Meet your Councillors

Your Englefield Green councillors hold an open surgery at The Social Hall on the second Saturday of each month. No appointment necessary, just turn up between 1100-1200, ask questions and make your feelings known.

Possible concerns for the residents of the immediate area.

You probably bought your house in the area (and paid good money for it)! because of its quiet, rural nature. Is the enjoyment of living here and the financial value of your home already seriously compromised or even blighted due to....

Some of the proposed buildings (commercial and 'affordable') will overlook existing residents' homes. At their nearest point to the Lane, two blocks will rise to a height of 9+ metres.

Potential parking 'overspill' into the Lane due to insufficient provision on site (900 residents, 425 parking spaces and 28 for visitors)! will cause noise and inconvenience. Driving, walking and turning in and out of your property may become extremely hazardous!

The use of the proposed entrance/exit to the commercial quadrangle may result in noise and safety issues for residents and and pedestrians.

Further development of the above and the proposed 'pedestrian and cycle only' egress (next to The Barn) for cars would blight the houses immediately opposite.

The dangerous junction at the 'triangle' of Coopers Hill Lane, which is already the site of many non-fatal collisions, will prove to be even nore hazardous.

Oracle anticipates that the planned work will take four years and have stipulated weekday working hours of 0730-1800 plus Saturdays. Goodbye to the lie-in then!!

Please lobby your MP and E.G. councillors

You can speak directly to your councillors at the Social Hall, E.G. on the second Saturday of each month between 1100-1200 (no appointment necessary).

Please lobby for support and make your feelings known to your Runnmymede MP Philip Hammond; and also our E.G. councillors: Marisa Heath, Patrick Roberts and Daniel. All can be contacted via http://www.writetothem.com or alternatively the councillors' e-mail addresses are:

cllr.marisa.heath@runnymede.gov.uk

cllr.patrick.roberts@runnymede.gov.uk

cllr.daniel.hamilton@runnymede.gov.uk

Link to object on-line here

Planning reference is: RU.08/1168,1169,1170

Maybe I'm being an old sceptic, but isn't it 'convenient' that Oracle's planning application went in just before Christmas, when many people are too busy with festivities to write letters of objection!

Anyway, the good news is that although applications should have been in by 7 January, we have a bit of lee-way and the planning people will entertain letters of objection until their committee meeting 'some time' in January.

So, if you haven't contacted the planning department already PLEASE DO SO NOW!! (See link below)

Remember, you can send more than one letter per household - as long as they're in different names.

The following link will take you to the relevant comments page for planning objections
http://ww2.runnymede.gov.uk/home/latest/wklyplanapps/form/contact.asp
(please copy and paste in to the address bar of your browser if the hyperlink does not work)

For your reference the planning officer for this case is Zoe Watts, tel: 01932 425249

Possible concerns for the residents of Englefield Green, in general.

Coopers Hill Lane is a quiet, attractive, rural lane which many local residents enjoy for its leafy walks and natural beauty. It is home to the RAF memorial, above National Trust land and partly conservation area. This could all be about to change...

Land that has been designated for educational or institutional purposes could shortly become a site for mixed residential, 'affordable' and COMMERCIAL property. Why is this even being entertained?

Oracle are proposing to house 900 people but provide only 425 parking spaces - oh and a generous 28 for visitors! How inclined will you be to walk your dog or visit the currently tranquil RAF memorial when Coopers Hill Lane is full of cars that can't be parked on site?

An increase of 900 people will mean even more traffic on all the feeder roads in the vicinity...more delays in the High Street...more jams at junctions at peak times (to add to the extra from the 'churchyard' development and others).

There will be more cars turning out of Coopers Hill Lane onto Priest's Hill and St Jude's Road. These junctions are already hair-raisingly dangerous as cars speed up the hill.

Some of the buildings are three storey and will be visible from Coopers Hill Lane which will spoil the aesthetic beauty of the spot.

Yet more development in E.G. and another encroachment on the increasingly threatened conservation area in what used to be a relatively rural location. Where will it all end?

The Government's push for more housing is translating into an unfair burden on our village that could be spread far more evenly.

The infrastructure of the area (roads in particular) and local services, including medical, are not up to a never-ending increase in population.