Attendees: – John Butler (chairman), Rachel Varney, Debbie Harlow, Martin Dunham, Tony Hays-Allen, Andy Hills, Neville Hinks, Antony Polak, Phil Stubbs.

Apologies: – Ann Mason

1. Minutes of the last meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 February were approved and agreed for publication.

2. Matters Arising

All action points are covered by the agenda items and will be covered under their own heading.

3. Projects

Nothing new to report.

4. Village meeting

Over 40 residents attended the village meeting. Everyone agreed that Rev. Richard Sherlock did an excellent job as chairman and thanks have been passed to all those who formed the panel. The feedback has been positive with Sergeant Lea of Surrey Police being given specific praise.

5. AGM

The AGM will be held on Wednesday 24 April in the Methodist Hall, The Broadway.

John, Phil and Andy agreed to stand for re-election in their current positions, chairman, secretary and editor & IT respectfully.

There are vacancies for vice chairman and treasurer. John plans to meet with all committee members on an individual basis prior to the AGM.

There are no special items, no proposed changes to the KRA constitution therefore a standard agenda planned.

Action points: Debbie to contact The Cabin to see if they want a stall to advertise what they are doing.

Ann to be asked to mount a membership stand.

6. Brookwood Farm

Although the planning application for the building of 297 new dwellings on land at Brookwood Farm had been agreed against objections from residents and the two local Councillors one of the major issues, roads, has been raised at the Surrey County Council Local Committee. A suggestion from SCC that a study of the congestion on the A322 around the Brookwood Cross roads corridor should commence in 2015 was rejected by the Committee who felt that the work was far more urgent. The Committee called on SCC to conduct the study of the A322 as soon as possible with the objective of reporting back in 12 months’ time, Local Committee in March 2014. In addition the study into the traffic flows the Committee asked SCC to look for means of financing any identified improvements to the road network,

7. Planning Issues

15 High Street; Work has started on the development of the site and this had caused severe congestion in the High Street. There have been large trucks parked in bus bays and low loaders parked on the pedestrian crossing whilst they unload building material. The police and Planning Enforcement Officers from WBC have attended the site to remind the developers of their need to minimize any interference with traffic flows and respect pedestrians trying to go about their daily business.

Sainsbury’s Redding Way; the plans from Sainsbury’s to planning conditions are scheduled to be discussed at the next meeting of WBC’s Planning Committee. The main item is the enclosure of the service yard. From reading the Planning Officers report key background papers have not been made available to the general public and given that the Council have recognised less than 10 letters from members of the public there will not be an opportunity for a member of the public to speak. Contact has been made with local Councillors.

The Vyne PLAN/2013/0158 WBC has submitted plans to build an extension at the Vyne. The purpose of the extension is to provide a ‘Wellbeing Room’ (Dementia care centre). Secretary to write to WBC not objecting to the planned use of this proposed extension but to clarify as to whether this would be the best use of this land.

Almond Villas Workmen have been clearing the grounds on the Broadway, the site has outline planning permission for up to 10 houses, and we await sight of the detailed planning application.

Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut PLAN/2012/1196 a planning application had been passed from Surrey Heath to WBC for comment. The application is to build 1200 new dwellings. WBC did not refer the application to the Planning Committee but returned the application to Surrey Heath with no objections or observations.

8. Membership Secretary Report

Phil reported that all the membership renewal forms had been distributed and completed forms were now coming in. John reported that 50 members had renewed via direct debit.

9. Chairman’s Report

John stated that his items had been covered by earlier agenda items.

10. Treasurer’s Report

John presented the accounts for last year.

11. Secretary’s Report

Phil reported that Jonathan Lord MP had informed the village meeting that 600 troops would be arriving in Pirbright from barracks in Europe. We understand that a battalion of Welsh Guards will be transferred to Pirbright later this year. This is a long term positing and therefore the troops will be joined by their families.

Action items Phil to ask SCC of the implications on local schools of this increase in the population of Pirbright Barracks.

12. Editor’s Report

Andy reported that the new magazine had been received from the printers and distribution will commence next week. The plan to include articles on local heroes has been carried forward due to lack of finished material.

13. Any Other Business

John reported that he had received a letter from a member of a group that had been raising money for a new library, she was asking what had happened to that money. Neville stated that the business was in hand and it was hoped that the money will go into activities related to the library and reading.

