NEW BLOG, LOOK HERE!!!

www.allnewdorkingblog.blogspot.com

I've set up a new dorking blog as not much is going on here..go to

www.allnewdorkingblog.blogspot.com.

thanks

James

It's not 'district' money, it's only for Leatherhead

There we have it, straight from the horse's mouth so to speak. Section 106 money (shorthand for sweetners given by planning applicants to the council to help smooth the application's progress) is not the property of the District Council, it's for the exclusive use of the area in which the money was raised, not for the greater good of the area as a whole.

Chris Hunt, who bears the splendid title of 'Portfolio Holder for Strategic Planning' has explained why Leatherhead is to receive more than £300,000 to enhance the town centre and Dorking gets nothing.

Since MVDC appear to be totally dedicated to not allowing development of any kind in Dorking it seems unlikely that the town will ever enjoy any meaningful investment by MVDC. Perhaps someone could refresh my memory, when Wickes in Vincent Lane was developed did we see any of the Section 106 money? For that matter how about the old gas works site and housing development at Deepdene roundabout, etc. etc.

Does anyone have memories of how the town has benefited?

Pepin

Another lost shop?

Just noticed the sign of doom (Martin-brown) above the pet shop in the High Street. Another one going? Incidentally, someone mentioned on here that Hi-Life was closing because they saw a sign above it. It looks to me as though the sign relates to the unit next door. Or am I wrong?
Dougie

Exciting sighting Dorking High Street!

I blinked, shook my head, but still it wouldn't go away, it was without doubt 'real', not a dream - just as well since I was driving at the time. A genuine police constable, sitting astride a mountain bike outside the new Carpetright store, complete with Police cycle helmet, etc.

Has anyone else had a sighting of this very rare specie, or perhaps he had lost his way, should I have stopped and offered to help? I saw it last week, Wednesday I believe.

Pepin

MVDC and lost level playing field

The Dorking Advertiser devotes two pages to the good news that Leatherhead is to receive some £300,000 to improve Leatherhead's High Street and Church Street, this will be a combination of MVDC money and a grant from SCC. A further £50,000 will be made available for street art, e.g. perhaps a swan sculpture or a memorial to one of the the town's more famous people.

Nobody could wish Leatherhead anything but well and they are certainly very fortunate to have benefited from MVDC's act of largesse; curious is it not that the same council could not afford £6,000 for Dorking's floral decorations this summer and has had to impose a flat £1 charge to park in certain Dorking car parks in the evening - because of financial restraints of course.

It would seem MVDC is not aware of the need for there to be level playing fields.

Forget being born with a silver spoon in your mouth, far better to have been born in the north of our district.

Pepin

Dorking and our county council

Although our local media has commented upon it (in particular the Surrey Advertiser) I have been fascinated by the reaction, or more precisely lack of reaction, to Michael Frater's recent report on Surrey County Council who it should be remembered have been responsible for regularly bringing Dorking to a halt.

Following the sudden resignation of the chief executive of SCC last November and the subsequent resignation of the leader of the council a man called Michael Frater was brought in to act as interim chief executive - a position he occupied until the end of June.

Frater has had a very distinguished career in local government and was awarded a CBE in recognition of his service to local government. When Frater's term of office ended after six months he prepared a report summarising his views of how the council operates, among his conclusions are:

• The bosses were "superior and arrogant"
• The council runs on the basis of blame and bullying
• Is unsophisticated
• Is in denial following its demotion to a one star authority
• Is bureaucratic
• Lacks vision and strategy
• Has an absence of leadership
• Worst case of financial mismanagement he (Frater) had seen
• There is a whole systems failure

The report was on the agenda to be discussed at SCC's July 14 meeting as item six. At the meeting this item was not discussed.

