Tag Archives: Knaphill

Sainsbury’s name change

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This is a bug bear of mine so apologies for the verbiage. A massive superstore on the outskirts of a village and complete disregard for actual location, preferring to be called ‘Brookwood’ over Knaphill. All other Sainsbury’s stores throughout the country, as far as I can determine, are correctly named after their location. Not so for Knaphill who has had numerous problems with the way this business approaches local communities (this is a small reference to planning and conduct of the store on recent years in case you were wondering!)

Your views

This bothered me so much I created a poll to see YOUR views and a hefty final 76% wanted it changed to be named after Knaphill. Curiously, before I sent a letter to Sainsbury’s Plc head office the figure was 85%, it dipped shortly after. No, I am not saying they had anything to do with it, merely pointing it out.

As mentioned, I sent a request to Sainsbury’s asking for a name change to be considered as a part of their current enlargement of their Redding Way store. I got a quick ‘it’s been passed to our property team’ and nothing more for a month. So I chased it and got another quick response – NO.

The store is, according to the property team’s investigation, named after Brookwood Hospital and therefore has an historical link. This is despite having been convinced in previous years that reference to Brookwood be dropped (ergo the historical reference is not that important perhaps?), reference to the store in numerous communications being stated as ‘Knaphill’ and even having a current web site for the development headed as ‘Sainsbury’s Knaphill’ (http://sainsburys-knaphill.co.uk/contact-us/) which I fully expect to see changed soon. I was then passed to their PR company, GKA.

I would have been content with that if the store name had been ‘Sainsbury’s Brookwood Hospital’ which would indicate both location and historical reference; but it isn’t. It still just refers to nearby Brookwood to any visitor, despite it’s obvious address. So I replied and pointed this out to them, also that it was Knaphill Common prior to being Brookwood Hospital (so I am led to believe) and I got a quick reply – we’re not changing the name, speak to our PR company (although they ‘want to be a positive part of any community we are working in’. The level of engagement thus far is underwhelming.

Naming confusion?

I didn’t mention this before but I asked Sainsbury’s shortly after moving to Knaphill just why their store was named after a different village… They said it’s because of the railway station. Not to be a pedant (OK, partly to be a pedant) but that does not gel with their current line of reasoning.

I believe the real reason is that it costs cash to change a few details (new signage and name on receipts etc) and the people of Knaphill’s opinion is not worth the relative pittance it would take to achieve this. Personally I’d be quite content with either ‘Sainsbury’s Brookwood Hospital’ or ‘Sainsbury’s Knaphill’ but I am NOT happy with the current naming pedigree.

What next

What happens next? Well I forwarded on the conversation to Sam and Jodie at GKA and am awaiting a response. Just what they can do, even if they wanted to change the name is beyond me as it’s a separate company to Sainsbury’s. Still, I keenly await the ‘We’re sorry etc’ reply.

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UPDATE 9/7/2013

I’ve had several replies from various people with the same job title – Customer Manager – along the same lines. We’ll look into it, please contact GKA, no current plans to change the name, please contact GKA, despite references to Knaphill in documentation it is officially called Brookwood, please contact GKA, we’re awaiting a point of detail and finally:

I appreciate that the store’s name is a source of frustration for you given its location. As you have been advised Sainsbury’s is unable to change the name of their stores as the official name that was originally adopted is used throughout the organisation. It is important for each Sainsbury’s store to be clearly identified with one name so that it can be easily referred to within the company. To change the name could cause confusion from an operational perspective and may also lead to confusion amongst customers from the wider area who know the store as Brookwood.

The recent information mailings and website regarding the on-going construction project have referred to ‘Knaphill’ as this is how the store was referred to publicly throughout the planning stage. The information issued during planning and construction has been aimed specifically at the store’s close neighbours and does not affect the store’s corporate identity.

Sam Hinton (GKA)

For unable, read: unwilling. So there we have it – not going to happen. Sainsbury’s is apparently keen to be an active member of the Knaphill Community so if anyone has any evidence of them doing so please tell me as I can’t remember a single thing they’ve done apart from build a store and call it after a neighbouring village. I do genuinely want to know this!

 

Coral want to open a second Betting Office on the High Street

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Late last month we read in the local paper that Coral Racing had applied for a premises licence for 13 High Street, the old HSBC Bank. The notice did not give very much detail and so we wrote to Coral asking if it was their intention to move their current betting office or operate two shops?

