Albury News
All the latest news for Albury and the surrounding area can be found here.
Quick links for Star Energy and Albury Landfill and are below:
Activities, clubs and societies at Albury Village Hall
Albury Village Hall is host to a great variety of activities, clubs and society meetings. There is now a list on the site of all these activities along with contact details. Click here to have a look.Back to top
Albury website update
The website has been updated to include new features, including this news section. Other additions include an archive or downloadable newsletters and minutes of meetings. We now also feature travel information with links to bus and train times.We would love to hear from any business or association in the Parish that isn't currently represented on the site and would like to be.
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Nick Wenman re-elected as chairman
Nick Wenman was re-elected as chairman of the Parish council, and committee chairmen were elected as follows: Finance: John Brockwell; Planning: Peter Gellatly; Highways and Byways: Roy Hogben; Recreation, Open Spaces and the Environment: Pru von Radowitz; Community Development and Communication: Domi Nicholson.All councillors play an active role in these committees and you will find their contact details, should you need them, on our web site as well as on the councillors page.
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Village Hall to be renovated
The village hall is shortly to be decorated, although this work will be done in phases as the kitchen is also be to renovated – new work surfaces and tiling, and some structural work is needed in the ladies’ toilets.Once the decoration is complete there will be new curtains – partly funded by a grant from Guildford Borough Council – and a new advertising campaign to promote the hall to a wider pool of potential users. We know that those people who use the hall very much appreciate its size and amenities, and we are sure it would be a great deal more popular with a bit more promotion.
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Farley Green pond clean-up
We hope to get going on some work on Farley Green pond within the next few weeks. You will probably have noticed that the pond is full of silt, and the tricky bit is going to be getting that out without damaging the liner.After long debates with the experts, we plan to use a very closely supervised digger with a 20’ reach, to ensure that the middle is reached, and – after drying out at the side of the pond – the silt will then be taken away for disposal. This should hopefully regenerate both the flora and fauna – nothing much is living in there at the moment – for a little while to come.
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Annual Audit of accounts
This is the time of year for the Annual Audit of the accounts from April 2007 to March 2008. The accounts will shortly be available for inspection, should you so wish, and this will be advertised on the notice boards and in the parish magazine. The result of the audit will be published in September.Back to top
Star Energy
New planning application (update)
On 9th July Surrey County Council's Planning & Regulatory Committee considered Star Energy's planning application for temporary drilling and appraisal at Albury Park. The Planning Officers Report recommended that permission be granted. In reaching this opinion that the development be permitted, Officers rejected objections from Guildford Borough Council, Albury Parish Council, East Clandon Parish Council, St. Martha’s Parish Council, Save Blackheath Common, the Council for the Protection of Rural England, The British Horse Society, Blackheath Village Society, Brook Residents Group, the Woodland Trust, the Surrey Countryside Access Forum and objection letters from 549 local residents. There were robust objections voiced at the meeting by campaign members and CPRE, with support from local Councillors Cllr David Davis and Cllr Mike Nevins. However, the committee decided to grant permission.Restrictions will be imposed that will be published on www.saveblackheathcommon.com in due course and residents and supporters will monitor these with vigilance to ensure there are no contraventions by Star Energy. In terms of Star Energy's broader plans for Gas Storage, opposition is maintained and we await Star’s full application to the Secretary of State in this respect.
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New planning application
Star Energy has now submitted a new planning application to Surrey County Council for temporary drilling and appraisal at the Albury wellsite.The application has been deferred from 28th May 2008 and is now scheduled to be heard 10am Wed 9th July.
If you haven't objected, please do so now!
The application is for 2 appraisal drillwells at an expanded Albury Park site. The last application was withdrawn because of inadequate noise data, so this application is accompanied by greater details on noise disturbance. However, the details are largely unchanged; therefore the grounds for objection remain the same and the application will be strongly opposed by the Parish Council, SaveBlackheathCommon and other organisations.
For further details visit www.saveblackheathcommon.com
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Albury Landfill site SITA
Landfill liaison group
The latest meeting took place on 17th June in order to look at the first draft plans for restoration of the site which have been drawn-up by SITA's restoration consultants. We hope to be able to share these with all Parishioners by the end of July. Minutes of the last meeting are available here if you would like more detailed information on anything else to do with the landfill site.Back to top