Residents will remember the public consultation by Heather Parker Projects on 15th December at the Riverside Arts Centre (see article of 6th December 2012). After a long period of silence (apparently due to a delay in acquiring a completed reference site for the noise impact assessment) LOSRA has now been made aware that Heather Parker Projects Ltd has submitted a Full Planning Application for the Hydropower scheme at Sunbury Weir.

If you wish to make your views known directly to Elmbridge Council, you have until 13th August to submit your representation. The application and all associated documents may be viewed here, Reference:2013/2895.

Alternatively, you may prefer to submit your comments to the Planning Office at Spelthorne Borough Council who are statutory consultees at http://my.spelthorne.gov.uk/planning/ quoting the reference number 13/10184/MIS.

Many residents will already be familiar with Checkatrade when choosing the professional services of a tradesman but may be less familiar with the new free Buy with Confidence Directory, which lists all local businesses which have been approved by Surrey Trading Standards.

If you would like a copy sent to you please contact the SCC contact centre on 03456 009 009, alternatively copies will be available in local libraries, CAB offices, District and Borough Council Offices and various other places.

Traders and more information about the scheme are also listed online www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk

The second Prudential Ride London event will be held on Sunday 4th August and will affect roads across London and Surrey.

Residents are advised to check their journey options and find out more about watching the events at: www.gosurrey.info or call 0845 894 9773.

Those residents who attended the packed public Eco Park meeting held on 13th June at Spelthorne's Council Chamber will remember an evening of frustration and high drama with many legitimate questions left unanswered. Cllr Furey, Cabinet member of Surrey County Council and the Eco Park's sponsor, has asked that the minutes of that meeting be circulated. To view, click here

Residents are reminded that the Eco Park proposal (as amended) will be put before the SCC Cabinet at its next meeting on Tuesday 23rd July, 2pm at County Hall, Kingston. This is a meeting to which the public are permitted to attend.

With apologies to Terrence Nowicki Jr.

Spelthorne Council in partnership with Surrey Squash is running a beginners squash course during the summer holidays.

The beginner course is open to young people aged 14 – 25 and is being held at Spelthorne Leisure Centre from Monday 29 July – Saturday 3 August from 1.45 – 3.15pm each day.

Cllr Penny Forbes-Forsyth, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Young People and Leisure said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for young people to try a new free sport and to be active over the summer holidays. We are fortunate to have been awarded Sportivate funding to enable us to offer the sessions free of charge.”

To book your place or for further information please contact Leisure Services on 01784 446433 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Further to earlier reports on this site (23/5/12, 10/7/12, 1/8/12, & 20/2/13), LOSRA was dismayed last week to learn that Elmbridge Borough Council intend to proceed with plans for a Sports Stadium Complex at Waterside Drive next to the Xcel Leisure Centre on the bank of the river near the weir. Elmbridge Borough Council has been consulting their residents about plans to develop the current playing fields on Stompond Lane, further into the borough, where Walton Athletics Club and Walton & Hersham Football Club are currently based. This development of the Stompond Lane ground, filling it with houses, will be used as a means of funding the stadium at Waterside Drive.

Consultation responses from Walton & Hersham Football Club made it clear that they would prefer to stay at Stompond Lane - even in older, less well-maintained facilities - rather than move to Waterside Drive. Comments were also invited from local residents, and this showed that a vast majority – 88 per cent - of consultation responses objected outright to the Stompond Lane development, with only 12 per cent favouring the concentration of sports facilities at Waterside Drive.

Despite what might appear to be a clear mandate not to develop Stompond Lane, the Elmbridge Council Cabinet approved the appointment of Willmot Dixon to investigate the contaminated land at Waterside Drive. So it’s little surprise that Sunbury residents didn’t get a consultation, when Elmbridge has so little regard for what their own voters think.

Elmbridge has also brushed aside various covenants on the Stompond Lane ground, including one stipulating that it should only be used for sports and recreation. LOSRA Committee members observed that Elmbridge would have to disclose these covenants when they offer the land for sale which would deter developers and devalue the land.

(Photo illustrates potential light pollution affecting Thames stretch of Lower Sunbury)

Further to the article posted on the 2nd July, we have now been in touch with the Agent for the developers, who have plans to develop the former tennis courts near The Ridings. They plan to build 14 homes, but apart from that we know little further. We cannot really do much until they come back to us with an outline plan, but if you do have any concerns about that site which we can pass on to them when we do eventually meet them, please convey them to us through the 'Contact LOSRA' menu on the home page of the website.

We would be pleased to assist any local group of residents should they wish to make representations during the consultation process.

Airport car parking scams, fake websites and dodgy trading in second hand cars are amongst the latest news items to be featured in this Trading Standards Alert. To view, click here

Residents who were unable to attend the Police Panel meeting held on 2nd July may like to note that PC Alex Savage has taken over from Sophie Knight as our new Neighbourhood Safety Officer.

It would seem that the Skate Park at the top of Green Street continues to be a cause for concern. For full notes of the meeting, click here

The LOSRA Chairman was an invited guest at today's ceremony for the handing over of Walton Bridge to Surrey County Council and he gives the following report:

A little reminiscent of the one in Sydney Harbour (although admittedly somewhat smaller), the new arched Walton Bridge over the Thames was formally handed over to Surrey County Council on 11 July. The approach roads and landscaping on each end still remain to be completed, but the brand new bridge was crossed by some classic cars, and a procession of boats passed underneath it. The two traffic lanes in the centre are flanked on either side by wide raised pavements, which one presumes could safely carry both pedestrians and cyclists. The two older bridges standing next to it (numbers four and five in the succession of bridges to have spanned the river at this point) will eventually be demolished.

As one question put it, why is it called “Walton” and not “Shepperton” Bridge? Apparently, the first bridge erected in 1750 (and made of elm, hence the Borough of Elmbridge), was paid for by a man from the southern bank, and was therefore named Walton Bridge. There was perhaps another reason: by at least one account, there were objections to the construction of the bridge from ferry operators, who thought it would hurt their trade, the bargees who thought it would make the river impassable, and residents of Walton-on-Thames who were “worried about an influx of undesirable elements from north of the river”. (I hasten to add there was no evidence of these ancient animosities at the handover ceremony: present were mayors and council leaders from both the Surrey and Middlesex banks, the leader of the County Council, two cabinet ministers and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.)

The visible steelwork has been kept to a minimum to reduce its impact on its surroundings, and the new bridge is certainly much more pleasing to look at than its two utilitarian predecessors. And the colour? It was chosen to make the new bridge as visible as possible to short-sighted low-flying swans.

For those interested in the history of the bridges at this location on the Thames, a booklet to commemorate the new bridge and its predecessors can be purchased from the Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society which may be contacted on http://sslhs.org.uk/