Teams and individuals who do outstanding work on behalf of the people of Surrey have been celebrated at the first Stars in Surrey award ceremony. In part sponsored by Epsom based firm Atkins

The event – funded through sponsorship – saw standing ovations, laughter and some tears last week.

Winners included County Council staff who look after young people in care, help elderly people live at home for longer, keep Surrey’s libraries thriving and encourage more people to access the countryside.

There was also special recognition for people doing extraordinary things at partner organisations like Ukraine UK Unity Woking.

Founder of Ukraine UK Unity and winner of ‘The Make It Happen Community Hero Award (Empowering Communities)’, Irina Garmash Creeger, said: “It was an emotional and very inspirational night. It felt like I was sharing a room with superheroes & each nominee had special superpower.

“I was pleasantly surprised, overwhelmed & honoured to receive the Award. Although the award was given to me as an individual, I wanted to share it with the incredible multicultural strong team of volunteers at Ukraine UK Unity.

“Our efforts have been stellar, our commitment is unquestionable, and our goals for the future will always involve spreading kindness, compassion and hope, and sharing in all that we have and know with people in need.”

Leader of the Council Tim Oliver, who presented an award, said: “Stars in Surrey really was a wonderful way to pay tribute to some incredible people and teams who work in many different ways to benefit Surrey.

“Everything we do as a council is driven by our ambition that no one is left behind here, and the stories from the Stars in Surrey Awards are all a great reflection of that work.

“I’d like to say a big thanks to the sponsors of the event too that made it possible, and for everyone who nominated their Surrey heroes.”

The final award presented on the night was the People’s Choice Award, that received 1,200 votes, and was won by Christy Niven, a Specialist Speech & Language Therapist in the Children, Families and Lifelong Learning directorate.

The event was sponsored by Atkins, Pick Everard, Concerto, Vail Williams, Tile Hill and Impower.

Here is the full list of winners:

• Award for Outstanding Customer Service – Claire Hodgson, Trading Standards Specialist, Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards
• Team Award for Innovative Working – South-West Asylum Care Leavers’ Team, Children, Families and Lifelong Learning
• Championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award – Funke Adelekun, Principal Project Manager, IMP Major Projects
• Greener Future Champion Award (Enabling a Greener Future) – Sharon Newton, Resource Manager, Children, Families and Lifelong Learning
• Young employee of the Year Award – Durante Cartwright, Weekend Library Assistant at Camberley Library, Customer and Communities​​​​​​​
• Frontline Worker of the Year Award (No One Left Behind) – Jo Ellis, Occupational Therapist Assistant, Elmbridge Locality Team, Adult Social Care and Integrated Commissioning

Nominated by Amy Watts: “Jo is the hardest working person that I know and her dedication to her role and supporting vulnerable adults and children is something to be admired… One (urgent welfare visit) that sticks into my mind where the gentleman was really, really vulnerable, due to Jo’s willingness to go the extra ten miles they managed to keep him home and safe… I couldn’t think of anyone better to receive Frontline Worker of the Year.”

• Entrepreneurial Person or Team of the Year Award (creating a sustainable economy) – Caroline Price, and Helen Delatouche, Countryside Team, Environment, Transport and Infrastructure
• The Make It Happen Community Hero Award (Empowering Communities) – Irina Garmash-Creeger, Ukraine UK Unity Woking

Nominated by David Meller: “On the fourteenth of March this year the UK opened its borders to Ukrainian refugees through the Homes for UK scheme… Irina stepped in to really make it happen for our community. She matched hosts with refugees, she set up the hub where refugees could get support on administration matters when they arrived… I think she is really one of Surrey’s brightest stars.”

• The Jacqueline Foglietta unsung hero Award – Andy Baldwin, Support Worker, Leaving Care Teams, Children, Families and Lifelong Learning
• People’s Choice Award – Christy Niven, Specialist Speech & Language Therapist, Children, Families and Lifelong Learning

Surrey County News.

