Electoral Review – Surrey County Council Draft recommendations: Consultation The Review Manager (Surrey) The Local Government Boundary Commission for England Layden House 76-86 Turnmill Street London EC1M 5LG Or e-mail to:
[email protected] Dear Sir/Madam As a local resident, I should like to lodge my objections to the current proposals to “move” Lower Kingwood from the existing Surrey County Council division of „Banstead South‟ to the proposed new „Merstham & Banstead South‟ division. My objections are on the following grounds: The LGBCE‟s own criteria include the following: Community identity – division boundaries should recognise and support strong community links, such as parishes, shared facilities and community links. Effective and convenient local government – divisions should be coherent with good internal communication links. Where possible the Commission recommends that any pattern of divisions proposed seeks co- terminosity with district or borough wards. Taking each of these in turn: Community identity: There are in excess of 1,100 households in Lower Kingswood – including the outlying areas of Margery, Mogador etc. – with a variety of local community/voluntary groups, churches, school, shops etc. Our Residents‟ Association publishes a quarterly newsletter (which is distributed free to all local households) and maintains the local community website. The largest local employer is Fidelity Investments in Millfield Lane – based on the site of what used to be the „Kingswood Press‟. The boundary between the proposed new divisions of Merstham & Banstead South and Tadworth, Walton & Kingswood runs along Chipstead Lane/Hogcross Lane with this being classified as being a "main road". Firstly there is no way in which this unclassified road can be described as anything other than a narrow winding lane and secondly this demarcation will serve to separate the properties on the north side of Chipstead Lane from those on the south side, when in fact ALL residents of Chipstead Lane think of themselves as residents of Lower Kingswood.