Latest news with #ElmbridgeBoroughCouncil
BBC News
6 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Overhaul of council community services in Elmbridge approved
Community services in parts of Surrey are due to be overhauled under plans to reach more people and move away from supporting only the Borough Council's cabinet aims to "support more unpaid carers, more families in poverty, more people in isolation", as well as the older people currently approved Connected Communities model plans to "deepen collaboration with the voluntary sector, move from day centres to community hubs and introduce local coordinators to provide personalised, preventative support". Mike Rollings, council leader, said the initiative, which is estimated to save £1m annually, was "a bold, imaginative and necessary step". He added: "This transformation means we can support more people, more effectively, and more sustainably." Current community services cost over £4m and reach less than 1% of residents, yet nearly 12% are facing real challenges to living well, according to the council. Concerns have been expressed about a potential reduction in services for the Morris, 77, goes to various events at the Hersham and Weybridge centres, including bingo, meals and to meet is concerned that "similar events won't be offered in the future".Mr Rollings reaffirmed the council's commitment to supporting residents, assuring that existing services like Meals on Wheels will remain in place throughout the 18-month transition. He said: "While the council will no longer prepare the meals directly, no residents will be left without an alternative meal provision."The council will consider the budget for the delivery of the scheme on 23 July.
BBC News
12-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Elmbridge Museum collection must move 'as a matter of urgency'
A museum is facing a race against time to move 43,000 objects into a new storage site to protect its national accreditation, Surrey councillors have of Elmbridge Museum's collection could be urgently relocated to Weybridge, costing at least £132,000, to prevent losing its accreditation with Arts Council England, the officers have said in a proposed move comes after the museum's current storage facility at Elmgrove Hall in Walton-on-Thames was declared "unfit for purpose" and in "poor condition" by Elmbridge Borough will decide on whether to approve the plans at a cabinet meeting on Monday. When it was last assessed for accreditation, the issue of poor storage facilities was flagged as a key area for improvement. The next assessment is expected later this year or in report said: "Given the proximity to the next scheduled Arts Council accreditation assessment, it is proposed that the museum collection located at Elmgrove be moved... as a matter of urgency."The report said that, if the museum were to lose accreditation, it would "suffer significant reputational damage, will find it harder to recruit staff, and will also be ineligible for many streams of funding."It added that, if the museum ever wished to borrow items from other institutions for displays, this would become impossible without accreditation, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Between June 2022 and September 2024 various options were explored, according to a council report, but no feasible sites have been yet been under consideration include the Luxfords storage facility, in currently houses a significant part of the museum collection and additional space is available but conversion works would be needed, according to a Luxfords site is also not publicly accessible - prompting the council to explore a longer-term solution in partnership with Brooklands are under way to relocate the full collection to Brooklands' Acoustics Building, which would be converted into a shared project could take up to three council plans to commission a feasibility study later this year to develop detailed proposals, costings, and governance options for the partnership.
BBC News
01-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Hersham Technology Park development plans unveiled
Initial plans build up to 300 homes on the site of a technology park in Surrey have been unveiled by Homes hopes to build approximately 190 apartments and 110 houses on the Hersham Technology Park site located on Molesey outline of the potential scheme has been submitted by the developer, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Homes has asked Elmbridge Borough Council for its view on the information it should supply for an Environmental Impact Assessment of the proposal. In May, the council agreed to progress negotiations to sell a piece of council-owned land next to the site. Although the land has not been sold yet, the Berkeley Homes has included it in the potential development could also include new public open spaces and play areas, with a green buffer maintained to the southern and western boundaries to protect the neighbouring residential documents show that while vehicle and pedestrian accesses are currently to be kept on Molesey Road there is the potential to adjust the location, including a possible new vehicular connection to councillors had said that they were considering relocating GP and library services closer to the heart of the Homes said it hopes to submit a full planning application later this year.
BBC News
30-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Hundreds join fight to save Walton-on-Thames Bowling Club
More than 500 people have signed a petition opposing plans to replace an historic bowling club in Surrey with a new health Borough Council could sell part of the Walton-on-Thames Bowling Club to make way for the new facility, which would replace the town's community local authority called it a "once in a generation" chance to bring state-of-the-art health facilities to the town, but campaigners said the plans would erase years of history and the tight-knit community around the club. Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been asked to respond. A petition was launched two weeks ago in the hope of persuading North West Surrey NHS bosses to drop their plans to transform the site, the Local Democracy Reporting Service say the hub should be built as an extension to the existing Gregor Macgregor, also a campaigner, said: "Almost 80% of the people asked to sign have signed."People really want to keep our hospital and not lose our bowls club."Members of the council's cabinet have robustly defended potentially selling the site, which has been occupied by the bolwing club since said not selling to the NHS would be a "dereliction of duty".The hub would include seven additional services, including mental health support, complex-wound care and maternity the Elm Grove sale does not go ahead, the NHS investment will not be used elsewhere in the borough.
BBC News
12-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Plans to turn former Weybridge cinema into church approved
Plans to convert a former 1920s cinema in Surrey into a modern church venue have been approved. Elmbridge Borough Council sold Weybridge Hall to Equippers Church for £1.2m in Church Street venue, which has been empty since 2014, includes a vacant shop and community hall on the ground floor and a vacant four-bedroom flat across the second and third of the council approved an application to turn it into a community facility, primarily for religious gatherings on Tuesday, as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS). Equippers Church hopes to revamp the venue into an auditorium of around 400 seats, with kitchen space near the foyer. The proposals also include additional meeting rooms on the first, second and third floors for community and religious permission had previously been granted to turn the site into a cinema with flats above it, but the council said the development "never materialised".Speaking on behalf of residents on Minorca Road running directly beside the hall, Kath Wallace said the proposal will significantly and negatively impact on residents from a noise disturbance, parking and traffic said noise conditions have been recommended as the sound insulation was labelled as inadequate to modern standards. Paul Utley, speaking for the applicant, said it is "really important to us to be good neighbours" and "be an asset to the community". Councillor Judy Sarsbury says the high street "needs rejuvenation" and that Weybridge "needs the building to come alive again" to attract more people. The scheme received around 32 letters of objection, with those against arguing it should be a space that benefits the whole of Weybridge or should be used as a theatre of cinema. No theatre or performing arts group had offered to buy the building, the council said.