Debbie asked if it was planned to hold further surgeries prior to Committee meetings. John stated that the plan was to hold every alternative meeting at the Kings House Coffee shop and that when the Committee met at Kings House the first 45 minutes (7.00pm to 7.45pm) would be an open surgery. These surgeries may be shared with the police.

It was agreed that the surgeries would require village wide advertising.

14. Date of next meetings

17^th April 2013. Meeting will be held at Kings House and will be preceded by Open House.

15^th May 2013 Meeting will be held at Garibaldi starting at 7.45pm

 

Meeting closed

 

Agreed Minutes 06 February 2013 – Kings House Coffee Shop

Attendees: – John Butler (chairman), Rachel Varney, Debbie Harlow, Andy Hills,

Neville Hinks, Phil Stubbs.

 

Apologies: – Ann Mason, Antony Polak, Martin Dunham, Tony Hayes-Allen

 

Prior to the formal meeting we held our first open house, four residents plus Cllr. Melanie Whitehand called in.

 

1. Minutes of the last meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 January were approved and agreed for publication.

 

2. Matters Arising

All action points are covered by the agenda items and will be covered under their own heading.

 

3. Projects

Nothing new to report.

 

4. Village meeting

The panel members, 3 Borough Councillors, 1 County Councillor) had agreed to participate. Kate Wilson cannot make the event but her boss, Geoff McManus has accepted an invitation. Jonathan Lord MP has informed Cllr. Hussain that he is free and would like to attend. It was agreed that two seats would be reserved on the front row for Jonathan and Cllr Kingsbury.

 

E-mail address for questions has been set up and Richard has stated that he will accept written questions posted through the church letter box. The posters are available from Andy’s e-mail.

 

Committee members are asked to arrive at the school around 6.30 to help set out the hall.

 

Action points: Phil to check if the hall is fitted with a PA system.

Phil to send details to local papers,

Debbie to supply bottled water for chairman and panel members

 

5. AGM

It was agreed that the AGM should be held on Wednesday 24 April. Venue has yet to be arranged, the preference is the Methodist Church Hall. It was also agreed that we should invite Ian Wakeford to give a presentation based on his historic guide to lower Knaphill.

 

Action points: Phil to try and find a hall and make contact with Ian Wakeford. Since the meeting the Methodist Church has confirmed that the hall is available.

 

6. Brookwood Farm

Phil reported that the Planning Committee had approved the plans. John and Phil both confirmed that, in their opinion, Councillor’s on the Planning Committee were put under intense pressure from senior Council Officers not to defer the application for a period of time whilst they entered into a dialogue with Highways Authority to understand the true impact on Sparvell Road. The pressure continued as the vote to adopt the plans was put to the voite.

 

Since the Planning Committee meeting Phil has written to Head of Planning at WBC to try and obtain a clearer understanding of the figures.

 

7. Planning Issues

15 High Street; demolition of the Clifton’s premises and the adjoining bungalow is now complete.

Sainsbury’s Redding Way; We await a date for when the plans will go before the Planning Committee.

Total Fuel Station, High Street; The owners of the fuel station have applied for a 24 hour licence to sell alcohol. This application will be vigorously opposed.

 

8. Membership Secretary Report

Ann stated that she would hope to start the renewal letters soon, Rachel offered Ann her assistance.

 

9. Chairman’s Report

John stated that his items had been covered by earlier agenda items.

 

10. Treasurer’s Report

John confirmed that he will shortly start to complete the accounts.

 

11. Secretary’s Report

Secretary’s report circulated prior to meeting and will be attached to the minutes.

11.1 Local Schools; Item carried forward to the next meeting.

 

12. Editor’s Report

Various members of the committee were working on articles on ‘local heroes’. Andy stated that he required these as soon as possible. Andy also suggested that we invite Mel Foster to contribute an article, committee agreed.

 

Action point: All members to suggest local heroes and either write an article themselves or contact someone who is able to write an article.

 

14. Date of next meetings

13^th March 2013. Meeting to be held at Garibaldi starting at 7.45pm

17^th April 2013. Meeting will be held at Kings House and will be preceded by Open House.

 

Meeting closed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agreed Minutes 14 November 2012 – Kings House Coffee Shop

Attendees: – John Butler (chairman), Ann Mason, Rachel Varney, Martin Dunham, Andy Hills Tony Polak, Tony Hayes-Allen, Phil Stubbs.

