Welcome to the LOSRA Website
Like any local community, the policies and decisions shaping the character and future of Lower Sunbury are influenced by a combination of local and national government initiatives, alongside market forces and vested interests operating within these frameworks. As with many areas, Lower Sunbury faces challenges stemming from an aging infrastructure, rapid urban development, increasing traffic congestion, and other pressures that impact both quality of life and the distinctive character of the neighbourhood.
In collaboration with local authorities, other residents’ associations and amenity groups, LOSRA plays a vital role in addressing fundamental issues that affect its members' lives. This organisation not only engages with broader strategic concerns but also focuses on the everyday matters that shape community well-being.
To stay informed, we encourage you to subscribe to our regular e-bulletins via the link at the top left of this page. Your continued support is essential to our efforts, and we urge you to join or renew your membership. Subscriptions for 2026 are now payable at £5 per household. Donations are also welcome.
The Robin Bibi Band Makes Welcome Return to SCC on 31st January
The next Music Night at Sunbury CC comes round pretty quickly and is Friday 31st January, the Club welcomes back THE ROBIN BIBI BAND, who haven’t done a show at the club here for nearly two years, although Robin has played here a couple of times with The ‘60s All Stars.
Robin is one of the UK’s most respected blues/rock performers, and something of a legend on the club and festival circuit, as a guitarist/singer/songwriter who has played with the likes of The Pretty Things, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and Ben E. King, and has shared the bill with B.B. King, Van Morrison and Chuck Berry. He has released a dozen critically acclaimed albums since 1997, and plays with his band all over Europe, as well as also performing as a member of The ‘60s All Stars and The Eel Pie All Stars.
He is joined for this gig by Tony Marten, formerly with George Michael, on bass, and drummer Wez Johnson, a colleague of contemporary US blues rockers Kirk Fletcher and Ariel Posen. A top class night of blues/rock in the classic tradition of Sunbury Music Nights is guaranteed.
There’s more information at https://robinbibiband.co.uk/, including links to some great videos on YouTube.
Admission is £10.00 on the door, payable by cash or card. Hot food, prepared by the expert chefs from our resident caterers from the community food distribution organisation Surplus To Supper, will be available from 7pm.
The Long 'Pause' on the Local Plan Examination in Public Comes to an End
Following the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 6 June 2023 a motion was agreed to pause the remainder of the Local Plan examination hearings, the Chief Executive wrote to the Planning Inspector to put forward this request on behalf of the Council.
After what seems like an eternity, the 'Pause' will be over on 28th January, some 18 months later. The hearings are open to all to observe, but only those who previously made representations relevant to the matters being considered in response to previous consultations on the plan, and who registered a request to participate, will be allowed to speak.
The program has now been published here
Of particular interest is Main Matter 9 – Green Belt, Main Matter 16 – Infrastructure & Delivery – see in particular the representation from Riverside Residents, and Main Matter 17 Allocations Years1-5 – see in particular the representation from Redrow re Kempton Park.
LOSRA Committee members will be attending on a number of the relevant dates.
Nashville Teens Come to the SCC on 10th January
The first Music Night of the New Year at Sunbury Cricket Club comes round very quickly, and falls on Friday 10th January, when the Club welcomes back THE NASHVILLE TEENS in their traditional January slot to blow away the January blues.
THE NASHVILLE TEENS are one of the great names from the ‘60s who had two memorable Top Ten hits in 1964 with “Tobacco Road” and “Google Eye”, and have played storming gigs for the Club over many years. The line-up features their original lead singer Ray Phillips, who has had an unbroken half-century career with the band, as well as making solo records and performing with other line-ups like the British Invasion All-Stars with members of The Yardbirds, Creation and Downliners Sect.
With him in the current Nashville Teens is their established line-up of seasoned performers, including on bass Colin Pattenden, member of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band when they had their big hits back in the 70s, plus Simon Spratley of The Ian Campbell Blues Band on keyboards, Ken Osborn from Levee Camp Moan on guitar and Adrian ‘Spud’ Metcalf on drums. It will be another night of classic ‘60s R&B, featuring in Ray one of the great voices of the beat era. There’s more information at www.Nashville-Teens.com.
Hot food, prepared by resident caterers Surplus To Supper, will be available as usual from about 6.30pm, with the band on stage around 8.30 pm or soon after, so the Club hopes you can make it down to get this year’s Music Nights off to a cracking start and looks forward to seeing you next week. In the meantime, may we wish you all the best for 2025 – we will try to make sure there’s some fine entertainment at the Cricket Club during the year.
Admission is £10.00 on the door, payable by cash or card.
