Claygate: The Way Forward

January 2025

Is the Parish Council happy with the direction and progress of the Claygate the Way Forward project? Will it deliver what residents said they want?

The CVA spent £4,000 on a survey conducted and published last year to determine what Claygate residents wanted, which turned out to be—summarising from the 'Survey Highlights' of the report—something like:

More Housing	Use of Torrington Lodge Car Park	Parking	Shopping	Travel	Healthcare	Community
housing development on village brownfield sites not on Green Belt private housing with 1-3 bedrooms affordable housing	at least partially for parking for a supermarket as a fitness centre for housing for a health centre	first hour of use free	an additional supermarket a hardware shop a delicatessen a village market	Extend the K3 route to Coverts Rd and Holroyd Rd Cut speeding	an NHS dentist	a support hub

• The survey report also included a series of 'recommendations' and 'emerging ideas', many of which pre-dated the report. (The Working Groups were established in the second half of the previous year.)
• Some of these recommendations and emerging ideas—for example, 'develop a collective website for Claygate'—have not been put to the residents of Claygate. Nor is there any certainty that implementing the recommendations and emerging ideas will lead to the fulfilment of what residents said they wanted.
• Given what has happened since, the general impression is that CPC and its working groups have focussed largely on the 'recommendations' and 'emerging ideas', and achieved very little of what respondents actually said they wanted. Indeed the only clear victory from the list above has been the village market, which was organised by someone from outside those groups.
• So is the purpose of Claygate the Way Forward to give residents what they said they want, or is it to implement the 'recommendations' and 'emerging ideas' in the report?

CPC's chairman's answer of 10-JAN-25

"Yes, the council is happy with progress, and the initiative will deliver the recommendations in the report as was the intention of the project. Updates come into the council via the working groups and progress is therefore transparent through the council minutes. Progress is however subject to many dependencies and it will take time to implement many of the recommendations in the report. Especially as a consultation is due this first half of 2025. Please note that it is the recommendations in the report that will be implemented, not what was voted for in the survey as the most popular choice of shop."

"Many of the points made by this question focus on the types of shops wanted by people responding to the survey; however local councils have no powers to implement specific types of shop that residents wish for."

Should CPC be spending £2,000 on a Shops survey when what residents said they want is shops that aren't currently here: i.e. a hardware shop, a delicatessen and another supermarket?

• How will this survey help residents or the Parish Council?
• How will it bring Claygate closer to getting a hardware shop, a delicatessen and another supermarket, particularly if the principal respondents are the existing shopkeepers of Claygate?
• Should the public sector be funding a survey (and indeed a website) run for the private sector?

CPC's chairman's answer of 10-JAN-25

"As already discussed above. None of these types of shop will be able to be implemented as part of the project recommendations and nor was that the aim. It’s not the place of the initiative to try and engineer what types of shop open in Claygate.

"The CtWF Shops and Businesses group and Councillors have been approached by a number of shop holders unhappy about a lack of consultation with them in particular. So yes - in the same way that money was spent on consulting residents with the original survey, it was felt by the CtWF Shops and Businesses group and the Council that the shop owners community also needed to be consulted and that commitment is proceeding.

November 2024

• In the CVA accounts for the year ended 30th September 2024, the combined cost of the Claygate Can Do Better and Claygate The Way Forward projects was £4,659, of which survey analysis accounted for £3,925.

October 2024

ACTION PLAN TO BE BUILT ON ‘VILLAGE VISION’

A structure to drive real change in Claygate has been put in place by the Parish Council, the Village Association and other organisations. Here, those parties present their agreed explanation of what has been created, how it will operate, and how the views of the whole village will be taken into account:

As people may be aware the Parish Council has been entrusted to work with various organisations after the work carried out by the Claygate Village Association (CVA) to build on a report on Claygate: The Way Forward, which incorporated the findings of a survey of all Claygate residents from which 1,528 responded.

We first must thank the CVA for the very thorough and statistically rigorous survey with a very strong response rate. Most surveys get a 3-4% response rate but the Claygate one was approximately 25% of Claygate’s adult population. An enormous amount of effort went into the survey and finding out your views on a wide range of aspects of village life.

The report findings were presented at Holy Trinity Church in June together with the recommendations of each of the working groups—Health & Wellbeing, Leisure & Recreation, Transport & Parking, Shops & Businesses, Housing and Environment. The report identified the stakeholders who would be responsible for pursuing the recommendations such as Elmbridge Borough Council (EBC), Surrey County Council (SCC), National Rail and the Parish Council to name but a few.

There were many recommendations but some headline items were as follows:

• Encouragement of developers to build smaller units and affordable housing in key sites in Claygate
• A new community venue providing wellbeing services
• A one-hour free parking trial in EBC car parks in the village
• An outdoor trim trail or gym (or both)
• A community garden
• A survey of Claygate shops and businesses
• A village business initiative
• A Claygate market
• A village website promoting the village including shops and businesses
• Improvements to roads, cycle paths and bridleways in Claygate

The full report incorporating the survey results, analysis and recommendations is available at https://www.claygatevillageassociation.org/ctwf-report-download.

