Local Authority

CAMPAIGNERS reacted with disgust after councillors voted unanimously in favour of selling off an Ottershaw play park for potential development.

Despite the presence of disgruntled residents waving signs emblazoned with the words 'save our park', the recommendation to proceed with the sale of the land in Palmer Crescent was passed.

HOMELESSNESS in Runnymede is at its worst level for four years with temporary council accommodation almost full to capacity.

In the past year the borough council accepted responsibility to find homes for 49 homeless cases, whether individuals, couples or families, compared to just 15 cases in 2008/09.

And as a result the local authority has almost filled its 65 available special-purpose housing units, with only three currently sitting empty.

RUNNYMEDE Borough Council has rejected plans which would have provided its tenants with free electricity.

The council had the option to instal solar (photovoltaic) panels on its buildings and receive Feed In Tariffs in exchange; cash from the Government in return for going green.

However, the £12million-plus price tag to fit the panels to the 1,161 properties and 84 communal areas deemed eligible proved too prohibitive.

ROAD deaths in Surrey have fallen dramatically this year.

The drop in fatalities has reduced from 22 in the first eight months of 2010 to 13 in the same period in 2011.

The statistics follow an overall trend of decline with the total number of road deaths for 2010 down to 32 from 41 in 2009.

Dolsie Vaughan Clarke, Conservative, 786

Paul Greenwood, Labour, 550

Angela Shepperdson, UKIP, 368

CON HOLD

turnout 35%

Terry Dicks, Conservative, 989

Ken Denyer, Labour, 308

Derek Weston, Lib Dem, 181

Gillian Ellis, UKIP, 339

CON HOLD

Turnout 44.81%

Derek Cotty, Conservative, 945

Doug Scott, Labour, 330

Peter Key, Lib Dem, 146

Christopher Browne, UKIP, 32o

CON HOLD

Turnout 38.82%

SURREY Herald reporter Carl Gavaghan had the tables turned on him as he faced a grilling.

St Anne's Primary School in Chertsey was holding a media day at the school where its Year 5 pupils had a go at producing their own newspaper front page

A FAMILY of farmers living near Chertsey Sewage Treatment Works are preparing to fight plans for a 21-month period of extensions of the site.

Charlie Bransden, from Lyne Farm, Lyne Crossing Road, has put in an objection to Surrey County Council against Thames Waters' plans to build a new sludge dewatering and cake storage building, alongside an odour control unit and associated landscaping.

The application was put to Surrey County Council on Friday, October 8, and residents have until tomorrow to submit their objections.

It is understood the work will take almost two years and, at its height, 25 heavy goods vehicles a day will be travelling in and out of the site.

THE first phase of redevelopment at Ottershaw village hall has finally started after fund-raisers collected more than £120,000.

The trustees of the village hall charity collated the money through fund-raising events by local people and businesses as well as grants from Surrey County Council, Runnymede Borough Council and the Chertsey Combined Charity.

The development will see a new toilet block and meeting room built into an extension on the exiting site, in Brox Road.

A grant application is also in for further extension; the result of this is due to be known by the middle of November.