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Coining it in Surrey

10 December 2022

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COUNCIL HEALTH

2030 vision for the elderly in Surrey

10 December 2022

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9 December 2022

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GUEST COLUMN OPINION PLANNING

Local Plan Battle: early skirmishes on Downs Farm

8 December 2022

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Christmas comes early in the month of December
But preparations start as early as September
Toys appear in the shop and the store
And children’s expectations start to soar

Adverts appear in the News and TV
Of miraculous games for all to see
Visions of food and decorations so high
Make us all wish that the time was nigh

But leaves have not fallen from the trees
And flowers are still buzzing with the bees
Why are we tempted in this way?
When the Christ child’s birthday is still far away

Have they forgotten that the presents we bring
Are only reminders of the presents for Him
Of frankincense and myrrh and gold
Foretelling the scriptures story of old

And when finally the great day is here
Let us remember, amidst our good cheer
As we celebrate around the table,
The baby Christ child, born in a stable

Michael Barber (first published in 2012)

Michael moved to the Wells Estate in 1966 for his first family home. He continues to live there to this day. He has lived in the Borough for all of his 87 years as his parents lived in Stoneleigh. His connections with Epsom have been as President of the Epsom Cycling Club from 1981 to 1991, and he joined the Epsom Male Voice Choir in 2010 and continues to be a keen and popular member of the choir. He started writing poetry seriously when he became treasurer of the Headley Poetry Group. This group meets monthly to read and share poetry – Michael has had poetry published in the Epsom United Reformed Church Newsletter, the Mickleham Parish Magazine and the Brooklands Museum Volunteers Newsletter.

Notes authored by Audrey Ardern-Jones

Epsom Clock Tower image source: Clive Darra – https://www.flickr.com/photos/osde-info/4252252710/

Epsom & Ewell Borough Council has launched its Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, setting out how it intends to meet the needs of residents who are homeless or at risk of homelessness over the next five years.

The Strategy details the Council’s strategic vision and key objectives to address homelessness within the borough. It focuses on a commitment to preventing homelessness at an earlier stage, and the importance of working with partners across all sectors to develop an integrated approach to tackling homelessness and rough sleeping.

A detailed review of homelessness in Epsom & Ewell was undertaken to inform the strategy, which helped to establish the extent of homelessness in the area, identify future trends and any gaps in the service currently being provided.

The Strategy identifies six key objectives which emphasise the importance of early intervention and prevention, as well as the development of new affordable housing in helping to meet the need of homeless people:

1. The early identification, intervention & prevention of homelessness
2. Reduce Rough Sleeping
3. Increase accommodation options including social rented, private rented, supported and move on accommodation and in-borough temporary accommodation
4. Improve the Health & Wellbeing of homeless people
5. Ensuring sufficient support is available for homeless people
6. Partnership working

Cllr Alex Coley, (Residents Association – Ruxley Ward) Chair of the Community and Wellbeing Committee, said: “The impact of homelessness cannot be underestimated. A home keeps you warm and safe, but it is so much more than just a roof. Homelessness leads to a significant reduction in emotional wellbeing, self-identity, social inclusion and life opportunities. Reducing homelessness in Epsom & Ewell will benefit everyone who lives in the borough.

“Over the past year we have expanded the Private Sector Leasing scheme, acquired an additional 14 emergency accommodation placements, and secured additional funding to enhance the East Surrey Outreach Service, who work with rough sleepers, but there is much more to be done. This Strategy will allow us to build on this progress to fully address the challenges local homeless people are facing, and ensure better outcomes for all.”

Commenting on the strategy Cllr Julie Morris (LibDem College Ward) said “We are particularly concerned with the increase in single people with mental health issues who require homes, so the integrated approach is really key here.  There’s a shortage of homes for families with children and private landlords can help here. There are some incredibly dedicated council officers who are charged with implementing this strategy and councillors will support them as much as they can.”

• The Homelessness Act 2002 places a duty on every local authority to develop and publish a Homelessness Strategy, setting out how the local authority intends to tackle and prevent homelessness in their area.

• The strategy must be based on a review of all forms of homelessness within that local authority’s area and should be reviewed at least every five years. The Council carried out six weeks consultation between 12 July and 23 August 2022 with a range of stakeholders, service users, staff and residents.

• Central to reducing homelessness within the borough is increasing the amount of affordable housing available. The Council is currently developing a Draft Local Plan which is due to go out for public consultation on 1 February 2023, and proposals for affordable housing in the borough will form part of the Plan.

• In Epsom & Ewell and nationally the 3 main causes of homelessness are:
  • Asked to leave by family and friends
  • Termination of Assured Shorthold tenancies
  • Domestic Abuse

• The full strategy can be found here:

https://epsom-ewell.gov.uk/residents/housing/homelessness

Information provided by Epsom and Ewell Council. Cllr Morris quote obtained by Epsom and Ewell Times. Other parties were invited to comment.

Related reports:

Council targeting the homeless

Simone Pellegrino 31 July 2022

In a vote dominated by abstentionism, a service-specific savings target of £243k to offset this year’s potential overspending for homelessness, was approved by Epsom and Ewell Borough Council last Tuesday. … READ MORE

An investigation is underway following the discovery of a body at an address in Thorndon Gardens, Ewell, in the early hours today (12 December).

