Template:Courier-OCT-24-4,5b
ACTION PLAN TO BE BUILT ON ‘VILLAGE VISION’
A structure to drive real change in Claygate has been put in place by the Parish Council, the Village Association and other organisations. Here, those parties present their agreed explanation of what has been created, how it will operate, and how the views of the whole village will be taken into account:
As people may be aware the Parish Council has been entrusted to work with various organisations after the work carried out by the Claygate Village Association (CVA) to build on a report on Claygate: The Way Forward, which incorporated the findings of a survey of all Claygate residents from which 1,528 responded.
We first must thank the CVA for the very thorough and statistically rigorous survey with a very strong response rate. Most surveys get a 3-4% response rate but the Claygate one was approximately 25% of Claygate’s adult population. An enormous amount of effort went into the survey and finding out your views on a wide range of aspects of village life.
The report findings were presented at Holy Trinity Church in June together with the recommendations of each of the working groups—Health & Wellbeing, Leisure & Recreation, Transport & Parking, Shops & Businesses, Housing and Environment. The report identified the stakeholders who would be responsible for pursuing the recommendations such as Elmbridge Borough Council (EBC), Surrey County Council (SCC), National Rail and the Parish Council to name but a few.
There were many recommendations but some headline items were as follows:
- Encouragement of developers to build smaller units and affordable housing in key sites in Claygate
- A new community venue providing wellbeing services
- A one-hour free parking trial in EBC car parks in the village
- An outdoor trim trail or gym (or both)
- A community garden
- A survey of Claygate shops and businesses
- A village business initiative
- A Claygate market
- A village website promoting the village including shops and businesses
- Improvements to roads, cycle paths and bridleways in Claygate
The full report incorporating the survey results, analysis and recommendations is available at https://www.claygatevillageassociation.org/ctwf-report-download.
So where are we with all of this and where does it lead?
Claygate Parish Council (CPC) has had two encouraging meetings with EBC over the summer to take this work forward and it breaks down into three main parts:
The first task is to formulate a draft vision for Claygate by working in partnership with EBC to identify the shared goals for our community. This will largely be informed by the CTWF report but also by EBC and CPC reviewing the existing vision for Claygate as set out in EBC’s Core Strategy. Together, we will determine what elements still ring true and what can be brought into a new vision for Claygate. This work is underway and EBC is aiming to consult on it in the first half of 2025.
The second part is the set of CTWF recommendations—these will be worked into an Action Plan for Claygate that will sit behind the vision and deliver certain elements of it. Some are quick wins, while other actions will take time to progress. CPC and EBC have taken time to review this in detail and have confirmed owners for all the recommendations (some owners have changed based on EBC's detailed understanding of how they work with SCC on various initiatives). There will be a meeting between CPC and EBC in early November to identify target dates for the plan and that plan will be communicated and consulted on, also currently planned for the first half of 2025.
The third takeaway is that while there were many great suggestions and recommendations for Claygate as a whole, the driver of the campaign—what to do with Torrington Lodge Car Park—was not fully addressed. The survey had revealed many suggestions for the mixed-use development including a fitness centre (45%), continued parking provision (45%), affordable housing (35%), a supermarket (31%), and small business units and pop-up shops, which were equally popular (26% each). Support for a supermarket development—the initial trigger for the CVA’s campaign and subsequent survey—was highest in the under 50s (42%) (who are underrepresented as against the national average in the village but from whom we had the highest response rate to the survey overall), compared to the 50-65 (30%) and over 65s (18%). Bearing this in mind the matter warrants further consideration although perhaps not the 8,000 sq. ft building that had originally been proposed.
Clearly this last topic is one of great interest to Claygate residents and we are keen to see the right decisions being made for the good of the village and the shops and businesses within it. CPC brought up this point in our second meeting with EBC this summer, as we feel that the issue of what to do with Torrington Lodge Car Park needs to be tackled. In the meeting it was clear to everyone that there was a positive groundswell of opinion for mixed use development on Torrington Lodge Car Park.
So, what is the way forward with Torrington Lodge Car Park?
EBC and CPC agreed that a positive way forward would be to look at a set of mixed-use options for the car park and do the financial and qualitative assessment to explore what could realistically be delivered. This would then be shared with the community and views sought on the options which might work. This is similar to the work which is currently being carried out for Elm Grove in Walton. Senior officers at EBC are committed to working with Claygate residents and CPC to bring it to a positive conclusion.
We look forward to working with EBC and consulting widely with the Claygate community on this topic and will continue to report back to residents as the work on this and other projects and initiatives progress.
