, to ensure we use the same format plan and can assist each other as needed.

An Emergency Plan was last produced by Woldingham Parish Council, in conjunction with the Surrey Emergency Planning Unit and Tandridge District Council, in 2015.

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 explains that the duty to respond to incidents falls to Category 1 responders, primarily: blue light services, health teams and both County and District Councils. Category 2 responders are also expected to respond which include all forms of transport and utilities companies.

Under the Act, Parish Councils are not duty-bound to respond, but can still play a key part in preparing and responding as necessary. In extreme conditions such as snow, flooding, pandemics or potentially even war, there is a possibility that the emergency services and other agencies may be overwhelmed and not be able to reach us immediately. In such circumstances, the initial response and/or outreach to local authorities will rely on local people. This plan will enable the community to respond to a major incident or emergency, whilst awaiting the assistance of the Emergency Services and the County or District Council.

The plan itself creates a framework to help us coordinate a response to emergencies, bringing together statutory bodies, local volunteers and local organisations to protect and assist the Woldingham community. In a situation where we may initially be on our own, we need to have effective community resilience and resourcefulness until such time as external help arrives.

The Parish Council is committed to taking the lead and maintaining a plan so that the community can respond in the event of an emergency and use our local resources to best effect. The plan is a living document that will be reviewed regularly to ensure it is up to date. Please let us know if you would like to help.

Chairman Deborah Sherry