A supermarket for Dorking?

Apparently the council had a meeting last night (Wednesday) using the Forum umbrella to discuss one of their own proposals for using land at Curtis Road for a new supermarket. Did anyone go? In fact did anyone know about this until the last minute?

Personally I am pro a new supermarket because the town desperately needs more people to help support what shops we have left: I see the coffee bar flavours (in the High Street close to Clears) has closed down - very suddenly judging by the fact that all the tables are laid ready for business...sad.

Pepin

Sad news

Sadly the Albino squirrel that lived in the church grounds was run over in St Martins Walk car park this afternoon. He/she was buried in the churchyard by the staff from a nearby shop.

Tumbleweed.

Has this site bitten the dust too?

Not much activity, which is a shame.

Been looking at James's blog as I thought there might have been a mass migration, but he seems to have disappeared too!

Come on everyone!

Our council, specialist in silly mistakes

Those who run MVDC really do seem to have mastered the art of opening their mouth in order that they can put their foot in it!

The good old Dorking Advertiser reports that having earlier this year decided that the expenditure of £6,000 on floral decorations for the town's streets was impossible given the economic climate, MVDC decided it would be quite acceptable to spend £5,000 on flowers for decoration inside their offices.

It all seems pretty stupid to me, has MVDC lost sight of the fact that they are not a private company who can behave is they feel fit; they are in fact an organisation that possesses not one single asset that is not owned by the taxpayers.

Time for our councillors to wake-up and smell the coffee - many of you face re-election next May, bring it on!

Pepin

Dorking, the good and the bad

I think we all know there is a lot wrong with our town, much of this brought about by rather silly, if not stupid, MVDC councillors' actions (and it has to be said their allies at County Hall), but having a good think about it there are some things that are good in Dorking - especially on the shopping front.

Among the 'newbies' I would especially welcome the new bargain shop that eventually replaced Age of Elegance: I'm sure this shop answers the needs of many people. Second I welcome the 'astronomy shop' close to the Surrey Yeoman (sorry I can't recall the precise name); I'm not a star gazer but an unusual shop like this must bring some people to the town and I wish them well. Third on my list of newbies comes FatFace, I'm the wrong generation to become a customer of the shop, but I bet it fulfils the needs of a younger generation.

Among the more established shops I have on my list of favourites: Clears, for all items electrical such as TVs, toaster, radios, etc; Cummins, all that a brilliant ironmongers should be; Fullers, an outstanding sports shop; Sussex Stationers (or whatever they call themselves today) a really good bookshop and stationers; Steamer Trading, why can I never go into this kitchen aids shop and leave without spending money? and finally Robert Dyas, what an amazing stock of gadgets for the home.

Other nominations are welcome, let's share them!

Finally I wrote in the headline - "the bad". Muddled thinking of the month award must go to Councillor Ben Tatham who, commenting upon cuts of some £300,000 in MVDC's services said "I really think that most of our residents will not notice a reduction in services at all."

Well Ben, would you tell us why you've been wasting our money for years by providing the services? Come on share the secret with us too.

Pepin

Is phones 4 u closing?

Wandering through the town, I noticed that phones 4 U was closed. Is it for good. It seems a shame, Vodafone has just opened and the mobile phone shop next to chimes has closed and now it looks like phones for u may go. It is all very well getting new shops but is detrimental to the town if it causes a similar shop to go out of business. There are too many empty shops in the high street already.We need new shops to open, not replacement shops

What about a Carnival?

A year or so ago a festival was held on Meadowbank. Strangely enough this was a Thai festival, for what reason this was i'm not sure, it did prove however to be very popular and interesting. What about for Dorking, an annual Carnival, I think a precession of decorated colourful floats going through the town on a lovely summer's day along with all the other activities a carnival brings would be great for our local town

This has been duplicated on http://www.allnewdorkingblog.blogspot.com/ at the request of David N.

Dougie.. I'm trying to get this site going just to make posting as easy as possible for all visitors to the site, please have a look and just add comments as you wish.

James

Re: Hope for the future of thisblog...

I have nothing more to add to my post of a few minutes ago except to say that I forgot to sign it at the bottom - I have an aversion to 'anonymous' posters, letters etc so am doing it now, hereunder

David N

Hope for the future of this blog..

