Save Our Trees!
As many residents will have seen, on Tuesday four trees were sadly felled by the Heart entrance on the High Street. This work was carried out by Conservative-run Surrey County Council as part of their project to change the High Street and create a new zebra crossing by the Heart entrance. It is claimed the trees were removed due to the County Council’s fears for pedestrian safety.
Walton Society Councillor and Leader of Elmbridge Council Chris Sadler rang the Leader of Surrey County Council (Cllr Tim Oliver) first thing yesterday morning (April 5th). He has received a written assurance from Cllr Oliver that no further trees will be cut down. The two trees outside Boots appear to have been saved thanks to Chris’s quick action and local residents, some of whom have been guarding the remaining trees. It is great to see our community quickly came together to try and stop this.
The Walton Society deplores the loss of these trees which seems to be part of a worrying trend of tree removal by Surrey County Council. We are also disappointed that the County Council did not properly consult residents on the loss of these trees, nor give any advance warning of the work to residents or councillors. They should do better than this.
The Walton Society believes in a greener, more attractive Walton. We will be pressing Surrey County Council to plant more trees in Walton, including replacements along our High Street.
Andrew Kelly
Walton Society Candidate for Walton Central ward in the Elmbridge Borough Election on Thursday May 4th.
Twitter: @MrAndyKelly
The Cecil Hepworth Walton Playhouse
The Playhouse has now been successfully handed over to the Charitable Incorporated Organisation formed by its users. Walton Society councillors lent much support to achieve this end. For forthcoming events see:
Bird Corner
Having not seen any new birds for a while I have been scratching my head as to how to fill this slot. I have cheated rather because although I have seen the bird chosen below on the Thames and the Wey Navigation, the only place I photographed it was on the lake at The National Archives in Kew. The good thing about this venue (apart from being able to research of course) is that the water is sufficiently clear to be able to follow these ducks when they dive below the water, which is (I find anyway) really interesting.
Graham Woolgar
Tufted ducks at Kew
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