To all those in our community who have galvanised and visited shops on the Parade, Schools, the Station, Pubs, your local streets and more... THANK YOU!
We're excited to announce that in only 10 days we have reached a whopping 1049 signatures on our physical petition, and will deliver this, along with the letter below to the Civic Centre this evening when the Council's Cabinet are meeting at 7.00pm.
We will continue to gather your signatures online (you can now do so online via the button below). Please do share with all your friends and neighbours!
Dear Councillors
We write to you as the “Claygate can do Better” (“CcdB”) campaign and team, on behalf of residents and retailers of Claygate Village regarding the redevelopment of Torrington Lodge Car Park (“TLCP”).
We, and we believe the residents and traders of Claygate, are extremely dissatisfied and disappointed with the total lack of meaningful consultation prior to the decision of EBC to support the development of an M&S Food Store in the heart of Claygate.
Signatures were collected on the Parade, from shops, schools, the station, from individual roads and by visiting a number of local organisations. This petition had a clear statement for its aim:
“We the undersigned demand that Elmbridge Borough Council carry out proper consultation with the residents and traders of Claygate about their proposals to build an M&S Food Store in the Torrington Lodge Car Park before any agreement with the developer is signed.”
We feel we should highlight some key points:
· 1,049 signatures were collected in around 10 days recently
· All signatures were collected in Claygate
· Signatures include Claygate traders
· Some people were in favour of an M&S but NOT in favour of the lack of consultation, so signed
· People were very keen to sign – they did not need any persuasion
· CcdB could easily have collected many more signatures with a bigger team and more time!
We have redacted email details for obvious reasons.
We thank you for taking time to read this. We sincerely hope, and firmly request, that you reconsider and withdraw your support for this development until the proposal and its impact on the Village has been properly assessed.
We urge you to take the necessary action NOW to stop the signing of the DFA and to commence the community engagement and comprehensive consultation with us that your adopted Placemaking Vision requires. Thank you!
Kind regards
The Claygate can do Better team