We have now received a response and Coral have confirmed that their plans for 13 High Street are to operate a full licenced betting office (over the counter transactions as well as 4 fixed odds betting terminals). With regards to the current betting office at 29A High Street Coral state that they plan to operate the two premises for a minimum of 3 months and then decided whether there is sufficient business to operate both shops.

So the application for a full premises licence for 13 High Street is in addition to the licence held on the premises at 29A High Street.

Do you believe that we, the residents, want two betting shops in the centre of the village?

 

Footnote: If you want to read more about fixed odds betting terminals such as those operated by Coral then please look at this Google search.

Total back on the case

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You will recall that recently Total garage in the village centre withdrew an application for a 24hr alcohol licence after discovering they weren’t actually allowed to be open for 24 hrs a day… Well they also said they were looking at other avenues and it appears they have found one.total

They have submitted an application to vary condition 6 of the existing permissions to allow the garage to open 6am to midnight. The new planning application is number PLAN/2013/0202 but at this point in time there are no additional details on the WBC website.

Frankly, with so much disturbance in the village being attributed to alcohol-fuelled activity, it would be a disappointment to see this granted. In a village of this size do we really need so many outlets for alcohol sales outside of the 5 public houses we already have?

A better move from the council would be to refuse this application and restrict alcohol sales from ALL  retail outlets within the village to 11am – 10pm. I wonder if it will happen?

Our letter to WBC is here

Should Knaphill develop a Neighbourhood Plan?

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Residents in Knaphill are feeling pretty abused when it comes to planning decisions. We’ve all felt Woking Borough Council’s approach is skewed at times, never seeming to reflect popular opinion or taking cognisance of what the locals are saying. So is it time to gain a larger influence over our village development by creating a Neighbourhood Plan?

What is a Neighbourhood Plan?

It’s a method of a local area to have more control over the ‘what and how’ is developed. It must be established and developed by a local town or parish council or a neighbourhood forum and must not contravene certain regulations or the Local Plan / strategy already created [by in this case Woking Borough Council]. For example, the community can have more of a say in choosing where you want new homes, shops and offices to be built; have your say on what new buildings should look like and help grant planning permission for the new buildings you want to see go ahead.

Who’s doing it?

Locally, Chobham (Surrey Heath) have submitted plans for their own Neighbourhood Plan and if you do a simple online search for ‘Neighbourhood Plan‘ then you get a whole raft of plans in various stages of development. This shows that communities throughout the country are taking this opportunity very seriously and having their say in the control of the area they live in.

Is it supported by regulations?

Absolutely. It was given the rubber stamp in the 2011 Localism Act and now has its own regulations – The Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 – so this is a serious commitment from the government to give power to the community, something local councils are fairly bad at doing.

I want more information

Well there’s a raft of it out there! This is supported by government and local councils so expect a few hoops to jump through. These are a bureaucratic necessity and add to what is not the easy option for any community group considering the idea of a Neighbourhood Plan. I’ve provided some links below that I think are useful. There’s a couple of guides for both ward councillors and general information; I’ve also included WBC’s own page on neighbourhood planning as well as an independent information site complete with a forum area to discuss the issues at hand.

Make no mistake this would be a tough road ahead but the rewards can be great – imagine not having to go through the pains of Brookwood Farm again where all opinion is washed aside, of having plans submitted where you can actually have an proper say in the process!

Links

How is it funded?

The local community will have to pay for the preparation of their neighbourhood plan. However, the Government has awarded funding to four organisations with expertise in planning, to assist communities in developing Neighbourhood Plans. These organisations are:
The Prince’s Foundation – assistance with community engagement and finding local solutions to issues. www.princes-foundation.org
Locality – provision of support and networking to community groups through online resources and other networking tools, practical workshops and seminars, and tailored advice through a telephone advice line. www.locality.org.uk
The Royal Town Planning Institute – via the Planning Aid service, the provision of free, independent, impartial, professional planning advice to people who do not have the means to pay professional fees. Provision of support and training to local communities to influence and contribute to planning strategy, policy and decision-making at all levels.
www.rtpi.org.uk/planningaid
The National Association of Local Councils in partnership with the Campaign to Protect Rural England – provision of basic information about the planning system via a website, phone line and publications. Establishing a programme of local events to inform the public and parish councils about how to influence local plans.
www.cpre.org.uk

Big question time – Who would do it for Knaphill?

