Woodcote (Epsom) Residents Society

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FOLLOW UP MEETING TO DISCUSS THE ARRANGEMENTS FOR 2025 DERBY WILL TAKE PLACE ON FRIDAY 13 DECEMBER at 7pm IN THE LANGLEY VALE VILLAGE HALL

Langley Vale Village Hall was full on Friday evening for a meeting with Inspector Clifton-Sinclair Borough Police Commander and Tom Sammes, General Manager at Epsom Racecourse about the serious public order incidents which occurred ahead of the 2024 Debry Festival and the arrangements for the 2025 event.

The meeting had been convened by the Woodcote (Epsom) Residents Society and the three Woodcote and Langley Vale Ward Councillors who are also members of the Epsom & Walton Downs Conservators – Bernice Frost, Liz Frost and Steven McCormick. The 5 of them were joined on the panel at the meeting by Helen Maguire, our new MP and Shanice Gladman, Nonsuch RA Councillor who is also Chair of the Crime and Disorder Committee.

The Borough Police Commander and Mr Sammes spent an hour and a half answering questions about what the residents’ saw as the failings of the police response to the serious incidents that took place and the security arrangements more generally for the 2024 Derby.  A question was also asked about what action the Conservators could take under the Act of Parliament to mitigate the risks to the local residents of the travellers encampment.  A number of suggestions were made about how the security arrangements could be tightened up and extended and everyone agreed that communication with the village needed to improve.

The Police, the Racecourse and the Epsom & Downs Conservators all committed to take account in their review of the 2024 Festival of the very real concerns of residents had about their safety and their requests for changes to the arrangements for 2025.

It was agreed there would be a further meeting with residents before the end of the year to consult on the proposed plans for 2025 before the arrangements were finalised and again in March/April 2025 ahead of the festival.

Come and find out why the Common is such a special place, and how you can help us preserve it.

An exhibition to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Epsom Common
Association will be at The Horton, Haven Way, Epsom, KT19 8NP from 19th to 30th
November.

The Association was started by a group of residents concerned about abuses, such as
driving cars on the Common.

Nowadays we run a range of volunteer activities every year, including: habitat management tasks; making around three hundred bags of charcoal;
checking the grazing cattle four days each week; as well as walks, talks and newsletters.

Our achievements include: the restoration of Great Pond; two more recent pond projects;
publication of the “Epsom Common” booklet; and several Epsom Common Days.

We work in partnership with Epsom & Ewell Borough Council, which owns and manages
the Common, a Local Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest.

For more information about the ECA visit: www.epsomcommon.org.uk or email:
info@epsomcommon.org.uk

Surrey County Council has said it will write to companies about the pavement parking on Epsom High Street by Mopeds in response to a motion submitted by Councillor Steven McCormick.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c870nl9dqego

Councillor McCormick will be progressing a parking ban on the pavements as part of the current parking review and several other actions which came out of a recent all-stakeholder meeting including looking for additional parking spaces.

He has also just received an email from the external affairs officer at Deliveroo seeking a meeting in response to the motion he submitted to the meeting of the SCC Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee on 15 October.

This is an excellent outcome.

We are delighted that the Planning Inspector agreed with us that there would be an unacceptable conflict and safety risk for pedestrians and traffic using the proposed narrow entrance drive and has dismissed the appeal.

The detail can be found here:

A lot of actions which had been on the to do list were signed-off as completed at the Consultative Committee meeting on the evening of 14 October 2024 .

The Committee is chaired by Councillor Steven McCormick and Councillor Bernice Froud is a member. The Committee also has a representative.

There was one item on the agenda at the request of Councillor Froud which was of direct relevance to Langley Vale and it was confirmed that there would be a site meeting shortly by the Council Tree Officer to inspect the state of the trees in Warren Wood behind Mannamead and Mannamead Close.

The Committee also had the opportunity to comment on the proof of the notice board content which the committee was assured would be finalised and put-up very soon now. 

Other issues covered at the meeting included the condition of tracks and hacks; progress with the removal of spoil heaps; pot-hole repairs on the Old Road;  out of control dogs on the Downs; anti-social behaviour in the car-parks,  the management of grassland and a feasibility study to investigate reintroducing grazing to Juniper Hill and a new vendor in the 7 furlong being piloted.

We were asked to put out a further appeal for Volunteers to help with the management of the Downs. Please let us know if you have time to volunteer – it would be very rewarding and much appreciated.

Also if you experience anti-social or see dangerous behaviour please ring 999 and report the incident. That is the only way they will get addressed.   You can use the contact us link on the Epsom & Ewell Council website to report other issues that need action by the management team”.

James Blythe, Managing Director of Epsom St Helier NHS Trust confirmed that plans for the new emergency care hospital in Sutton and the upgrading of Epsom hospital were currently on hold again – waiting to hear what the impact of the governments review of the hospital programme will have.  He was however hopeful that the plans will be able to go ahead on the understanding that the current arrangements are unsustainable.

You can find a link to the recording of the meeting the Society hosted on 17 October here for those of you who were not able to attend.

James Blythe went on to set the strategic context and how Epsom Hospital currently works with St Helier and St George’s Hospitals as part of a Hospital Group.  During the discussion it became clear that the current plans did not take account of the new government housing targets for the area. 

In introducing himself Chris Rivers, Director of Estates, Facilities and Capital Projects at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust explained he was the point of contact for all estate issues. He emphasised the Trust’s commitment to being a good neighbour and was pleased to have the opportunity to hear directly from residents about concerns /issues they had.

During the remainder of the meeting James and Chris fielded a wide range of questions from the floor including the allocation of services between the two sites; accessibility to the hospitals for those with disabilities; car parking and the impact on traffic using the Dorking road; the S2 bus route being impracticably slow; the impact of noise and lighting issues associated with the Langley Wing and lighting levels adjacent to Woodcote Green Road.

James and Chris committed to look into all the issues raised by residents at the meeting and we will post a update as soon as we are able on the follow-actions agreed at the meeting