Although it's quite well hidden away the report is on SCC website and provided you're not a nervous type you can read it, go to: SCC website, click 'Your Council' on the home page, the 'Councillors & Committees' then 'Cabinet', then 'What's being discussed' and then 14.7.09 meeting, agenda item six. Here you will find Frater's 12-page report - quite simply it's devastating.

And to think that during the last 12-years this wretched council that boasts of being one of Britain's largest and best authorities has been effectively wasting our money which amounts to about £1billion every year - what miserable lot, hopefully the new management will do a little bit better.

Self satisfied MVDC

My eye was caught by a message from MVDC enclosed with the recently revised council tax bill: "A message to all our resident...THANK YOU". Following a survey of 2,500 people residents LAST AUTUMN MVDC announces that the council is among the best performing councils in the country!

MVDC tell us:

• No less than 81% of people are satisfied with our parks and open spaces
• 76% of people liked our recycling service
• 74% of people were satisfied with our refuse service

All this from a council that went on to increase their element of the council tax by 4.9%, fractionally below the level that would have resulted in the government stepping in. A council that decided Dorking did not need any floral displays this year; a council that set a first in Surrey, i.e. choosing to charge for parking in the evening; a council that went on to spend £250,000 refurbishing their own reception area. I could go on and on but I suspect many people already know what MVDC is guilty of especially favouring areas in the north of the district - the heartland of the council's controlling Conservative councillors - no evening parking charges there!

I would like to have seen the rest of the survey results they boast of above and I would like to see the results of the same survey run today!

The Dorking Advertiser

Like all local papers the Dorking Advertiser has its good weeks and its not so good weeks, but to be fair it has been going through a good spell with regard to parking issues in the town - it just will not let the issue die, which is more than can be said for the Chamber of Commerce. If silence really can be deafening the the Dorking CofC have succeeded.

Mole Valley and its councillors

The manner in which Dorking is being treated by the councillors on MVDC is nothing short of appalling - I should qualify that statement since the town's councillors (all LibDems - and no, I'm not a LibDem supporter) have constantly opposed the Conservative's controlling group's more silly plans - like a £1 charge on anyone using the two car parks at the eastern end of the town, i.e. Dorking Halls and the council staff car park (used free of charge by the staff Monday to Friday). The stupidity of this charge is revealed by the fact that most of the monet will be spent on wages for a parking enforcement officer - I believe in another language that's a good old fashioned parking warden.

Nowhere else in the Mole Valley is there a charge for evening parking - in fact just about everywhere in Surrey is free in the evening. What has Dorking done to deserve this rotten treatment? Why is MVDC prepared to invest in Leatherhead and Ashtead - in fact just about anywhere in the district except Dorking? Why, given the dreadful state that Dorking's town centre is in, did the council decide to withdraw funding of about £6,000 for town centre floral decorations? One could go on and on...

Isn't it about time the town's traders demanded a meeting with MVDC and an explanation of the apparently unfair treatment?

Moving to Dorking

I'm currently thinking of re-locating from Lingfield and have been viewing houses in Dorking. A friend of mine thinks Dorking might be a little rough in the evenings.
Does anyone have any advice?
Do people generally enjoy living here?
Thanks in advance.
Archie

Nice Idea

Hi,

Well done for setting this up - I'll spread the awareness.

Be great to get some event listings up here - would spark interest and comments no doubt. Is it ok for anyone to post some as and when?

Bye for now,

MLC

Accidents in Dorking

I read with interest about the accident on Saturday. To my knowledge, this is the fourth time in 12 months that a pedestrian has been knocked down in Dorking, and at least one of those people died.
Why so many? Is it the layout of the town that encourages people to cross without using proper crossings. It is very unfortunate, and I wonder if the road was closed for so long to allow the police to gather evidence of what happened.

Positive news in Dorking

There's been a lot of moaning about Dorking recently, so to reverse this I would like to point out that there is a lot of scaffolding in town at the moment. This must mean that people are repairing and redecorating lots of the properties. This has to be a good sign, surely. I think the kitchen shop re-painted recently, and Astronamia had scaffolding up. There are loads of buildings on West street redecorating, and the Lemon Tree seem to be re-branding with white paint.
Anyone with any positive comments?

