News

Don’t forget, you can pick up a copy of The Ashtead & Leatherhead Local magazine from Ashtead and Leatherhead libraries, as well as the customer service desk of Sainsbury’s Leatherhead.


WHAT'S GOING ON IN FEBRUARY? Click here...

IMPROVEMENTS TO RANDALLS RD WASTE FACILITY.

Surrey County Council (SCC) are going to redevelop the existing Leatherhead Community Recycling Centre at Randalls Road in Leatherhead which, when complete, will provide Mole Valley residents with a modern, accessible and user-friendly facility. The site closed on 9th January and the work will take approximately 8 months to complete.

The improvements will include:

· Improved parking and road layout to help site users move around the site more easily and help to reduce queuing
· Separate entrances for the public and site service vehicles to help reduce congestion at the site entrance
· Drop off area for garden waste carried in trailers.

Mole Valley residents who currently use the Leatherhead site will still of course be able to dispose of household waste including batteries, electrical waste, fridges and garden waste at two alternative sites only seven miles to the north and south of Leatherhead. The two sites are located at Blenheim Road in Epsom (KT19 9DL) and Ranmore Road in Dorking (RH4 1TL).

Mole Valley residents can be rest assured that the temporary closure to Randalls Road will in no way affect MVDC's kerbside collection service, which will continue as normal.

Residents will also still have the option of placing additional bags of recycling next to their wheelie bins for collection by our crews, rather than having to dispose of them at the facilities in Dorking or Epsom.

Likewise, garden waste needn't be taken by car to either site as MVDC offers a fortnightly collection service at a small cost of just £38 per wheeled bin (maximum of 3 bins per household). For more information please visit www.molevalley.gov.uk/gardenwaste.





THE SURREY REUSE NETWORK - DONATE IT, DON'T WASTE IT.

Find a new home for those kitchen appliances you no longer need.

The Surrey Reuse Network offers a wide range of good quality items at affordable prices. Made up of six charities the network aims to find new homes for donated furniture and kitchen appliances, as well as offering training and employment opportunities and helping local families in need.

Have you got any unwanted white goods or are looking to replace them soon? As long as they are in good condition, the Surrey Reuse Network will be happy to collect and recycle them for use by others. Or you can drop them off at your nearest showroom. Items include washing machines, cookers, dishwashers, fridges and freezers.

Why donate?
· It's easy and convenient – a simple phone call is all it takes to donate. A member of our friendly team will arrange for collection or a time that you can drop items off at your local showroom.
· Community benefit – your donation will help raise funds for the community work the charities carry out, helping families in need and enabling people to get back into work.
· Green savings – buying reusable items saves them from going to landfill, which is both financially and environmentally costly.

Call 0800 082 0180 (free phone if called on landline but charges will apply if you use a mobile) or visit www.surreyreusenetwork.org.uk to find your nearest showroom and donate today. Charity donations of up to £15 are requested to help towards collection costs.


VOLUNTEER BOOM AT THE LOWER MOLE PROJECT.

Winter is well and truly here and there is no better time for a walk in Surrey's woods to burn off the Christmas excesses, and blow away the cobwebs. On your travels you might just come across a group of Moles, not the little brown hairy type but volunteers with the Lower Mole Countryside Management Project. Volunteering is alive and well in Surrey with an impressive 2097 volunteer days contributed to the Project's work during 2011, a 38% increase on the previous year. Work at this time of the year is largely woodland based, with tasks such as coppicing, halo release around ancient oak trees and scrub clearance making up most of the Winter 2011/2012 programme. Many of our volunteers have received further training and now assist with task leading, chainsawing and brushcutting, herbicide application, and first aid.

New volunteers are always welcome and no previous experience is necessary as training is provided.

We will be working on Ashtead Common on 12th, 14th, 15th & 16th February, and in Ashtead Park on 6th, 7th, 8th & 11th March.

You can find out more by visiting the Project's website at www.countryside-management.org.uk, phoning on 01372 743783 or reading about the volunteer experience by logging onto Facebook.com


LEITH HILL MUSICAL FESITVAL 2012 - DORKING HALLS.

Festival Conductor: Brian Kay

Sunday 11th March 7pm
Messiah Handel

Saturday 17th March from 9am
Open Competition for Youth Choirs

Competitions and concerts, 12th-14th April
Competitions 9am–1pm; Concerts 7.30pm

Thursday 12th April
Requiem Fauré Gloria Karl Jenkins

Friday 13th April
Requiem Brahms

Saturday 14th April
Gloria Vivaldi Sing Unto God Handel

Tickets from £8
Season tickets available
LHMF Box Office
Tel: 01403 240093
www.Boxoffice@lhmf.co.uk

2 Cissbury Close, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 5JT

Registered Charity 275176 www.lhmf.co.uKk




THE DEBRA SURREY CYCLE CHALLENGE.

A New Challenge for a New Year: sign up now

On Sunday 13 May 2012, DEBRA, the national charity which supports individuals and families coping with the genetic painful skin blistering condition Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), will be holding the DEBRA Surrey Cycle Challenge.

The circular route will take in the beautiful route takes in the stunning Surrey Hills, famous for their rolling chalk downs, challenging climbs and fun descents. Quiet country roads make this the perfect ride for keen cyclists looking for a new challenge in the New Year.