 

Apologies: – Debbie Harlow, Neville Hinks

 

1. Minutes of the last meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 October 2012 were approved.

 

2. Matters Arising

The majority of action points are covered by the agenda items and will be covered under their own heading.

 

John raised the issue of publishing minutes on the web; he suggested that at the start of each meeting members will be asked if they agree to the last set of minutes being published on the KRA web site. The Committee agreed and the minutes of October meeting will be published.

 

3. Projects
   1. Christmas decorations

Andy reported that everything was now in place to mount the brackets on those shops that have agreed to participate. The brackets will go up on Sunday 25 November. Christmas trees have yet to be ordered but Ten Acres have said there should be no problem.

 

Martin offered a box of time switches.

 

3.2 Litter collection

Ann and Tony Polak reported that around 15 volunteers turned up last Saturday for a mornings litter collection. In addition to general litter all the leaves were cleared from the lawn in front of the old library ready for the armistice service. Following the mornings work the majority of volunteers retired to Kings House for coffee and cakes.

 

The committee thanked Ann and Tony for organising the event.

 

It was agreed that litter collection should become an annual event.

 

3. Other projects

The committee discussed the idea of a community BBQ during the early summer. This could be held on the Redding Way playing fields. Another site could be in front of the old library. For this to proceed we require a project leader.

 

 

3. Village meeting

John reported that the preferred date was 7 March and all local Councillors had indicated that they were willing to participate. Rev.R.Sherlock had also confirmed his availability.

 

Phil reported that Holy Trinity hall was not available and it was suggested that we approach the Knaphill school.

 

It was agreed that we should invite Kate Wilson, WBC Neighbourhood Officer, to the meeting.

 

It was suggested that members of the public should be asked to submit questions prior to the meeting so that they can be grouped into topics.

 

It was agreed that we would start the advertising after Christmas.

 

Action points: – Phil to contact Knaphill School to see if their hall is available.

Phil to invite Kate Wilson to the meeting.

John to contact Mal Foster

 

3. Brookwood Farm

On the actual development nothing new to report. According to a newspaper report the parent company of Cala Homes was to be sold by auction. No one knew of the implications for the Brookwood Farm development but one hopes it removes any pressure on the WBC by Cala Homes to bring the project at the Planning Committee.

 

6. Planning Issues

Phil reported that there were no new planning applications that he felt required a referral to the committee.

 

7. Membership Secretary Report

Ann stated that she would hope to start the renewal letters soon, Rachel offered Ann her assistance.

 

This year we did not distribute receipts except to new members. Tony Hayes-Allen felt that receipts should be sent out as a matter of courtesy.

 

8. Chairman’s report

John stated that his items had been covered by earlier agenda items.

 

9. Treasurer’s report

John reminded the Committee that they were still looking for a new treasurer.

 

10. Secretary’s report

Phil had circulated his report prior to the meeting.

 

11. Editor’s report

Andy reported that the December edition of the newsletter was coming together and that he had increased the number of advertisements.

 

Given the absence of Neville we did not have an up to date of the list of volunteers who were prepared to distribute the newsletter.

 

It was agreed that we would pay someone to deliver to the streets not covered by volunteers.

 

Action point: – John to make contact with Neville.

 

12. KRA Constitution changes

As a follow on from last month’s debate John tabled the following draft amendment:

 

After a short debate the draft a vote was taken nine members voted for the amendment, one against and one abstention.

 

John will now tidy up the wording.

 

It was confirmed that once the Committee was happy with the wording it would be circulated to members and voted on at the next AGM. This timetable meant that if any Committee member intended to stand at the May County Council election he or she could not stand as a representative of the KRA.

 

13. Any other business

13.1 AGM

It was suggested that the AGM should be held on 24 April, Phil will make contact with various churches to see if a suitable hall was available.

 

In the past it has been the practice to share the AGM evening with either some entertainment or an outside speaker. Martin suggested that the group of singers who entertained members of the local British Legion. Another suggestion was to invite local historian to talk about the historic buildings at the bottom of Knaphill.

Action points: – Martin to contact the singers.

Phil to contact Ian Wakeford

 

13.2 Local schools

Phil asked if it was appropriate for the KRA to keep a watching brief on local schools. He raised this against a background where some failing schools are being turned into academies and on new sites the Government were putting pressure on Local Authorities to move away from LEA controlled schools.