Well there’s the rub. This will take a group of like minded people to come together and represent the interests of the whole village diligently and with constant engagement and communication and don;t forget there would have to be a referendum for Knaphill to adopt this approach.

Personally I do not see the Knaphill Residents Association (KRA) as being the body to accomplish the job although there should certainly be representation made. So who else would like to do the job?

Here’s the question for you – are you interested?

 

 

 

Sainsbury’s (Even more!)

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We felt it necessary to update residents on the article we published on 26 October. Following our representation to Woking Borough Council the Council have published a number of the plans submitted by Sainsbury’s and their agents to meet the planning conditions imposed on them as part of the agreement for Sainsbury’s to build their extension. The plans can be found on the Council’s Planning web site under the original planning application reference number, PLAN/2011/0160. If you have difficulty in finding the plans please feel free to contact our secretary at secretary@knaphill.org.

In this article we will deal with only one of the planning conditions, the enclosing of the service yard. There are others covering landscaping, air quality monitoring and the barrier at the entrance of the proposed car park extension.

Service yard enclosure

As reported in October Sainsbury’s have submitted a plan for an enclosure that will be fitted around the whole of the service yard but the plan is not for a fully enclosed service yard as required in the planning decision notice. Although Sainsbury’s have stated that they will review their plans no new information has been received and therefore we can only go with the plans that have been submitted to Woking Borough Council.

A public consultation launched by WBC on 9th November closes on 30th November and therefore anyone planning to comment on the plans as they currently stand will have to submit their comments as soon as possible.

The KRA have asked Woking Borough Council to reopen the public consultation period if Sainsbury’s submit amended plans.

Sainsburys Redding Way (more!)

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Although Woking’s Planning Committee approved the latest application from Sainsbury’s to extend their store in December 2011 the legal paperwork was only completed in August this year. With any major planning agreement there are a number of planning conditions that the developer has to meet either before the developer starts to build or before the shop owner starts to trade in the extension.

As residents will know, the determination of this application has always raised concerns on a number of grounds. Even now, such concerns continue and there are a number of procedural matters that the KRA consider still need challenging, even the general legality of the Decision that has been taken. The KRA has therefore made a formal complaint to Woking Borough Council.

One of the principle benefits for local residents that was to have been secured by the grant of this planning permission was the “full” enclosure of the service yard to address noise impact concerns. Such work was imposed as a planning condition which needed to be discharged prior to other works.

The Planning Committee (presumably even at that time sceptical of Sainsbury’s intent to deliver their promises), insisted that the design of the conditioned enclosure has to be returned to the full Planning Committee for approval and that the enclosure of the service yard had to be given priority in carrying out any building work.

One of our colleagues and Cllr. Melanie Whitehand met with Sainsbury’s team last week to discuss their plans for the enclosure of the service yard. The first disappointment was that even before that meeting had had an opportunity to take place, Sainsbury’s had already submitted their plans for approval to Woking Borough Council. The second disappointment was that it was quite clear from those plans that the current enclosure design does not deliver the “promises” made to residents and the Planning Committee.

On a slightly more positive note, Sainsbury’s team have advised that they will “re-visit” their designs. The KRA will continue to challenge robustly any proposals that do not deliver what was promised to residents (and the Council) last year. We will update you, once Sainsbury’s had advised further.

We also now wait to see what action will be taken by Woking Borough Council in response to our complaint.

P.S. Just in case any residents are wondering why they are not actually aware that the Council’s decision has been issued – there is a very simple explanation. WBC have not yet sought fit to advise you! That is despite such formal notification being a requirement of their own Statement of Community involvement and Charter for Development Enabling.

 

Alpha Hospitals Rose Lodge

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A planning application to permit Alpha Hospital group to build a care home on the site of the old Rose Lodge that stood between Redding Way and Barton Close has been approved. Last week the management team from Alpha ran a number of briefing sessions to explain to local people the hospitals plans for this new building. The KRA was invited and attended but we understand that one of these briefings was for residents who live close to the site and we would welcome any feedback from anyone who attended any of those meetings.