Our 2025 New Year Newsletter May Be Read Here
The Chairman and Committee extend best wishes to all our readers for a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
To keep abreast of all that is going on, you will find the print copy of our New Year Newsletter circulated with the next edition of Sunbury Matters and may be viewed by clicking here
Public hearing dates announced for Local Plan examination
The Council has announced the long-awaited resumption of the Local Plan examination:
Hearings for the Local Plan were originally held in May 2023 before an Extraordinary meeting of the Council in June 2023 resolved to ask the Inspector to pause the Examination Hearings, a request which was agreed by Independent Inspector, Jameson Bridgwater PGDipTP MRTPI. A further pause was also granted following a second request from the Council in September 2023.
In July 2024, Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee, Cllr Malcolm Beecher, wrote to the Planning Inspector requesting resumption of the Local Plan examination, and in October the Environment Agency and the Council signed a Statement of Common Ground.
The hearings will be held in person at Spelthorne Council's offices with arrangements in place for virtual participation where required. Those who made representations will have the opportunity to appear at the hearings and speak directly to the Inspector.
The dates for the hearings are as follows, starting at 10am each day:
- Monday 27 January 2025 - Friday 31 January 2025
- Monday 10 February 2025 - Friday 14 February 2025
- Monday 17 February 2025 - Friday 21 February 2025
The sessions will be held at the Council Offices, Knowle Green, Staines-upon-Thames TW18 1XB. Details regarding participation and specific discussion topics for each date will be confirmed closer to the opening of the hearings. Arrangements will be made for people to observe the hearing sessions in person.
Visit www.spelthornelocalplan.info/ for full details and to check any changes or updates to the programme. All relevant documents will also be available here.
Tommaso Starace Joins the Terence Collie Trio at the Riverside Arts Centre on Sunday 15th December
Tommaso Starace – Alto and Tenor – stunning saxophonist – think bebop – very much in the style of Cannonball Adderley – with a bleusy swagger – and lots of Passion!
Tommaso has played at all of the top Clubs and Festivals including London Jazz Festival, Brecon Jazz Festival, Pizza Express Soho, Blue Note Milano, Oxford Jazz Festival etc.
He swings magnificently, playing alto and soprano saxophone with impressive post Parker felicity and Italian flair. He has performed with some of the most respected jazz musicians including Billy Cobham, David Liebman, Kenny Wheeler, Stan Sulzmann, Jim Mullen, Jonathan Gee, Paolo Pellegatti, Gianni Giudici.
More...
Grass Verge Cutting Contract Coming Back to Spelthorne
In 2023 Surrey County Council assumed responsibility for verge maintenance from all the borough and district councils, ending the agreement which had been in place since 2008. However, throughout this transition many residents voiced frustration with the decline in service levels and quality of cut which was leaving many areas looking untidy.
After determined lobbying by our Council, the responsibility for verge maintenance will be returned to Spelthorne, where it rightly belongs!
Christmas party season at the Scc with the Liverpool Echoes on 6th December
Sunbury Cricket Club's last Music Night of 2024 is on Friday 6th December, when the Club returns to its traditional tried and tested party formula to kick off the Christmas party season as they once again feature THE LIVERPOOL ECHOES. They are led by Yanni Tsamplakos, who is a great supporter of our Music Nights and has appeared at many of the Christmas party shows with his band The Mersey Legends, and the Club is delighted to welcome him back once more with his new line-up, with whom he appeared for the first time last year.
As always, they will give us a rip-roaring evening, performing a non-stop selection of wall-to-wall beat era classics, with Yanni on guitar and vocals, Billy Allan on guitar, John Joce on bass and Rick Daniow on drums. We can guarantee that it will be a great party night to kick off the festive season in style, so get a gang of friends together and come along for a proper rave-up.
There’s more info at www.liverpoolechoes.co.uk.
Hot food, prepared by our resident caterers Surplus To Supper, will be available as usual from about 6.30pm, with the band on stage around 8.30 pm or soon after, so we hope you can make it. We look forward to seeing you there – get there early if you want to grab a table for your group, as it will be busy.
Admission is £10.00 on the door, payable by cash or card.
Christmas starts in Sunbury on 5th December with traditional festive market
As in previous years, the Christmas Market, organised by volunteers from the Lower Sunbury Business Community, will run from 5 - 8pm.
LoSRA will, as usual, have a stall staffed by our Committee members.
Do pay a visit!
BESS is Back - An Update
On 14 October we published an article about the re-submitted planning application for a Battery Energy Storage System on Green Belt land adjacent to the Charlton Lane Eco Park. We advised that the applicant, Sunbury BESS Limited, had requested separate meetings with the local Residents’ Associations but that we had proposed instead a single meeting with representatives of those RAs.
