October 2023 Newsletter

Hi Everyone,

Please find below an update on Estate-related matters. We hope it’s helpful.

Security

At the SGM earlier in 2023 the Estate confirmed agreement to placing additional lighting to identified locations. The Board is now ready to move to securing appropriate planning permission to place the first phase of (8) units.

It was established only in August that in fact Surrey County Council (‘SCC’) would not be able to extend the existing agreement in place (whereby SCC via its outsource partner Milestone (formerly Skandia) ‘manages’ Estate lighting and SCC pay for the electricity using their unmetered supply). This despite months of dialogue and provision of costings etc via Milestone.

Mindful of feedback at the SGM, input of certain residents and the need for tightly controlled costs and environmental impacts we have chosen to adopt a solar solution. The first 8 units will be implemented in locations previously identified as carrying immediately impacted residents support.

A design has been chosen to reflect closely the installed ‘heritage’ style and each unit whilst freestanding/self-contained will alongside the other 7 form a mini estate for monitoring and maintenance purposes. Beyond the capital expenditure to purchase each unit OWRA has a maintenance contract in place post warranty period(s) to see the investment delivers to expectations. Please see the attachment for a picture and datasheet of the lights here.

The ’on/off’ regime will be set to align with what’s in place as determined by SCC/Milestone but these new units will have a sensor fitted to additionally allow ‘boost’ illumination triggered by people movements or time-based parameters (to be determined in due course).

The Board is especially grateful for Charlie Steward’s help in researching and vendor selection.

Regarding the ANPR and CCTV, the final pieces of hardware are being installed at present and this should be complete by early next week.  The systems will then be tested, calibrated and commissioned and then integrated with the relevant software.  Both the ANPR and CCTV cameras will then be activated and begin recording images and number plate data, to be stored remotely, by around the end of October.  As announced previously, at this stage gate opening and closing will remain triggered by the existing induction loops rather than by the ANPR cameras or RF-readers.  We will start using data from the ANPR systems to learn more about the traffic flows at each gate and seek to get an accurate picture of daily traffic patterns and the extent of “cut-through” traffic and more information on this will follow once available.  We will also be developing plans to enable operation of the gates to start being controlled by the ANPR cameras and RF-readers as appropriate and will outline these plans to Members for consultation in due course.

Gates & Roads

The next road sweep is this Saturday 14th October.  We have changed sweep companies to SupaSweep who are able to sweep on a Saturday when the roads are clear of construction traffic.  They are also supplying two people for each sweep.  One for the sweeper and another to blow around the humps and drives.  We have also booked in sweeps for the next 4 months.  The dates are Nov 18th, Dec 16th January 20th and Feb 24th.

Please keep the roads clear this Saturday.

Following the road resurfacing work carried out in August, five new induction loops and two new “central stops” were installed to enable the gates to become operational again.  Some white line/road marking works remains to be completed.  You will have noticed that the gates - particularly the MW/LHR gate - are becoming increasingly unreliable and have had to be set to “hold open” more frequently than is desirable in recent weeks.  Various mechanical and electrical parts are showing signs of significant wear and are likely to need replacement.  These include hinges, motor arms and safety edges, in particular.  A full survey of the gates is to be undertaken shortly to determine what work is required and a full 6-monthly preventative maintenance programme will also be undertaken, along with gate cleaning and re-painting as needed.  Hopefully at the end of this the gates will look better and work more reliably.

If there is a problem with any gate not opening or closing as it should, please do not ever resort to forcing it open or closed as this can cause damage that is expensive to rectify.  Instead, please us another gate and report the issue to any of the Board members.

Drains

We instructed County Clean to conduct a CCTV survey of the drains.  The survey showed that many of the drain pipes are blocked by roots.  In many cases the blockage is so severe that it isn’t possible to put the CCTV camera to the bottom of the drain.  We have therefore instructed them to return and to cut out the roots.  Once this is done we will be able to complete the full CCTV survey which will show what additional remedial work is required. We envisage that this is only the first step in a considerable programme to sort out the Estate’s drainage.

Planning

Development activity remains high.  Two demolition & rebuild projects on Harebell Hill are nearing completion, whilst others on Mizen Close and Broad Highway are making steady progress.  A new demolition & rebuild project in Mizen Close is about to commence and one on Oxshott Way that also has planning permission may start in the coming months.  Significant “re-modelling” projects (not involving complete demolition) on Oxshott Rise and Mizen Way are also nearing completion, whilst others are soon to start on Oxshott Way, Oxshott Rise followed by one on Broad Highway, with new plans recently filed with EBC for a project on Harebell Hill (planning permission not yet obtained).

Please could all owners who are having building projects undertaken please ensure that their contractors sweep the road outside their properties every day and take care in not dropping sharp objects.  We have had a increased number of reports recently of punctured tyres caused by large nails and screws which may have come from works within the Estate.

The property market appears to remain buoyant, with a number of house sales having taken place in recent weeks and with others recently coming to the market.

28 Leigh Hill Road: OWRA has now executed the relevant Deed of Easement and Deed of Covenant relating, respectively, to the two parts of the overall plot with their separate owners. The Deeds will be registered against the relevant titles at the Land Registry in due course in the normal manner.

15m 5G Telecoms Mast: You will recall that EBC rejected a second application from Hutchison 3G UK Limited (reference 2022/3707) back in February 2023 for a 15m 5G telecoms mast (and associated equipment cabinets) to be located on Stoke Road directly adjacent to the boundary of 53 Oxshott Way.  This application had received more than 120 objections.  Hutchison 3G UK Limited have now lodged an appeal against this decision with the Planning Inspectorate.  The appeal started on 10th October and will be considered over the coming months.

Trees & Verges

We will soon be speaking to Barchams Nurseries about selecting new trees for the Estate to replace those felled over the last 12 months.

 We have reinstated Enzo D’Andrea as the Estate gardener and his team have recently completed a tidying exercise for all entrances to properties and also weeding of the Oxshott Way path. 

The entrances to the estate are starting to look tired.  We have therefore started to look at how these can be improved.  We have instructed a designer to create and cost a design for one entrance (to be selected) and we will share this design with you later in the year.  One challenge we have is in getting water to the entrances to water any planting.  Unfortunately, our request to SES for water supplies at the entrances was rejected (They have a policy of not supplying water only for plant irrigation). 

Other Business

Please can we again remind residents that bins should only be placed out on your driveways or at the roadside on Thursday and taken back into your gardens on Friday after they have been emptied (except where EBC miss a collection).  Where (as an example) you have a gardener who comes to your property on a Tuesday, please do not leave the bins out from Tuesday through until collection on Friday as some residents are doing.  If you are away, please try to ask a neighbour to put your bins out and/or away as appropriate, which also has the benefit of not advertising your absence.  Your co-operation would be appreciated.

As you can see from the above there is a considerable amount of work ongoing and to be done.  To this end we need people who can help to come forwards and volunteer.  If you can help please contact David at david.cope@owra.co.uk.

Best wishes,

The OWRA Board.