Roads

March 2025

“Fix My Street” app: The Committee recommends this new mobile phone app, recently adopted by Surrey County Council, to enable residents to report almost any defect on local streets. The Parish Council believes this is a very effective tool and encourages residents to use it, especially in reporting of potholes, defective road markings, white lines, etc. Visit tellus.surreycc.gov.uk

Dropping the kerb on the south-west corner of The Parade: The kerb at the end of the pavement in the Parade nearest the station is almost double the height of most kerbs, and a severe obstacle to wheelchair users and those with wheeled luggage or unsteady on their feet. It has taken some time, but the Committee has identified that, strangely, South Western Railway owns the parcel of land. Parish Councillors have begun discussions in the hope of finding a remedy. Also being debated are the issues of illegal parking around the entrance to the station, and signage to the station car park.

source: Claygate Courier, March 2025 issue, page 6

March 2024

ROADS CLEAN-UP CAMPAIGN IS HELD BACK BY RED TAPE

Weeds and overgrown shrubs and trees beside kerbs and pavements have been a recent focus of the Environment, Highways and Transport Committee. Surrey County Council has set out guidelines on how volunteers are able to work to improve highways in its recently published “Community Highways Volunteer Scheme Policy” – although the extent of red tape involved greatly restricts what they can do. But Claygate Parish Council is seeking interpretations that might allow us to enable volunteers to help tidy up the streets.

Regarding weeds growing in roadside kerb gullies, the Parish Council held meetings with officers from Elmbridge Borough and Surrey County Councils and we looked at practices being tried elsewhere. After research, we concluded that the state of the weeds in our kerb gullies is mainly a result of how Elmbridge manages the performance of Amey, its road sweeping contractor. This is handled through Joint Waste Solutions, an independent third party, which monitors the borough; Amey suffers a penalty when a set measure is exceeded. But this doesn't seem to work well for Claygate's gullies and the Parish Council is continuing its dialogue with Elmbridge in search of improvements.

Sadly, so far we have been unable to to find a way to enable volunteers to help clear weeds growing at the back of pavements, where they meet walls and fences. In the meantime, we would encourage property occupiers to keep such weeds to a minimum to enhance our environment.

Trees and shrubs overhanging pavements can pose a greater risk, especially for elderly or infirm residents and for parents with prams and others with wheelchairs. We therefore ask all residents to consider whether their hedges, shrubs and trees unduly restrict the width of pavements and, if so, to cut them back in the interests of other residents.

source: Claygate Courier, March 2024 issue, page 8

SPEEDWATCH AIMS TO EDUCATE DRIVERS TO STICK TO THE LIMIT

The word "caught" is key to Claygate Speedwatch - it lies at the heart of what we do. Because Speedwatch is less about enforcement of speed limits and more about education and reminding drivers to respect the limits in each locality. Enforcement is for the constabularies, for legal reasons - and because they have extensive training and modern equipment.

Claygate Speedwatch is one of 78 such teams in Surrey and there are many more in Hampshire, Kent and Sussex. We all use the same computer system so being "caught" in one county could result in a warning letter if you are "caught" in another.

The Claygate Speedwatch team has eight members. All have been trained in a blended online and practical on-site training process. This ensures a common standard across all teams and equal treatment of all drivers.

The team also counts the vehicle traffic passing through Claygate, both to help with monitoring traffic growth in the village for the Parish Council, but also to determine best deployment of resources. We have six monitoring sites in Claygate (577 sites across Surrey), checked by the constabulary for suitability, and safety of drivers, pedestrians and the team. The team makes rotating visits to them monthly (builders' vans permitting!). We would like to recruit two more volunteers to the group so that we could monitor two sites a week, with volunteers taking one session per month.

From recent statistics across Surrey we know that 95 per cent of drivers who receive a warning letter do not re-offend. Claygate is fortunate in that fewer than one per cent of drivers exceeded the speed limit and more than 70 per cent of the drivers who are "caught" in the village are not from a Claygate postcode.

Following agreement between the constabularies, the warning sign (pictured above) is no longer required if the Speedwatch site is on a long straight stretch of road, such as Red Lane or Oaken Lane. Visit www.communityspeedwatch.org for more information, or to volunteer.

source: Claygate Courier, March 2024 issue, page 8

See also

• https://www.communityspeedwatch.org/FRONT-v2-Home.php