One of the strongest and longest-established Residents' Associations in England. If you have recently arrived in either the Thames Ditton or Weston Green wards, we offer you a warm welcome and invite you to view or print off our welcome letter. Please Subscribe - it's only £5 and helps to keep this going as well as the community magazine. Click here to learn more about us.

Our next OPEN MEETING is on Tuesday 28th Jan 2020 - 8pm (Vera Fletcher Hall, Thames Ditton, KT7 0LQ). All who live or work in Thames Ditton and Weston Green are welcome. Click here for our Open meeting dates

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News Highlights

SWR - New MD .... New leaf?

South Western Railway's new Managing Director, Mark Hopwood, is promising big improvements in SWR's performance.  Can he deliver? In an open letter to the RA's Chairman, Graham Cooke, also posted on SWR's website, Mark Hopwood has acknowledged his company's poor performance and is promising substantial improvements. To that end, he has made five commitments:- We'll increase the number of trains running on time, and address problems like trains running with fewer carriages than the...

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SWR - RMT train strike - Your views?

One week in to the RMT strike - How's SWR's performance?  SWR's Managing Director, Andy Mellors, has written to our Chairman, extolling the company's strike-service performance (see below). But do our commuters agree? We are keen to know what residents think about the revised timetable and whether improvements could be made. If you have a comment you wish us to pass on, please email chairman@residents-association. ------------------------------------------------ Date:    &nb...

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Electioneering and the Green Belt

The usual suspects are at it again.  TD&WG Residents' Association does not get involved in General Elections - we do not favour any particular national political party, and so we do not tell residents how to vote.  Our role is simply to promote and defend residents' local interests. However, we must correct the current electioneering misrepresentations made about Residents-led Elmbridge Borough Council's position on Green Belt development. Claims that the administration s...

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Cllr Nick Darby - on 'Area 58' greenbelt

The latest Surrey Advertiser features an article on 'Area 58' greenbelt, based on an interview with RA County Councillor, Nick Darby.  It is reproduced below.   Long Ditton green belt land at risk of turning into 'London Borough of Elmbridge' By Rebecca Curley, Local Democracy Reporter, Surrey Advertiser 11 October 2019 Residents are fighting to get village green status for the land known as "Area 58" It's known as Area 58 in council documents. But the open space in Long Ditton ...

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Plant more trees: Your help needed

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO PLANT MORE TREES!    Thames Ditton In Bloom is looking to implement another project to help make our villages greener and more sustainable and organiser Tricia Bland would be very grateful if residents could let her know if they would be interested in participating. In the light of the latest report by the Committee on Climate Change which estimates 3 billion more trees need to be planted to achieve the government’s target of zero carbon emissions by 2050, TDI...

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Local Plan Consultation - TDWGRA's response

Local Plan Consultation - TDWGRA's response to Elmbridge Borough Council  After careful review and discussion with our members, TD & WG Residents' Association submitted it's response (below) to the Consultation, following the structure of the online questionnaire. -----------------------------------------    1.  Have you read the Options Consultation document?        Yes        No        ...

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Plant more trees & wildflowers project

PLANT MORE TREES AND WILDFLOWERS PROJECT    Thames Ditton In Bloom is looking for planting projects in Thames Ditton and Weston Green. We would welcome your suggestions for areas, e.g. :- neglected open spaces verges which would benefit from wild flower planting roads/streets which can be planted with trees/hedging other planting for carbon capture  The latest report by the Committee on Climate Change estimates 3 billion more trees need to be planted to achieve the...

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Thames Ditton Triumphs Again

THAMES DITTON TRIUMPHS AGAIN IN THE 2019 ELMBRIDGE RETAILER OF THE YEAR AWARDS Thames Ditton independent shops and businesses have triumphed again, winning FOUR out of the SEVEN categories in this year’s Elmbridge Independent Retailer of the Year Awards. Thames Ditton High Street shops and businesses scooped THREE of the Awards with: Paull’s Fruit & Veg winning Best Deli or Grocer for the SIXTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR, an incredible achievement. CycleLink won Best Speciality Retaile...

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Heathrow Expansion Consultation

Heathrow Expansion Consultation You may have received this leaflet through your front door back in June. This new consultation relates to Heathrow's planned third runway - its construction and the subsequent expansion in the number of flights. Click here to go to the website for more details, and to take part in the survey. As in the earlier consultation, there will be a number of consultation events during July and August at numerous locations. Those closest to us are:- Tue 23 July, ...

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It takes a village

It takes a village (From Sunday Express S Magazine, 16 June 2019) Keen to do her bit to reduce plastic waste, Tricia Welch Bland and the residents of Thames Ditton took to their sewing machines. Here, she tells how one idea snowballed... We were all glued to our TV sets watching David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II when we heard the following, “By 2050 there will be more plastic in the sea than fish.” The figures speak for themselves. More than 300 million tons of plastic are produced every ...

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Cllr Nick Darby - Opposition leader at Surrey

There have been two Surrey County Council by-elections in recent months, both of which were won by Residents' Association (RA) candidates. This increases RA Councillor numbers to 11, while the Liberal Democrats have 9. As the largest opposition party, the RA Group is now the official opposition in Surrey County Council, and Nick Darby, our Dittons County Councillor, has just been elected as Leader of the RA Group at County Hall. Nick said “I am thrilled to have this opportunity to continue my...

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RA success in Elmbridge Council elections

Thames Ditton ward and Hinchley Wood & Weston Green ward councillors both strongly retained their seats in Thursday's borough council elections.     For Thames Ditton, Cllr Karen Randolph polled 67.1% of the votes against three other candidates (Lib. Dem., Conservative & Labour). In Hinchley Wood & Weston Green ward, Cllr Janet Turner polled 73.4% of the votes against two other candidates (Lib. Dem. & Conservative).  Our congratulations to them on their g...

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We welcome your support - The Residents' Association is for all residents and those who work in the borough wards of Thames Ditton and Weston Green regardless of party or creed. If you wish to contribute your skills and experience to support the Association in some capacity; if you have articles or photographs that you would like to submit for publication here or in our magazine; or if you would simply like to subscribe to our non profit-making Association, please contact us.

Please vote for Residents' Association candidates in local elections - We should be delighted to receive your support at election times. If you want us to bat for you, you must put us in!  Click here to find out more about why you should consider voting for us.