1st February 2020 and all is well……. let’s put our energies into things that really matter now rather than worrying about the National and International political landscape – it’s out of our hands for now.
Our councils are settling into their roles now, and the declaration of a climate emergency by the 3 councils that affect us means things will change. For them to reduce their carbon footprints they have to look into all they do. This might include not sending contractors all over the area to fix and maintain things such as our verges and commons. They might decide to have less meetings where they need light and heat! who knows? They are certainly looking into the best uses for all buildings and also at the gas boilers throughout the borough.
If you are interested in keeping up to date with what Cranleigh Parish Councillors and staff are doing – the Clerk Beverley keeps a good record in the minutes of meetings and the messages on the web site. You can access all this here – we attend some of the meetings and recently were pleased to see 2 police attend too. The Friday Night project at the Leisure centre was discussed – they would benefit from a couple more volunteers – anyone interested in interacting with youngsters aged 11-15? Plenty of youngsters benefit from having the club and they are pretty well behaved too. The Council are installing public toilets at Snoxhall Pavilion which should be good news for all who use the area. Did you ever read the latest version of Cranleigh’s Neighbourhood Plan – see their web site.
Waverley Borough councillors are finding all sorts of financial problems associated with the planning applications that have been passed. Also they seem to prefer to be cautious about giving planning permissions – great for the environment, but we do wonder where their next £s will come from if not from the builders! They have slowed down on efforts to rebuild Cranleigh leisure centre – which has had to net the cladding as it had become a danger. The car park was cordoned off while the work was completed last week. If the activities of our Borough council interest you have a look here
As you will no doubt realise the services provided to us all are divided between the 3 councils and Surrey County Council is responsible for the major aspects of our lives such as the removal of rubbish and recycling, rebuilding and maintaining schools, and roads and so on. Our County Councillor is Andrew Povey – andrew.f.povey@surreycc.gov.uk – and he is looking into improving Cranleigh High Street – there is a small pot of money from the developers – we don’t yet know what can be afforded and what will benefit Cranleigh the most. The project to build Cranleigh a new Primary School has stalled at the moment – we are watching SCC meetings to try to see what they will do next. You can look up for yourselves here
Looking forwards there continue to be – very slow – moves afoot to clean and clear and reshape our local watercourses and rivers to improve natural habitats and to ease potential flood waters. Surrey Wildlife Trust has very few people and very little money but they are great people with big ideas. How has your winter been so far? Any flooding? If so please do record dates and depths and tell Cranleigh Parish Council – or us. Cranleigh cemetery certainly has problems that CPC are hoping to address soon. We don’t have any updates about Thames Water’s management of our fresh water supplies and sewage removal. We have yet to talk to our new MP Angela Richardson, about the Flood Forums too. The Wey & Arun Canal trust are working very hard – there’s very few of them and little money – but the aims to reopen sections of the canals are fabulous as it all helps with wildlife as well as providing for humans to enjoy nature. There is a special event 23-25 May we hope to support. Do check out their web site here
We continue to meet and monitor all we can – Facebook forums and Twitter too – If you are keen to get involved in promoting Cranleigh as a great place to live, work and play, please get in touch, and also join us at our Monthly socials – these take place at The Three Horsehoes pub, by the obelisk, on the 2nd Wednesdays each month, from 6:30 pm. Good pub food is available, some come and go early, some later – do join in and get to know us, tell us about you and how we can defend our village against problems, improve it and make it simply the best.
DATES
PUB MEETINGS – 12 FEBRUARY; 11 MARCH, 8 APRIL
We also meet Monthly at one of our houses – 24th Feb, 1st April.
We hope you enjoyed reading this post – please do add your comments! We read them.