DEBRA Cycle Challenge riders have a choice of two routes (60km and 100km), both of which take in part of the 2012 Olympic road race route, allowing cyclists to test the track before Olympic athletes get the chance! If the 60km route is not challenging enough and cyclists want to push themselves just that little bit further, they can choose the100km route for an extra adrenaline rush. Both routes will be fully signed with highly visible arrows and have marshals at major junctions to help direct the cyclists safely along the route. There will be feeding stations supplying snacks, drinks, tools and bicycle spares at intervals along the route.

Registration costs £35 and includes all the facilities outlined above. Suggested sponsorship is £125. To sign up or to find out more please contact the Fundraising team on 01344 467 785 or email hannah.weston@debra.org.uk. Go on, get a blister for DEBRA and sign up now! See http://www.debra.org.uk/sporting-activities/ for details on this event and more.

Money raised by the DEBRA Surrey Cycle Challenge will support DEBRA, the only national charity exclusively dedicated to individuals and families coping with the genetic and excruciatingly painful skin blistering condition Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB). Often, the blisters leave scarring which can result in permanent changes to the skin. For example, the fingers may fuse together or tissue in the hand contract, reducing movement. In the worst cases the mouth, throat and tongue can be affected making eating and swallowing very painful and difficult. Around 5,000 people are affected by EB in the UK and around 500,000 worldwide. EB appears in all populations and racial groups and in both sexes. There are many different kinds of EB.

To find out more please visit www.debra.org.uk


CHERNOBYL CHILDREN'S LIFE LINE

It's not too late for a final New Year's Resolution: a resolution that will make a world of difference to a child in Belarus; a resolution that will make this summer very special for that child; a summer that will be fondly remembered into the future.

This year the people of Belarus have an inauspicious anniversary to remember – it will be 26 years since the Chernobyl accident which saw a plume of radioactive material being blown northwards into their country, landing on the farmland and surrounding areas. Many families needed to be relocated and the after-effects, both medical and psychological, are still being felt.

During this summer the Mid-Surrey Link of Chernobyl Children's Life Line will bring a group of children from Belarus to England to give them an opportunity to breathe air and eat food free from radiation. The children are at an age when their bodies are developing rapidly and after such recuperative breaks their families and school teachers report that their immune systems have received a noticeable boost. The children are hosted in pairs in Surrey homes for 2 or 4 weeks, living as part of the family. They enjoy group outings and those who need it receive dental care and glasses – which are often difficult or expensive to receive in their home country. Each host has the benefit of a support who provides practical assistance as necessary.

If you would like be part of this summer's visit in some way, or just to learn more, visit www.midsurreylink.org, call Tessa on 01372 741228 or, even better, come to our Information Evening at St George's Church Hall, Barnett Wood Lane, Ashtead, KT21 2DA at 8pm on Thursday 2nd February.


DEVELOPMENT PLANS FOR CHERKLEY ESTATE.

In the latter part of 2011 an application was lodged by Longshot Ltd (Cherkley's new owners) to MVDC to construct an 18 hole golf course, a new clubhouse, new lake, swimming pool, and by change of use, Cherkley Court, the Garden House and all the cottages on the estate into a hotel and spa.

Initially there is the Green Belt argument. The prime purpose of the Green Belt is to limit the spread of built up areas, and ribbon development in particular. On the other hand the essential characteristic of the Greem Belt is that it should remain open. So the argument is that a golf course is open and that it also prevents the spread of the built environment. However a golf course also brings with it urban characteristics in the form of buildings, and excessive demands in terms of traffic, water and sewerage requirements, and the excessive use of fertilizers. For example the use of nitrates etc. on the greens is about 10 times that used on arable farmland, furthermore weedkillers to improve the turf also kill many of the natural flora in the surrounding area. The River Mole has suffered in the past from high levels of nitrates in the water. These killed the fish, and closed the river for bathing.

To date The National Trust, Friends of Boxhill, Mickleham Parish Council, Tyrrell's Wood, Leatherhead Residents' Association and Surrey Campaign for the Protection of Rural England have all objected to the loss of farmland, habitat and landscape character and the number of objectors signing up to the Cherkley Campaign is growing every day. The estate, with its public rights of way, is also regularly used by dog walkers, riders, cyclists and ramblers who visit the area to enjoy the peace and quiet and stunning vistas.

So where do we go from here? As with most planning applications with such far reaching consequences, this is fast becoming a hot potato in the area. Do we need another golf course? Not really, especially when there are already so many in the area, and that the membership for this new course would start at around £150,000; coupled with the fact that The Belfry in Warwickshire and four times host of the Ryder Cup, has failed financially and is now up for sale, six years after it was purchased.

Much of the landscape will be changed forever and this includes an area within it identified by the Surrey Biodiversity Partnership as a rare example of authentic chalk grassland from which Longshot will create four holes. This field, and in fact the entire estate, falls within the Green Belt and is an Area of Great Landscape Value.

It would be desirable for the Estate to remain in keeping with the wishes of the Beaverbrook Foundation which were that Cherkley should remain a private residence surrounded by its historic parkland, rare chalk grassland and ancient woodland owned by someone capable of continuing the stewardship of the land.

Pocket after pocket of beautiful land around the UK is being threatened by commercial ventures, one such project is the HS2 trainline from Euston to Birmingham which will effectively carve up the countryside and destroy the vista of the Chiltern Hills forever, in addition to 300 homes being lost in the process, and all this just to ensure that trains reach Birmingham 30 minutes earlier.

If you would like to view the application in more detail, visit Mole Valley's website on: www.molevalley.gov.uk/swiftlg/apas/run/WPHAPPCRITERIA For information on the campaign visit their website: www.cherkleycampaign.co.uk.