A 2008 MESSAGE FROM COUNCILLOR Mrs. JOAN SPIERS - LEADER OF THE COUNCIL.
Spring is coming, the budget and council tax are set for this year, and I can now get on with other matters on my desk. The first matter is watching the Priory Park regeneration. The sod was cut yesterday and over the next year the park will be returned to its former glory, and I hope that you will all visit. The £4.5million Heritage Lottery bid has made this possible.
We have started the Local Community Action Plans (LCAPS). Lower KIngswood and some other areas are currently being done and Kingswood will come in the 2008 batch. This process sees trained officers coming into an area, speaking to business people, shop keepers, residents and various groups within the community to see how they feel the area could be improved. It also high lights what is not possible either for legal reasons or just because of the high cost involved. Having said that much has been achieved in the areas that have had their plan done, and slowly we are working our way through the borough. I will ensure that you are informed when the process is beginning for Kingswood and will organise a meeting for all in the village hall so you can have your say.
I know that planning is a sore point all over the Borough, and I am currently beginning a series of meetings with Planning officers and members to see how we could improve the service. One outcome of this is the speed with which we have instructed officers to serve Temporary Stop Notices on properties who are attempting to denude the land of trees before a planning permission has been submitted. Just last Thursday at the Executive meeting a discussion took place, the outcome of which will be swifter response to the tree vandals. I hope that that will help matters.
Planning applications continue to increase, and take up a great deal of time. We do not always get the results that you would wish for example Horley did not want the 2600 houses that they must now tolerate. This government seems bent on “concreting over the South-East, and we are doing our best to stop them.
Spring is coming, the budget and council tax are set for this year, and I can now get on with other matters on my desk. The first matter is watching the Priory Park regeneration. The sod was cut yesterday and over the next year the park will be returned to its former glory, and I hope that you will all visit. The £4.5million Heritage Lottery bid has made this possible.
We have started the Local Community Action Plans (LCAPS). Lower KIngswood and some other areas are currently being done and Kingswood will come in the 2008 batch. This process sees trained officers coming into an area, speaking to business people, shop keepers, residents and various groups within the community to see how they feel the area could be improved. It also high lights what is not possible either for legal reasons or just because of the high cost involved. Having said that much has been achieved in the areas that have had their plan done, and slowly we are working our way through the borough. I will ensure that you are informed when the process is beginning for Kingswood and will organise a meeting for all in the village hall so you can have your say.
I know that planning is a sore point all over the Borough, and I am currently beginning a series of meetings with Planning officers and members to see how we could improve the service. One outcome of this is the speed with which we have instructed officers to serve Temporary Stop Notices on properties who are attempting to denude the land of trees before a planning permission has been submitted. Just last Thursday at the Executive meeting a discussion took place, the outcome of which will be swifter response to the tree vandals. I hope that that will help matters.
Planning applications continue to increase, and take up a great deal of time. We do not always get the results that you would wish for example Horley did not want the 2600 houses that they must now tolerate. This government seems bent on “concreting over the South-