So where are we with all of this and where does it lead?

Claygate Parish Council (CPC) has had two encouraging meetings with EBC over the summer to take this work forward and it breaks down into three main parts:

The first task is to formulate a draft vision for Claygate by working in partnership with EBC to identify the shared goals for our community. This will largely be informed by the CTWF report but also by EBC and CPC reviewing the existing vision for Claygate as set out in EBC’s Core Strategy. Together, we will determine what elements still ring true and what can be brought into a new vision for Claygate. This work is underway and EBC is aiming to consult on it in the first half of 2025.

The second part is the set of CTWF recommendations—these will be worked into an Action Plan for Claygate that will sit behind the vision and deliver certain elements of it. Some are quick wins, while other actions will take time to progress. CPC and EBC have taken time to review this in detail and have confirmed owners for all the recommendations (some owners have changed based on EBC's detailed understanding of how they work with SCC on various initiatives). There will be a meeting between CPC and EBC in early November to identify target dates for the plan and that plan will be communicated and consulted on, also currently planned for the first half of 2025.

The third takeaway is that while there were many great suggestions and recommendations for Claygate as a whole, the driver of the campaign—what to do with Torrington Lodge Car Park—was not fully addressed. The survey had revealed many suggestions for the mixed-use development including a fitness centre (45%), continued parking provision (45%), affordable housing (35%), a supermarket (31%), and small business units and pop-up shops, which were equally popular (26% each). Support for a supermarket development—the initial trigger for the CVA’s campaign and subsequent survey—was highest in the under 50s (42%) (who are underrepresented as against the national average in the village but from whom we had the highest response rate to the survey overall), compared to the 50-65 (30%) and over 65s (18%). Bearing this in mind the matter warrants further consideration although perhaps not the 8,000 sq. ft building that had originally been proposed.

Clearly this last topic is one of great interest to Claygate residents and we are keen to see the right decisions being made for the good of the village and the shops and businesses within it. CPC brought up this point in our second meeting with EBC this summer, as we feel that the issue of what to do with Torrington Lodge Car Park needs to be tackled. In the meeting it was clear to everyone that there was a positive groundswell of opinion for mixed use development on Torrington Lodge Car Park.

So, what is the way forward with Torrington Lodge Car Park?

EBC and CPC agreed that a positive way forward would be to look at a set of mixed-use options for the car park and do the financial and qualitative assessment to explore what could realistically be delivered. This would then be shared with the community and views sought on the options which might work. This is similar to the work which is currently being carried out for Elm Grove in Walton. Senior officers at EBC are committed to working with Claygate residents and CPC to bring it to a positive conclusion.

We look forward to working with EBC and consulting widely with the Claygate community on this topic and will continue to report back to residents as the work on this and other projects and initiatives progress.

source: Claygate Courier, October 2024 issue, pages 4 and 5

March 2024

EVERY RESIDENT ASKED FOR VIEW OF THE FUTURE

Village Association launches biggest ever survey of people’s opinions in Claygate

The largest ever survey of residents’ opinions is launched by the Claygate Village Association this week, giving everyone “an unprecedented opportunity to have a say about the future of the village”, says Caroline Cartwright, who chairs the CVA.

The CVA exists to preserve and strengthen the character and amenities of Claygate. It has fought off many unwanted developments in the past and responded again last year when Elmbridge Borough Council tried to push through a redevelopment in the heart of the village without local consultation. The resulting campaign was called “Claygate Can Do Better” and Elmbridge backed down in the face of the surge of indignation from residents.

Elmbridge agreed to undertake a wider community engagement exercise and as part of this, the CVA is to survey Claygate’s residents and present the borough council with a thoroughly researched report.

The original campaign group was re-named “Claygate: The Way Forward” and officially launched at an open meeting of more than 200 people in November. More than 90 people signed up to working groups focused on various aspects of the village: shops; parking and transport; housing; recreation; well-being; and the environment. Ideas from these working groups have been incorporated into the village survey questionnaire, which has been designed by local volunteers with expertise in this field.

The results will form an integral part of a report which captures Claygate people’s vision for their village. It will be presented to an open village meeting in late May before submission to Elmbridge and will inform the Borough Council's consultation exercise, to be carried out later in the year.

For ease, the survey is being made accessible by a QR code on this page—and to be displayed around the village. Hold your phone camera over the square and click on the link that shows on the screen. This will take you to the survey. You can also use this link: claygatevillageassociation.org/survey to access the survey. It will also be available via the CVA’s website and social media, and by email if you are signed up. It will take about 10 minutes and there’s a prize on offer for one lucky respondent!

For those who do not have digital access, hard copies of the survey will be available in some Claygate shops, and volunteers will visit the Community Centre and Parade to help people complete it.

“I think a nerve has been touched,” says Steve Wells, a CVA trustee. “Now all can benefit from what feels like a unique initiative in citizen power and influence in Elmbridge.” The CVA is ready to hear your voice. Let it know what you want for Claygate! Scan the QR code to begin.

source: Claygate Courier, March 2024 issue, pages 1-2

See also

• Claygate Village Association
• https://www.claygatevillageassociation.org/the-way-forward