News from the Residents’ Association

We were very pleased to have raised a record sum of over £1700 from  our bookstall on Village Day..  Our thanks go to John Allen and his family for collection, storage and arranging over 6000 books on the day. Thanks also to his team of helpers and of course, all who donated the good quality books, CDs and DVDs.  John is now open for collection for next year.

You will have noticed the splendid hanging baskets in Bookham. This was a community effort with no council support.  Planning and finance was the responsibility of the BRA, in particular Richard Eagle and Alan Emsley. The baskets were planted by The Vineries, and put up by the Bookham Retail and Business Association. Thanks to David Smith, Chair of BRABA for getting this all together.  We shall be unable to have baskets next year unless we can raise the money. A few people have sent donations but we need everyone in Bookham to help to keep this feature going. If you have any thoughts on how we can achieve this, please get in touch with us.

Our next village project is the Christmas lights. We have some money this year and we shall have the lights on the tree in St Nicolas Church.  We are still working on a solution for the decorative lights on the lamp standards and we are sure that BRABA will have their Christmas trees illuminated too.  Again to keep this going in 2011 we  need your help and would welcome donations.

It is gratifying to learn from the answers to Bookham Vision that our notice boards are one of the main sources of information for the village, and they are usually fully used. We hope to replace the perspex in the one at the top of the High Street. We now have a response from Surrey Highways lighting contractors with regard to our proposal to install a street light in a dark region of the High Street opposite HSBC.  This new light should be in place by the autumn.  Many thanks to the MVDC/SCC Local committee for providing most of the funds for this.

The new government’s proposed changes to planning rules will have an impact on the Housing allocation proposals in Mole Valley’s Local Development Framework.  For the time being MVDC will carry on with the previous numbers but this will be reviewed and is now up to MVDC to decide locally about our future housing needs, not as before dictated by the SEERA . The work that John Pagella and his planning team as well as the results from Bookham Vision have done in completing detailed responses to public consultations will be useful for whatever MVDC decide in the future.

Our AGM was well attended.  All the committee, except for Carol Glenister, who no longer felt able to serve, were voted in en bloc and we welcome Elizabeth Hudson and Ted Dalley to the team. as well as David Smith. Representing local businesses..We thank Carol for her contributions over many years. Trevor Sokell of Bookham Vision presented the survey findings. A report will be available for circulation soon and the next stage is to decide the most appropriate way to use the data for the future of the Village.  The Vision team have done an outstanding job and are the envy of the other villages and small towns in the area who continue to remark on the outstanding success of this project.

We are involved with what is now called the South Bookham Youth and Community Association who are trying to take over the running of the old Youth Centre in the Dorking Road at the top of Christie Recreation ground. This building is owned by Mole Valley Council and the building needs urgent repairs which the present landlord is unlikely to be able to afford.  This building and its facilities are important for the young people of South Bookham in particular and needs all the local support that can be mustered. If you feel you can help please contact the BRA and we will ensure that SBYCA get in touch with you.

We continue to examine planning applications, and other matters which might affect the village. Our links with the police through our local NSO John Hench and his team have yielded results, and we shall continue to try to obtain improvements to roads and pathways from Surrey Highways which continues to be a challenging task. If you have thoughts, comments or concerns about any of these matters get in touch with us.