Police were called to the address around 1.50am following reports of a fire at the address. A 44-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident and remains in custody. A search of the property is underway and the investigation remains ongoing. Epsom and Ewell Borough Commander Inspector Jon Vale, said: “A number of people called emergency services to report the fire and we would like to thank them for their prompt action. We realise that this incident would have caused a great deal of distress and concern in the local community and we would like to reassure you that an investigation is underway to establish exactly what happened. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Surrey Police quoting PR/45220134346.

Dog ownership in Epsom and Ewell saw a big rise during the pandemic, especially among young families. Poodle mixtures being evidently the most popular varieties purchased. And sometimes for £1000 or more. The Epsom and Ewell Times invites you to submit photos of your dog in any of the open spaces we and our canine friends enjoy in the Borough. Please send in new photos taken outdoors during the cold spell.

Image: Freddie, a 9 year old male Labradoodle on Epsom Common on Sunday 11th December.

Send your photo with your name (let us know if you want anonymity or not), name, type, age and sex of dog and where and when the photo was taken.

Email to

admin@epsomandewelltimes.com

We will publish a gallery in the early New Year.

Thank you.

Fanny Burney (1752-1840) lived and wrote in Surrey and was inspired by the area’s beautiful countryside and gardens in the Mole Valley area, particularly around Bookham, Mickleham and Box Hill. To celebrate Fanny Burney and the area she loved, Surrey Libraries and Surrey Heritage are pleased to announce our Photography Competition ‘Frances Burney’s Surrey’.

SHC would love to receive your photographs of places or buildings around Surrey, especially in the Mole Valley area, which were associated with Fanny Burney, or which inspire you today.

The competition is open from now until Sunday 22 January 2023. Submissions should be made online and emailed to leatherhead.library@surreycc.gov.uk and should have been taken during the competition period only.

We would also be pleased to receive printed entries, together with your contact information, at Leatherhead Library.

The winning entry will be announced in February 2023. The winner will receive an Amazon voucher for £50. Two runners-up will each receive an Amazon voucher for £25.

A selection of entries will be on display in Leatherhead Library from December 2022 onwards.

For full details please go to the Surrey History Centre’s December newsletter HERE

Text courtesy of the Surrey History Centre

Over the last 20 years the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) has allowed finds made by metal detectorists in Surrey to be added both to the national database and the county’s Historic Environment Record (HER). Any groups of coins, groups of prehistoric metal objects or individual precious metal objects over 300 years old have also been required to be reported to the Coroner under the 1996 Treasure Act. This reporting process is undertaken by the county’s Finds Liaison Officer (FLO). The purpose of the Treasure Act is to provide museums with the chance to save important finds before they are lost to commercial auctions and to preserve them for local communities and public collections. Finders and landowners receive full financial reward for everything acquired as part of this process.

One recent discovery from Surrey which has been reported under this law, is a hoard of 28 silver Roman coins (denarii), found dispersed across a small area of equestrian pasture in the Elstead area (recorded as SUR-EA4D41 and SUR-0E4DC2). The coins were most likely originally buried in a bag or box which has long decayed and released its contents to be scattered by ploughing. These coins represent an unusual and significant find for the county and after being declared Treasure at Coroner’s Inquest were acquired by Godalming Museum, with financial assistance from Surrey Archaeological Society, Council for British Archaeology South-East and the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

For full details please go to the Surrey History Centre’s December newsletter HERE

Images and text courtesy of the Surrey History Centre

Epsom & Ewell Borough Council (EEBC) is raising awareness of the range of support available to residents struggling with the cost of living crisis. The Council have created a dedicated page on the EEBC website, which pulls together information on what the Council and other local and national organisations can do to help in one place at www.epsom-ewell.gov.uk/cost-of-living .

Residents will find advice in a wide range of areas, including energy and housing payments, health costs, food, applying for benefits, employment support and local places to go to keep warm. There are also specific areas for families with children and older residents.

The Council will also be sharing information and money-saving tips through social media and other material out in the Borough to reach as many people as possible with the help available. 

Councillor Alex Coley, (Residents Association- Ruxley Ward) Chair of the Community and Wellbeing Committee, “We are aware of the significant effects rising costs in all areas are having on people’s everyday lives in the Borough. We want to ensure that those who need help are aware of what support is available and are able to access it.”

“This campaign is an opportunity for the residents, charities, the Council and Councillors to work together to help each other through the current crisis. If you are affected by the cost of living crisis, please visit the Council’s webpage, look out for and engage with the advice on its social media and across the Borough or contact your ward Councillor to share your concerns. We’re all here to help.”

