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Minutes:
The following are the latest service updates from various Council departments.
A flotilla of boats will sail from Sunbury Lock to Staines-upon-Thames led by the Queen’s rowbarge Gloriana in celebration of the Mayor of Spelthorne’s River Day on Saturday 24 June. Gloriana will be joined by the Impossible Dream, a specially adapted wheelchair friendly motorboat which has been chosen as one of the Mayor’s charities, and the Jolly Brit, the former tender to the Royal Yacht Britannia. Local rowing clubs and schools will also join the flotilla. Residents have been invited to come along, enjoy the entertainment, and help raise money for local good causes.
The Staines Business Improvement District (BID) went live on 1 April. It will run for an initial five year period after which another vote will be taken to decide whether the BID should continue for a further five years. The BID has attracted more funding through the levy than first thought, with £399K being collected annually. The BID commissioned the Queen’s Row barge Gloriana to be part of the celebrations at the Staines-upon-Thames Day.
The Community Safety Partnership has now acquired two portable CCTV cameras which can be deployed in response to complaints regarding fly-tipping or anti-social behaviour.
The final of the Spelthorne Business Plan Competition was held on 25 May at BP’s headquarters in Sunbury-on-Thames. Six finalists pitched in a Dragons’ Den style final for a prize of £3,500 and a year’s package of business support. The winners were George Goodger and Adam Wright with their invention Cillguard, a unique product for wheelchair users which prevents their cars from being scratched when transferring in and out of cars. Second place and a prize of £1,500 went to Danielle Pauling, Clare Pauling and Amanda Hadley for a family business idea called Grave Angels. Third place and £500 was awarded to Kirsti McCabe for her web based business idea ‘The Routine Edit.’
The Council’s Neighbourhood Services team has installed electric vehicle charging points at two of the car parks in Staines-upon-Thames. Six individual 7kW charging bays have been installed at Elmsleigh multi-storey car park and a dual 3.6kW charger which can charge two cars simultaneously at Tothill multi-storey. The charging bays are free to use and customers simply download an app to get started.
Spelthorne residents and housing register applicants are being asked for their views on changes to the way that social housing is allocated. The Council currently shares an allocations policy with Elmbridge Borough Council and local housing associations and some applicants can move areas under this policy. In the future however, the Council plans to adopt a single borough approach and to give reduced priority to social housing tenants who have other options available through their housing association landlords. The consultation ends Friday 30 June. Visit www.spelthorne.gov.uk/housing-survey
Plans are underway for this year’s schools citizenship events in the autumn term. The Junior Democracy event in October and Senior Schools’ Parliament event in November will both feature presentations and workshops delivered by the Education service from the Houses of Parliament. Pupils will learn about local and national government and have the chance to ask the Mayor a range of questions. Spelthorne MP Kwasi Kwarteng will again be invited to act as Speaker during the Senior Schools “House of Commons” debate.
Recent recipients of Spelthorne’s Better Neighbourhood Grants include Sunbury & Shepperton Arts Association – towards their annual festival; Rentstart for a new PC; Dementia Friendly Shepperton for publicity t-shirts and St Paul’s College, Sunbury, to support their student forum. There is still more than £32,000 in the kitty for Councillors to spend in their neighbourhoods.
Staff from Surrey Police, Spelthorne Borough Council and Surrey County Council joined together for a ‘Partnership Action Day’ in Shepperton on Wednesday 17 May. During the day a number of fly-tips were identified, an abandoned car was removed, four people were reported for vehicle offences and one owner had their car seized for having no insurance. The next Partnership Action Day will be held in various locations on 18 July.
Visitors from the Borough’s twin town in Mauritius stopped off at Shepperton Village Hall to help mark Dementia Awareness Week during a tour of the area on 16 May. Shepperton is the first town in the Borough to pledge its commitment to become ‘dementia-friendly’. This involves training for shop staff in how to help customers who might have dementia; better signage to make it easier to get around; social and support groups for patients and carers; practical measures to help make life less stressful. More events are planned.
Cllr Vivienne Leighton got runners underway at the Staines 10K on Sunday 14 May. A record number of runners (633) completed the course with the winner, Stuart MacDougall, finishing in a time of 35 minutes and 24 seconds. The women’s race was won by Jaydee Peters who completed the course in 39 minutes and 17 seconds and finished 18th overall.