Effingham Eye: New Appointments at Parish Council Which Is Making a Difference

Published on: 1 Aug, 2024
Updated on: 6 Aug, 2024

By Chris Dick

Effingham has reflected life generally since I last wrote: a few things have happened and a few have not.

All Change at the Top

The village has new elected representatives in the parish, borough and county councils as well as a new member of parliament. But let’s just take a look at the changes in Effingham.

For years we enjoyed the steady thoughtful chairmanship of Ian Symes on the parish council.

Indeed he had been the subject of some of the more humorous Effingham Eye pieces, particularly during the annual meeting when a chairman gets elected.

It was fun to watch all the councillors trying to look invisible as Symes found himself re-elected year after year.

But no more.

Councillor Liz Hogger, who seemed to be looking for a quieter life by not standing for the borough council at the last election, failed to don her invisibility cape quickly enough and got saddled with taking over Effingham Parish Council.

Cllr Hogger and parish clerk Jon Short at Effingham Parish Council meeting Tuesday, July 23.

Tuesday, July 23, was Cllr Hogger’s second meeting as chair. The meeting was held in the King George V Village Hall, Browns Lane, Effingham.

The new chair showed her experience by swiftly and effectively leading her colleagues through the agenda. And some of it was fairly interesting – once you got away from routine planning matters and sub-group reports.

The main piece of interest was that the new Howard of Effingham school has suffered a setback.

Originally set for completion in 2023 , it will – or rather may – be completed in September 2028. I say “may” as there is a degree of skepticism over the entire project.

A new government with a more relaxed approach to house building may have an adverse impact on the requirement to build a new school. Already Berkeley Homes and Surrey County Council are exploring the reduction in the need for more school places and whether the new building needs to be scaled down in size.

Anyway, the four councillors present discussed what this setback might mean for the proposed funding of a new village hall and new school, and referred to a letter sent out by the Howard of Effingham partnership: “… there have been further changes to the economic climate, in particular inflation of building costs and a reduced rise in house prices.

“These factors have made the school as consented economically undeliverable.”

The letter went on to say: “Additionally, the predicted future demand for school places in the area has decreased over time. As a result, it is necessary to make some changes to the planned building to ensure it can be delivered and will meet the modern educational and environmental standards our community deserves.

“Making these changes to the school design will necessitate a further planning application for approval and therefore we do not anticipate construction will commence for at least 12 to 18 months.”

The council agreed to bring relevant parties together to understand the new proposals and ensure the wider Effingham community is consulted.

Two other developments took up much of the council’s deliberations. One was a developer’s plan for an additional house at Orchard Walls that would probably involve some damage to a historic wall and increase the number of dwellings above that granted in the planning approval.

Cllr Cliff Hackett

Another point, well made by Cllr Hackett, was that this planning approval had included the provision of bicycle sheds for each dwelling. The council agreed that these and other benefits, even if seemingly minor, should be carried out by the developer in all developments.

Indeed there was a sense of frustration in the council and small audience that all developers should stick to their approved plans and not submit over-complicated amendments with for example; unclear changes to fencing, new gates, lifting tree crowns (removal of lower branches for more light), not (as mentioned above) providing bike sheds or pushing through plans with altered boundary lines.

One developer in Church Street, it was reported, had recently claimed to own highways land in the conservation area in order to cut trees and clear shrubs.

In other news, it was noted that the parish council was reduced to seven councillors and that two vacancies needed to be filled.

Their workload is not trivial but it is having a positive effect, in particular, the King George V (KGV) playfields are looking at their best since the council took over as the managing trustee. Similarly, the parish burial grounds look magnificent.