I understand what Jamie is trying to do - create more interest on a blog for Dorking.
Previously, Cockerel used to post the many and various subjects and we just used to comment. This was OK because, until he gave up in April, he kept a steady flow of subjects coming. Now, we are expected to do this for ourselves but new readers dont neccessarily know how. It means regularly publishing the sign-in address AND password, the latter of which is usually kept by the blogmaster himself to prevent graffiti, obscenities, offers of Viagra etc... Do regular contributors want total freedom or somebody like Jamie to take the place of Cockerel who would be entrusted with the (new) password? It's Dougies blog so what does HE want or prefer?

I am retired and have plenty of time but no longer live in my home town so dont know what is going on other than what I read on-line in Dorking Advertiser.... Could Jamie replace Cockerel? Or could Jamie and just the 'founder members' (currently interested readers) of this blog retain the password, to reduce the chance of abuse?

Before I say any more about the amount of negative stuff that has been posted, can I do likewise but with a possibly more positive approach?

I have just read, in the On-line Dorking Advertiser, Councillor Pearson's reported claim that the now permanent evening parking arrangement will bring in £29,000 a year and the cost of the scheme to be only £1,000! How can this possibly be the case when the minimum wage is almost £6 and hour? As I dont live in Dorking I am assuming that an 'evening' lasts 4 hours which is £24 x 7 nights = £168 x 52 weeks = £8,800 for the attendant alone. Then there is the inevitable auditing, paper work and supervision, possibly even the creation of a new supervisory job to be paid for.... Cllr Pearson's reported claims suggest that the machines take an average of £80 a night so are they emptied every midnight (by a paid for supervisor?) or could this be a nice little £100 earner for a determined crook on a good night? As for £1,000 annual running costs I can only wonder whether the job at £2.73 an hour is going to an illegal immigrant who hasnt yet had his passport checked.. Taking into account the amount of ill will directed towards the residents of nearby roads who cant now even park outside their own homes in the evening AND those of the town in general, the councillors need to be shown up. Dont let them get away with it! Demand information under the Freedom of Information legislation - actual costs including all the extras, not just the amount in the machine multiplied by 365... I am not suggesting that people take to the streets in riot but Dorkinginians need to do more about this matter. Cllr Pearson reports that, other than the petition, only 9? people have bothered to write to the council personally. She is dismissive of your petition as she will probably say that many people will sign anything that's put in front of them.
In the town where I now live, the local council decided arbitarily to change the town's taxi fare basis, condition etc. Within a week, the whole taxi fraternity did a slow-drive protest round and round the town centre. It lasted an hour and brought the town centre to a standstill. There was uproar! And the taxis said it will happen again 'next week' and maybe more often... The town hall architects of the planned scheme immediately let it be known that a "further meeting" with the taxi drivers had now been scheduled. It was a real climb down and, you bet, it took place before the second planned slow-drive! What about a regular but peaceful deputation with some placards at Pippbrook? I bet they would be on the phone to wherever your councillors are, like a shot. Dont let them get away with it....

A Test to see if I am doing it right!

Test 1!

Dorking and blogs

I wish 'Jamie of Dorking' well in his efforts to get a new warm and friendly blog about the town up and running, but if all he wants is to discuss how beautiful the town is (and I agree that Dorking can be a delight), where he can get a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, why not get hold of a copy of one of the excellent little freebie publications that are regularly distributed in pubs and shops?

Yes there is a lot of moaning on this site (as there was on the old site) about what's happening in Dorking and the failings of the local council, understandable really because there is a lot going wrong, the ever growing number of empty shops bear witness to that.

Every empty shop in the town almost certainly represents a disaster for many of the smaller shopkeepers who sunk their money and labour into trying to keep their business going. Yesterday I read the notice on the door of the closed music and dance shop in South Street - everyone should go and read those very sad words.

So, Jamie, while I wish you every possible success with the blog, don't moan too much about the people who are using this blog to try and bring about change for the better in Dorking, as they did with the old blog; probably they will not succeed, but it's better to try and fail than simply pretend that all is well.

Pepin