Ken’s Village round up
Following last year's atrocious weather and
how poorly the Authorities dealt with keeping our roads open, Surrey County
Council has been working hard during 2010 to draw up new plans should there be
a repeat of the same weather again.
They have made provisions to have a stockpile of salt/grit,
which they anticipate, will cope with the worst-case scenario. Providing the
Government do not step in and try and run things from London for the whole
country which is what happened last winter (not very successfully done), then
Surrey are confident that we will be in a better shape to cope.
Felbridge has two main roads running through it,
which are Category One. They will get priority treatment should the need arise.
Green Belt Settlement
As the vast majority of land within Tandridge
lies within the Green Belt, planning decisions are very much affected by the
strict rules that come with being within the Green Belt. However, there are
specific areas which are designated to be Green Belt Settlements, and with that
status, comes certain privileges that relax the strict planning rules associated
with Green Belt. Felbridge village is currently one of those designated
Green Belt Settlements, hence the massive amount of in-filling development that
has occurred over the past few years. Green Belt Settlement designation is all
up for grabs in the coming months in conjunction with The Core Strategy and it
may well be that Felbridge will drop out of that list of Settlements. Public
consultation is due to take place towards the end of the year and decision time
will occur during 2011.We await to see what comes of the consultation process.
It probably hasn't gone unnoticed by those who
drive along the A.264 Copthorne Road towards Crawley, that all the holes that caused
such mayhem (and damage) for motorists last winter have reappeared,
despite the efforts made by Surrey County Council to repair them earlier this
year.
The matter has been drawn to the attention of
S.C.C and we look forward to them getting the contractors back to rectify the
problem.
Japanese Knotweed.
There have been reports of Japanese Knotweed
being sighted in the waterways adjacent to the A.264 near to Furnace Wood This
weed can cause flooding if it is allowed to build up and block water courses.
The local Authority has been alerted as have
the Environment Agency, but both claim that it is not their responsibility. As
the watercourses are adjacent to the highway, Surrey County Council have also
been advised and we wait to see who actually deals with the problem.