Ward councillors’ details can be found here – https://democracy.epsom-
ewell.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx

The webpage covers the following:

• What we’re doing in Epsom & Ewell
• Applying for benefits and paying your council tax
• Difficulty paying your rent or mortgage
• Employments, skills and training support
• Help for families with children
• Help with food
• Help with health costs
• Help for older residents
• Help with your broadband and phone packages 
• Independent advice
• Paying for your gas, electricity and water
• Warm Hubs

Epsom and Ewell Borough Council Communications.

As Epsom and Ewell Borough Council is expected to publish a draft Local Plan in February 2023 Epsom and Ewell Times carries below an opinion piece authored by the Keep Epsom & Ewell Green Belt Group. We cannot confirm these campaigners’ contentions but we are happy to stimulate public discussion and interest through our pages. The Local Plan will shape for several years to come the decisions on new housing development locations in the Borough.

Opinion Piece:

Alarmed by well-sourced leaks, residents have decided to come out fighting early against joint landowner and developer discussions with Epsom & Ewell Borough Council (EEBC) to build hundreds of homes on the 110-acre Downs Farm, destroying forever one of the closest Green Belt sites to London.

Other Green Belt sites near Epsom’s Hook Arena and Horton Farm are also believed to be earmarked housing in the Local Plan process, and it is even feared that other areas within  Epsom’s 42% of Green Belt land could also have been offered up and included.

Residents in Surrey’s already highest populated borough are so concerned that they are not waiting for what they say could be a flawed consultation process, expected in February.

Under Government pressure to deliver nearly 700 homes for each of the next 20 years, planning officers and councillors should instead be prioritising developer partnerships for an imaginative alternative “brownfield” core scheme, claims the residents’ campaign group.

However, following much-publicized Government climbdown guidelines announced this week by Secretary of State, Michael Gove, that top-down housing targets were to be “advisory only” and could be challenged by local authorities if the character of their area would be irrevocably changed, EEBC should be in no doubt, say residents, that Green Belt sites should be now removed from its Draft Local Plan.

By redeveloping the Kiln Lane/Longmead area closer to town centre facilities, “more starter and lower cost young family homes could be built – and bring much needed rejuvenation and job opportunity benefits. Yet there is little sign that the planners are engaging with developers on this opportunity, preferring the easier, but devastating, option of

building higher end housing on Green Belt fields.”

The borough-wide residents’ campaign, “Keep Epsom and Ewell Green Belt” involves social media, mass leaflet drops, a new petition (https://www.change.org/EpsomGreenBelt) and its own website(https://epsomgreenbelt.org/). Some residents may well stand as independent Green Belt candidates in the May elections.

‘Our advice is that once a site has been publicly designated as suitable by the Council in the Local Plan, public consultations rarely change what are perceived as “done deals” – and we are not simply prepared to stand by and let that happen. In 2019, EEBC listed Downs Farm as a Green Belt site not suitable for development, yet it now appears to conveniently ignore this just because the site has been offered up to them’ said Yufan Si, campaigner of Keep Epsom and Ewell Green Belt.

Downs Farm is a rare chalk grassland habitat for protected species such as skylarks and bats, with regular sightings of deer, redkite and pheasant.

“Destroying forever high quality Green Belt sites will result in mainly luxury houses. We are deeply disappointed that the Residents Association controlled EEBC appear set to prefer Green Belt desecration over redeveloping a core brownfield scheme in central Epsom. Properly phased, this could be promoted as a creative industries hub, focussed on the town’s University of Creative Arts centre for excellence. As well as a much better mix of around 5,000 affordable starter and rented homes for young families, this would provide job opportunities in a much-needed Epsom rejuvenation.”

The campaign group also points out keeping Green Belt spaces also helps sustainability and the UK commitment to net zero by 2030.

The Elmbridge Council Local Plan is cited as an example where the council and residents challenged unrealistic top-down government housing targets. It proposes redeveloped brownfield sites without any Green Belt destruction – despite having a greater proportion of Green Belt land (57%) than Epsom.

The residents’ campaign urges EEBC planners to quickly engage with brownfield developers using a £75,000 grant recently announced by the Government. Given its overriding remit to only prefer Green Belt development in “exceptional circumstances”, and the recent Government policy rethink on housing, this should be done before the draft Epsom Local Plan is issued in February, say residents.                                                            

“Keep Epsom and Ewell Green Belt” Campaign Group – for further information contact epsomgreenbelt@gmail.com

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