 

Committee agreed.

 

13.3 Open session at the start of KRA committee meetings

John suggested that when we hold the Committee meeting at Kings House we invite members of the public to meet members of the Committee between 7.00 and 8.00 and discuss subject of interest to them. We could suggest some topics.

 

The Committee members felt that this was a good idea.

 

14. Date of next meetings

16^th January2013. Meeting to be held at Garibaldi starting at 7.00pm, meeting followed by refreshments.

 

6^th February 2013. Meeting to be held at Kings House Coffee shop. Open house 7.00pm to 8.00pm followed by Committee meeting.

 

13^th March 2013. Meeting to be held at Garibaldi starting at 7.45pm

 

Meeting closed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agreed Minutes

 

KRA Committee Meeting 24 October 2012 – Kings House Coffee Shop

Attendees: – John Butler (chairman), Ann Mason, Martin Dunham, Andy Hills Tony Polak, Neville Hinks, Tony Hayes-Allen, Phil Stubbs.

 

Apologies: – Debbie Harlow, Rachel Varney

 

1. Minutes of the last meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2012 were approved.

 

2. Matters Arising

The majority of action points are covered by the agenda items and will be covered under their own heading.

 

3. Projects
   1. Christmas decorations

Andy reported that there had been two blocks of shops where the shop keeper would like to have Christmas decorations but the proposal had been rejected by the owners of their properties. Thirteen properties have accepted the invitation to have a bracket placed outside their shop and 3 public houses are also on board.

 

The brackets have been purchased and plans will now be set in place to have the brackets fitted.

 

On finances, there was £1450 in the bank and the funding had received a grant of £1,100 from the County’s Community fund.

 

Tony Polak asked if we were going to have a special switching on event. Andy replied that the suggestion would be taken on board.

 

3.2 Litter collection

Ann and Tony Polak reported that everything had been arranged for volunteers to meet to tidy up the village on Saturday 10 November. Posters have been placed in shops and suitable notice boards and WBC had agreed to supply all the necessary equipment and refuge bags. It had been noticed that someone, we believe the police, had arranged for a litter collection by young people on 2 November but it was felt that this should not interfere with our plans, plenty of litter to go round.

 

John stated that teas and coffees would be made available to volunteers in the Kings House after the litter collection.

 

Action point: – Phil to inform the local press of the event.

4. Village meeting

Following the discussion at our meeting on 26 September John had taken on board all the points made at the last meeting and had also spoken with Rev. Richard Sherlock. Richard had indicated to John that he was willing to act as chairman for such an event and had suggested that March would be a good month to hold the meeting.

 

The idea is that we invite a spokesperson’s for the Council, Councillors and the KRA who would answer questions. The suggestion is that questions are requested prior to the meeting so that Richard can group the questions into subject areas and pull them together and so engineer a constructive meeting.

 

It was suggested that we might like to invite the Police Commissioner.

 

It was agreed that we should try and book the church hall at Holy Trinity.

 

The possible dates being March 7^th or 14^th.

 

Action points: – Phil to make contact with Holy Trinity on the availability of the

Church hall.

John to make contact with local Councillors.

 

5. Brookwood Farm

The official position is that the plans submitted by Cala Homes are still under consideration by the local planning authority (WBC). It is understood that there are two major issues that the Council are trying to resolve to make the development sustainable; primary school places and traffic congestion.

 

In June of this year SCC announced that they were looking for land on which to build a new school in the Knaphill/Brookwood area. The County’s Education Officer confirmed that neither Knaphill Lower School nor Knaphill School had sufficient room for any additional classrooms. Two demountable classrooms have been added to St. Johns School and the County are consulting local residents in Bisley about building two permanent classrooms at their school. The Bisley project is purely to provide school places for the children of troops if they are placed at Pirbright camp.

 

On roads and in particular the A322 & A324, the problem of congestion on these roads was raised at the October meeting of SCC’s Local Committee and the County’s Highways Authority were asked to report to the December meeting on any ideas and or plans that will improve the flow of traffic on the two roads especially where they meet at Brookwood Crossroads.

