Surbiton Town Centre Consultation Farce

The farce that is the Surbiton Town Centre Improvement Strategy Consultation continues.  You will probably have received your latest consultation documents through your letterbox recently.  They are made up of a glossy leaflet, a glossy map and a reply-paid questionnaire.

 

So far, the consultation has taken more than two years of Council officer man-hours, meetings, street stalls and many thousands of leaflets.  And what will it all achieve?

 

Victoria Road will be reconstructed, which needs doing anyway.  Some of the pavements will be widened a little and some will be replaced by new pavement slabs.  There will be new light columns, but apparently these need to be replaced anyway.  We will hopefully get a few extra trees.

 

Now it’s easy to **** off the Council, and I suppose I should be grateful for being consulted.  But do we really need two to three years consultation for what are minor changes and maintenance?

 

There are longer-term plans that maybe warrant major consultation.  Such as the pedestrianisation of the Station forecourt and providing a rear access road between Victoria Road and the railway for taxis.  But this isn’t due for another five years and may not even be possible as the land isn’t in the control of the Council anyway.

 

Every meeting that I have attended over the last couple of years has concluded that the raised-table treatments at the junctions of roads such as Cottage Grove, St. Andrew’s Road and Adelaide Road were a waste of money.  Yet that work is the first to take place.

 

The pavement outside Marks & Spencer has been in a bad state for at least 10 years.  It is uneven and water doesn’t drain away when it rains.  I don’t need consulting for a couple of years, I’d just like it fixed thank you very much.

 

It’s time that the Council stopped wasting thousands of pounds of Council Tax on unnecessary schemes, paperwork and Council officer time.  Consult me when necessary, but not for the hell of it and not when I’ve already been consulted many times on the same issue.

 

Despite my rant, don’t let me put you off from completing your consultation form.  You will need to send it back to the Council by 16th May.  You can find more information and complete the questionnaire online here.  Alternatively you can call the Council on 8547 5002.