Councillor Sue Smith

I'd like to wish all the residents of Mount Hermon West a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Next year looks likely to be a difficult one for everyone and I hope you will all be spared the worst effects of the credit crunch.

I have received quite a few emails and letters from concerned residents about the proposal to relocate Woking College to Woking Park. As many of you may be aware I became a Councillor 7 years ago because of the threat to the Park of the proposed development in Blackness Lane. That threat has not gone away and this new one seems to raise just as many concerns. Green space in central Woking is at a premium and my view remains that it is vital to preserve it. There are other sites more centrally situated that appear to me to be more suitable - if indeed the College needs to re-locate. Of course, encouraging further education and improving facilities for it in the town is important but not at the expense of green space. With the increased density of housing in the area we should, in my view, be looking to improve and increase green space - not the reverse.

I urge all concerned residents to write to the Leader of the Council and your local Councillors to let them hear your views.

My apologies for not having posted for many months but this has been a hectic time on a personal front. I have temporarily moved house but am likely to move again in a few months hopefully. That is why my address for the moment is care of the Civic Offices and my new phone number my mobile one.

Rest assured that I am still looking out for my residents, backed up by the ever-efficient Ian , my fellow Ward Councillor and Leader of the LibDem Group.

Well, strictly speaking, in the ward! I have decided to stand down as LibDem Group Leader this year. It is very timeconsuming and after 3 years I need to adjust my work/life balance. Ian, my fellow Ward Councillor, has taken over the reins. He has led the Group before so things are in safe hands. As Philip Goldenberg was sadly not elected we have a new Deputy Leader too - Ric Sharp one of our Councillors for Knaphill. We will all miss Philip and the enormous contribution he made to the Council.  Good luck to the new team!

I'm very pleased to report that my fellow ward Councillor Ian Johnson has been re-elected with an increased majority.

Elsewhere in the borough we gained 2 seats - Maybury and Sheerwater and Knaphill - and lost 2 seats - Horsell West and Brookwood. So it's virtually status quo although this year the Tory majority is reduced to 1 as the Mayor is a Tory and by consensus he does not get involved in political matters, nor does he vote.

Well - after repeated emails on this subject the contractors have been out to repair their original work. Why wasn't it done correctly in the first place you may ask? Questions to your Conservative County Councillor, I suggest. Highways are not Woking Borough Council's responsibility - although perhaps they ought to be once more?

I am still not totally happy, however, as one of the humps is starting to break up and that hasn't been prepared and another is still much steeper than the rest. I will keep on plugging away at this issue too!

Finally some success on this long-running saga! Cllr Norman Johns, Cllr Philip Goldenberg and Cllr Ian Johnson had organised a petition, signed by many residents, to present to Surrey County Council's Highways Local Committee. The Committee agreed to its suggestions of bringing forward a safety audit and looking at certain alterations to the present configuration.

Fortunately we have not yet had a serious accident at this point, but it is only a matter of time. As those of you who read this blog will be aware I and my LibDem group have been urging action on this for some time.

Sadly last week this application was approved despite good speeches by local resident Mark Wilson and my fellow ward councillor Ian Johnson. Despite the undoubted improvements in the new revised application we still felt that the application was an over-development of the site and thus not in keeping with the area.

Because our area is one of high density according to Planning it is always a struggle to find grounds for refusal. It was regrettable that the developer in this case did not meet with local residents prior to his application as has happened elsewhere in the ward. Such a meeting potentially enables a compromise to be reached with less aggro for all concerned.

We have just heard that a new application has been submitted for this site (which affects people in Ockenden Close and Gardens ,Fircroft Close and the back of Park Court). This has been refused twice on the grounds of not replacing amenity space. It appears that this application appears to overcome this by proposing to use land in Saunders Lane. Ian Johnson, my fellow ward councillor, and I have asked to see the plans and we will keep you posted on this one.

The post office at the Soods' grocery store on the parade of shops near the station is under threat of closure. Heaps of people from my ward and elsewhere use this facility on  a regular basis and will be devastated to hear of this threatened closure. The post office on East Hill recently closed and of course the main post office is due to be moved into the basement of WHSmiths - difficult to access and no doubt with a lot less counters for service.

The elderly in particular find the local post office a real necessity and find it next to impossible to travel further to access one.

Another advantage of the Oriental Road PO is that free parking is available just outside for upto 20 minutes.