 

6. Planning Issues

The secretary circulated a planning report prior to the meeting. Since that report was circulated news had come through that WBC had purchased the old Library at 20 High Street from SCC. WBC planned to build affordable apartments for elderly residents with a memorial garden at the front of the new building.

 

Phil had some concerns because the press release from WBC stated that they would use an already agreed outline plan for their proposed building. The agreed plan includes a plan for an underground car park with an access road out onto the High Street. Phil planned to seek clarification from the local Councillors.

 

7. Membership update

Ann had received three new applications this month.

 

It was agreed that the membership fees should remain unchanged for 2013.

 

8. Chairman’s report

John had nothing to add to the points he had made under the various agenda headings.

 

9. Treasurer’s report

John reported that we were coming to the end of this financial year and that he would be drawing up the accounts at the end of the year.

 

10. Secretary’s report

Phil reported that he and Paul Gray met with Jonathan Lord MP, Cllr. John Kingsbury, Douglas Spinks Deputy Chief Executive and Earnest Amoako Planning Policy Officer on 19 October. The meeting had been suggested by Mr Lord and Cllr. Kingsbury following our criticism of WBC’s interpretation of the new National Planning Policy Framework.

 

During the meeting we raised a number of issues including the Council’s handling of planning applications from Sainsbury’s for the extension of their store in Redding Way, the development of Clifton’s in the High Street and Brookwood Farm. On Sainsbury’s WBC acknowledged that they had received a formal complaint from the KRA and therefore would not answer any questions on that planning decision during this meeting. WBC also failed to respond to points raised about the plans agreed for the redevelopment of the old Clifton’s site. Finally the meeting turned to Brookwood Farm and WBC stated that the KRA were wrong in assuming that the Local Planning Authority were just going through the formalities of considering the plans as the Council had already given its go ahead to the development. Mr Spinks stated that LPA were examining a number of issues in connection with this planning application and no decisions had yet been made.

 

Phil reported that Tesco’s had confirmed that they were to take over of the lease of the proposed new store at 15 High Street. Tesco’s had informed local Councillors that they would be in contact with local residents in the near future.

 

Since June there had been significant changes to the landscape as one walks around the fields that separate Knaphill from Bisley, commonly known as the Priory fields even though the Priory do not own these fields. The most worrying fact was that the tenant had put down a temporary track across three fields and had started to dump waste material in the field. SCC had placed a temporary stop notice on dumping or removing any of the material until they had analysed the material. Phil hoped that Cllr. Saj Hussain could arrange a meeting with the tenant so that we can outline residents’ concerns and the tenant can outline his long term plans.

 

11. Editors update

Andy reported that he had started work on the Christmas edition of the magazine and as usual the local churches would have two pages to give details of their Christmas services. John reported that all those who advertised in the last edition had paid.

 

There was still a need to cut the costs of the magazine and it was agreed to revert to the use of volunteers to distribute the newsletter. Neville gave details of the streets that were not covered and a number of the Committee members offered to cover some of those on the list.

 

It was agreed that the magazine would be delivered to The Garibaldi where the magazines would be divided into streets and Phil agreed to distribute to the volunteers. It is intended to publish the magazine on 3^rd December.

 

Action points: – John to update the list of uncovered streets.

Neville to contact the volunteers and confirm that they are available to distribute the Christmas edition of the magazine.

 

12. Police Forum

Tony Hays-Allen attended the local Police Forum last week and reported that the main message from the police was that they were being kept busy with various issues. Tony asked the police why the force had not commented on the application from the owners of the petrol station at Brookwood Crossroads for a 24 hour alcohol licence. The police stated in reply that there was no history of any pre-existing misbehaviour due to the opening times of the garage shop and therefore the police had no evidence to bring to the attention of the licencing authority.

 

A question was raised with regards to the inconsiderate parking by some in Chobham Road, especially in the vicinity of Holy Trinity and Knaphill Lower School. The police stated that as there were no road restrictions there was little action that they could take.

 

The police stated that they were looking into reported speeding problems in Knaphill.

 

14. Any other business

There were no items of AOB.

 

14. Date of next meetings

The next three scheduled meetings are as follows;

 

14 November 2012 – Meeting to be held at Kings House Coffee Shop at 7.45pm

 

16 January 2013 – Meeting to be held at the Garibaldi at 7.00 pm. The meeting to be followed by refreshments.

 

6 February 2013 – Venue to be decided.

 

Meeting closed