Local Authority

Street-savvy youths from Spelthorne signed a petition pledging not to carry knives and presented it to Spelthorne MP, David Wilshire, at the House of Commons last week.

More than 5,000 young people signed the petition, 'Knives Wreck Lives' - organised by the Spelthorne Youth Council - which launched on October 27 and presented their pledges to their local MP on Tuesday, December 9.

Spelthorne Council is set to spend £100,000 on valuation and condition surveys of all the land and buildings it owns.

Approximately £70,000-80,000 has been earmarked by council officers for the condition survey to help decide what work needs doing and between £20,000-30,000 has been set aside to ascertain the rental value of council properties.

The next area forum for Stanwell residents will be on Tuesday November 4 in Stanwell Moor Village Hall in Horton Road.

Householders are invited to meet their councillors between 7pm and 9pm and express their views on issues and concerns in their neighbourhood.

A couple have been refused planning permission to bulldoze and rebuild their property in the Laleham Conservation Area.

Councillors at Spelthorne Council's planning committee meeting last Wednesday(20) rejected a bid by Mr and Mrs Southwell to redevelop their Abbey Drive home because of the affect it would have on the grade II listed building next door.

A reptile survey in Laleham Park that had dog walkers in fear of adder bites has resulted in just one snake being found - a harmless grass snake.

The survey, undertaken by Spelthorne Council as part of its biodiversity plan, sought to ascertain reptiles numbers in the park. It involved placing 'refugia' in the park that would warm in the sun, to attract lizards and snakes, including venomous adders and was part of a larger survey to discover what wildlife was present.

Plans to extend Whitegates Nursing Home in Laleham may have hit the buffers after planning officers recommended they be refused.

Spelthorne Council's planning committee has been advised to reject the proposal to convert a neighbouring cottage into eight rooms as the applicant failed to submit an adequate flood risk assessment.