One of our concerns is with the disruption that will cause to residents in Barton Close during the construction period which could last at least six months. We have asked WBC if the larger deliveries of building material could be offloaded from Redding Way rather having very long vehicles trying to manoeuvre down Barton Close. We will add a note to our web site if we get any feedback both from residents or WBC on deliveries.

Lawson’s Fields and The Mound

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Following on from the hedgerows post here, we have more news.

In previous articles we have given details of the actions taken by the landowner or tenant to the boundaries of the fields and footpaths that surround The Priory Hospital. We are still monitoring developments in that part of Knaphill / Bisley. As reported elsewhere on our web Surrey County Council has placed a stop notice on anyone dumping or removing soil or hard core from the site and we wait to see what action SCC recommends with regards to the material that has already been dumped on one of the fields.

We have also raised questions on the protection given to ‘The Mound’. This is the wooded area between Chobham Road and The Priory, we must point out that this land is not owned by The Priory. We are given to understand that our questions on protection of ‘The Mound’ have been passed to the appropriate officers at County Hall; again we wait for a response. Finally we hope that one of our local Councillors can arrange a meeting with the new tenant so that we can report to him on the comments we have received from residents and give the tenant the opportunity to explain his long-term plans for the fields and ‘The Mound’.

Dog Show results

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Despite the wet weather resulting in a change of location for the dog show ring and a reduced program of classes, the first dog show at the 2012 Knaphill Village Show was a great success with 37 entries over 5 classes.

 A morning downpour subsided to just lighter showers and dogs and owners started to register for the first class, due to commence at 3pm. Rosettes were awarded to first, second and third place winners, with the first placed also being given a box of Oscar treats.

 The first class – Most Handsome Dog – was won by Milo, an attractive Dalmation. The second class – Prettiest Bitch – attracted more entries and judge Pat Knowles had a hard job deciding on her “top three”. First place was eventually awarded to a Black Labrador. Several special commendation medals were also awarded in this class due to the high standard of entries, one of which was awarded to Belle, the most senior of the bitches.

 Class three followed – the Child and Dog “Biscuit and Spoon Race”. A smaller entry list this time but well won by Joshua with Rosie, a German Shepherd. Joshua’s brother Joseph had already done well in the previous class receiving one of the special commendations. The fourth class – Best Sausage Catcher – was heralded in by a sudden shower and a couple of entrants missed it as a result, but a very nimble Golden Lab did not miss any of the sausages in its three throws and secured winning spot.

 The final class of the day – The Dog the Judge Would Most Like To Take Home – was won by Charlie a very cute, young Irish Terrier.

Booking Forms for 2012 Show

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Village Show 2012

Get out the calendars and mark it down; 14th July 2012 is the date of this years show.  Mizens Railway is the location.

If you are interested in getting involved with this year’s show please don’t be shy, because now is the time to come and join us.  Volunteers are always welcome, and it’s always useful to know that helpers are coming – instead of standing around with crossed fingers hoping that someone will come forward – to join in the fun.

You can contact us at:  villageshow@knaphill.org

We’re fairly well organised but many hands speed things up considerably.  Comments are also very welcome.

If you want to have a stand at this year’s show please follow the links to download an application form.  You will be pleased to know that we haven’t put the prices up, you just need to select what sort of exhibitor you are.

In line with current policy we do try to maintain a good variety of stalls and we like to know what you will be offering.  If there are too many of any sort of stalls we may not accept your booking;  so get your booking in early.

Payment is with the form and we run a first come, first served policy if there is a clash of stalls.  No payment, no booking.  No refund if you fail to turn up.

Completed Stall Forms with payment should be sent to:

Village Show, Knaphill Post Office, Anchor Parade, Knaphill, GU21 2PD

Remember to leave an email address so we can send you a receipt.

Entry forms for the Horticultural Show are also available online and everyone is welcome to enter.  There are children’s sections, divided into age groups.

Download your application form today and submit it as soon as possible, bringing along your entries on the day for display and judging.

Early submission is encouraged so we can organise enough tables, so get your bookings in NOW!

Please download your forms here:

KRA 3rd Booking Form Small Business Village Show 2012 final

KRA 3rd Booking Form Business Village Show 2012

KRA 3rd Booking Form Community Village Show 2012

 

Right click on the links above and ‘save link as’ to download the forms for printing.

We have several exciting items already booked and more on the way.