Town Centre Action Plan

Just wondered what thoughts (if any) people have on the Town Centre Action Plan? Or did anybody even realise there was a drop in event at the end of last week in St. Martins walk to gather peoples' views? We went along but were very disappointed to see that although this is the beginning of the consultation no action will actually take place until 2011 and this will be the start of a 15 year plan! The action plan looks good but we are really concerned that there is no interim action policy as we feel that work on improving the town centre needs to start NOW!

Anyway, if anyone wishes to view the plan it is available on www.molevalley.gov.uk/idf and suggestions can be emailed to: idf@molevalley.gov.uk

Corner House Girls

NOT MUCH NEWS....

Hi.

Not much movement on our new site.
Perhaps a bit complicated?
Remember, Cockerel used to choose the subject for discussion but now YOU can...

Sign In: peopleofdorking@hotmail.com
Password: blogblog
Choose: New Post and away you go

Looking forward to hearing about my home town soon....

David N

Pubs for the rugby tomorrow

I thought I would put something on here to see how user friendly it is.
Anyway, I plan to meet a friend in town tomorrow to watch the Lions. Can anyone help me? I need to know which pubs will be showing the match. Preferably town centre. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.
Pete

Pixham School

Just read on Dorking Ad site that Pixham School is (again) under threat of closure.
Sad news but I suppose it is 'progress' . I was there from 1944-1947 with wonderful memories in spite of war and hours in the air raid shelter during which time we sang and chanted arithmetic tables ad infinitum because written work was impossible. The ironic thing is that the original records show that the school was opened in 1880 to avoid the children having to 'trudge' to the other end of the town (West Street). How many children walk to school these days?

David N

Foodie Dorking Blog

Anyone up for a bit of foodie reading with a Dorking twist if I can manage it, check out my blog: Dorking, Food & Photographs.

Happy to help out by providing some photography to spruce up the DP's Blog!  Just let me know if you want to use any photographs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22284660@N04/, as long as you state your source and ask permission:)

I lived in Farnham during the 1990s and I can say that it looked much like Dorking does now, with a large number of closed outlets.  I think the town needs to hit rock bottom before it rises again - Farnham seems to be doing well now, better than ever in fact.  Let us be realistic - you aren't going to get decent shops when the demographic of the town is so....challenged!  Look at FatFace - how are they doing?  The are the best thing that's happened to the High Street in the three years I've lived here..at least I can buy clothes in my home town now!

PopC

Parking in Dorking

A topic that has incensed everyone, I think. I own a shop in Dorking (don't want to say which one). Our takings are down 40% this year compared to last year, and have dropped off noticeable since the charges went up. I have seen the car parks with hardly any cars in them. What on EARTH are the councillors thinking of?
They are seriously jeopardising my livelihood and I resent it like hell!!
A very cheesed off shopkeeper!

Help with blog

Hello everyone.
Very much a non-expert in computers, I know there's been some frustration at not being able to post easily. Not sure why, so if anyone knows about these things, please sign in as per the details on the other blog and help out if you can. Not sure what the problem has been, but it has affected me, too. I have lost at least 3 posts that I have tried to make. I have change the sttings to allow anonymous posters and hope that will help with access.
Dougie

restarants in Dorking

Hi guys,
I'm a regular reader and occasional contributor to Cockerel's blog. Am I the first to start a topic on Dougie's blog? V excited!!
Anyway, I'm from Dorking and just started going out with a girl fromout ofn town. Want to impress her by taking her for a nice meal. Someone said twotwofour was good but expensive.
Any thoughts? is it good or is there somewhere less expensive? I'm a student by the way
Alex

Test

This is a test blog. The intention is to have a blog for the people of Dorking. I hope it works.
Dougie