This meeting took place in the Riverside Arts Centre in Lower Sunbury on Friday 25 October. Five committee members from the Charlton Village, Lower Sunbury and Shepperton RAs met with four representatives of Sunbury BESS Limited (the ‘Applicant’) and its agent DWD. It was a useful meeting, at which we were able to explain the various concerns of local residents and query, discuss and clarify aspects of the revised application. Following the meeting we have re-assessed our objections to the scheme accordingly.
To see our full report of this meeting, click here
To see our objections to this revised application, click here
The Blue Bishops to Play at Sunbury Cricket Club on 15th November
There’s an enforced change of plan for the next Music Night on Friday 15th November. The Club had announced The Skeleton Crew for that evening, but they have had to pull out through illness, and the Club was fortunate to secure the service of THE BLUE BISHOPS, who haven’t played at the Club for quite a while, mainly because a couple of members have to travel quite a distance.
They have done cracking shows for us in the past, and still feature long-time members Simon Burritt on guitar & vocals and Geoff Grange on guitar, harmonica and vocals. Simon is a veteran of many bands since his time as an artist with Mike Vernon’s Blue Horizon label in the ‘60s, and Geoff is a former collaborator of Bill Wyman and Nicky Hopkins. The other regular members are Ian Fordham on bass and Micky Hollis on drums, both also with a rich heritage in the business recording and performing with various bands.
The music is at the rockier end of the blues spectrum, and you can hear plenty of examples of their music, with clips from their albums on their website at www.bluebishops.co.uk, and ‘live’ performances on their youtube channel, which includes a track from this year’s Ealing Blues Festival in July, the last time they were in this neck of the woods, when they also played The Eel Pie Club. There’s plenty of other information on the website as well.
It's a welcome and long-overdue return to the Club for them, and they are looking forward to doing a show in the proper Sunbury Music Night rocking blues tradition.
Hot food, prepared by the Club's resident caterers Surplus To Supper, will be available as usual from about 6.30pm, with the band on stage around 8.30 pm or soon after, so it's hoped you can make it.
Admission is £10.00 on the door, payable by cash or card.
Lower Sunbury Conservation Area Appraisal
Spelthorne Borough Council has undertaken an appraisal of the Lower Sunbury Conservation Area under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. The deadline for submission of comments is November 20th.
This is an interesting document for anyone who lives in Lower Sunbury, especially for those who live within the Conservation Area.
Significantly, it is proposed that the Conservation Area be extended to include Darby House, Sunbury Court and the eastern part of the riverside public open space. In addition, certain modern development on the west side of Green Street is to be excluded.
Whilst there is reference to the state of the roads in the area, there is no mention of the wear and tear on buildings (both listed and otherwise) caused by the ever increasing volume of road traffic. LOSRA's view is that this is a matter of real concern and that reference should be made to the threat to buildings in the Conservation Area caused by increasing road traffic.
An Update from LIARFC from Club President
The following email has been received by LoSRA from Chris Kane the President of London Irish Amateur RFC and we are pleased to reproduce it here:
"Following the recent press coverage and social media posts regarding the possible re-forming of the London Irish Professional Team, I am writing to provide you with an update on our project to secure a long term home for London Irish Amateur RFC at Hazelwood.
Our position
"London Irish Amateur RFC has a long lease over much of Hazelwood. The site is also subject to very detailed planning obligations, requiring it to be used for community rugby, community sports and other community activities. In further recognition of the site’s status, Spelthorne Council recently accepted our application to register Hazelwood as an Asset of Community Value.
Increased Community Usage of Hazelwood
"As we informed you some months ago we are partnering with the London GAA and Brentford Football Club Community Sports Trust in our project to acquire Hazelwood for the community. We are now seeing both organisations increasing their usage of Hazelwood.
Extensive Support for our Plan
"We are confident our plan is deliverable and it has extensive support from our members, partners, and the community.
Engagement with other bidders
"We have always accepted it is possible another party may acquire Hazelwood and thus become our landlord. Since the administration we have engaged with a number of these parties. Our position remains we are happy to discuss with any bidders how Hazelwood could be shared.
"London Irish Amateur RFC will not be making any comment on the recent media reports.
We strongly believe Hazelwood must remain a community asset. We have a plan which achieves this."
Chris Kane
Club President
1 Nov 2024
Hazelwood Centre to Host Spelthorne Business Awards on 1st November
The following email has been received from the General Manager of the Hazelwood Community Company and we are pleased to reproduce it here:
"We are going to be hosting the Spelthorne Business awards here for the second year running on the 1st November which is very exciting for us. We would appreciate a little word out to the local community if they would like to join in celebrating local business, they are welcome to buy tickets for the tables. The guests can buy tickets through the following website: www.spelthornebusinessawards.co.uk"
