RA Chairman, Alex Batchelor's Annual Report,
presented at the Association's AGM, March 2025
May 2024 saw our Residents’ Association candidates in both Thames Ditton and Hinchley Wood & Weston Green wards elected to Elmbridge Borough Council with substantial majorities. I am the beneficiary of your support in Thames Ditton – and thank you to all who voted – and equally to those who delivered leaflets, put up boards, canvassed, spoke to neighbours and generally supported the Residents’ Association. Caroline James, Elaine Seseman and I are proud to represent you. I sit on the Cabinet on Elmbridge Council and am Portfolio Holder for Housing Strategy and related matters. Caroline is also on the Cabinet – as Portfolio Holder for Planning.
In Hinchley Wood & Weston Green, Gill Coates was re-elected with an increased majority. Gill sits on the Cabinet as Portfolio Holder for Community Care. In addition to working as a Councillor over the last 4 years Gill has also been the driving force behind the Nature & Climate Festival, held for the third time in September. The fourth instalment will be in October this year. Gill, Janet Turner and James Crawshaw represent Hinchley Wood & Weston Green on Elmbridge Borough Council – and are similarly grateful for your support.
There are no local elections in May 2025. None were scheduled for Elmbridge Borough Council, and in January Surrey County Council voted to postpone its May 2025 elections until May 2026 – as part of the government’s proposals for Local Government Reorganisation. At this time we do not know exactly what form Local Government will take, but what we do know is that District and Borough councils (like Elmbridge) will be replaced with unitary authorities that are larger and combine the two tiers of local government. While that debate continues and decisions are made we will continue to be represented at Surrey County Council by Councillor Nick Darby - to whom I would like to say special thanks. As those who attend our Open Meetings will know, Nick has developed a serious eye condition which now means he has very limited sight. Nick has not let this condition stop him working tirelessly on behalf of the local community. Nick has been dealing with a number of issues covering everything from highways to schools – and has agreed to continue to represent us until the May 2026 elections. Nick is supported by his wife Annie on a daily basis, assisting him with the inevitable limitations that his condition imposes. We owe them both a debt of gratitude.
Whatever the outcome of the local government reorganization, the belief is that local government is better in the hands of local people rather than big political parties. For our Councillors in both Elmbridge and Surrey it has been another tough year coping with a difficult financial situation yet still trying to ensure that our local services and support are maintained. I would like to extend my thanks to all those who represent us. They do so because they genuinely care about their local communities and not because they seek political advancement or financial reward. Whilst representation on both Elmbridge Council and Surrey County Councils means that we can influence local matters, a great deal of the work of the Association is undertaken by those in other capacities, all are volunteers, and we owe them a debt of gratitude whatever their role.
Having stood down as a Thames Ditton Councillor, Karen Randolph has led the campaign to oppose the Planning Appeal by ALDI to redevelop the old Guy Salmon site as a supermarket. It was clear to us that the vast majority of local residents felt the site was the wrong place for a supermarket. I would like to recognise and thank those local residents and businesses who gave both vocal and financial support to the Campaign, which was successful, in that the Planning Appeal was rejected in June 2023. ALDI indicated in December 2024 that they intended to submit a revised planning application for the site. A consultation process started before Christmas – but as yet no application has been received. As if that project wasn’t enough, Karen is now leading the campaign to retain a pharmacist in the village. The process of dealing with the NHS and the Pharmaceutical Review Board is apparently spectacularly Kafkaesque – but we will continue to do what we can to have a pharmacist in the High Street.
The Secret Gardens of Weston Green took place in June 2024 and was a great success. The Secret Gardens of Thames Ditton is back this June. We supported our friends in the Long Ditton Residents’ Association in applying for Village Green status for land between Sugden Road and the A3, commonly known as Stokes Field – and can confirm that this has now been granted – offering additional protection to a local amenity.
We continue to communicate with all in the community via our magazine Thames Ditton Today and our website. As ever, we owe our gratitude to all involved in Thames Ditton Today and to our advertisers and distributors. Thanks to Sonia Hamilton-Martin and Verity Park for their work with advertisers and to our advertisers themselves. Thanks also to Phil Mann, who took over the editorship for an edition and to Paul Ovington who is our new editor. He has taken over from Libby MacIntyre, who edited and oversaw the production of the magazine for 10 years. A huge vote of thanks to Libby.
One of the social highlights of my year is the 'finger buffet' party for volunteers who collect subscriptions, deliver our leaflets and magazines (over 5,000 copies of Thames Ditton Today are distributed for each edition) – which was very convivial.
Not everything turns out as a huge success. A planning application was submitted in 2022 for 74 residential units on the Molesey Ventures site in Orchard Lane, off Ember Lane. We supported local residents who objected to the application which would represent over development of the site – and Block C in particular will have a significant impact on the two residents adjacent to the building. We support well designed, appropriate and sustainable development, but this application did not tick those boxes. Unfortunately it was passed at the Planning Committee – but we will continue to work with residents to ensure that the impact is mitigated as far as possible.
Our Local Plan – which was voted in unanimously by the 48 Elmbridge Borough Councillors - was withdrawn part way through its examination in public. We asked for some additional time to make it compliant – but the Inspector chose not to allow us to do so – and therefore the only prudent course was to withdraw it. We still have the 2011 Local Plan – and a revised Design Code – to help ensure that local developments enhance the community of which we are a part. It is also clear that the current government wishes us to increase the building of homes – whatever happens with the process for developing a new Local Plan and with Local Government Reorganisation – the RA will always seek to protect our Green Belt as well as provide much needed affordable housing.
The future of the Thames Ditton Community Centre has occupied us for much of the last 12 months. Sadly, a great deal of misinformation about the future of the Centre was spread on social media, including suggestions that the Centre was to close, which had never been proposed. Vital Village re-opened the centre in September and has been offering a wider range of services and activities for the whole community. Many more people are now using the Centre and the Community Fridge – and this has come at a significantly reduced cost to the Council. It is a model for offering a wider range of services to a wider range of residents – and within the financial constraints that are placed on local government.
Again the Christmas Fair was very well attended – and the RA was able to foot the bill for the lights and the Christmas tree on the roundabout. Thanks to the local businesses who met the cost of the trees in the High Street and to all those who were involved in the work getting everything ready – putting Christmas Lights on 43 trees is quite an undertaking.
Time does not allow me to cover a multitude of other issues that the RA has involved itself with over the last 12 months and which concern local residents. Many of you are involved by volunteering in different ways. We are grateful to our litter pickers, our meals on wheels deliverers, to the people planting and watering the beds on the Fountain roundabout or putting in spring bulbs all over the place.
Alex concluded by thanking all those who support or are involved with the running of the Association. As a resident of 31 years, he noted there had been enormous change but a great deal had not. And that was down to the efforts of past, as well as present, Residents’ Association volunteers and local councillors, who should all be thanked for their efforts.