Not an April fool but an update for readers in Ashtead including the Grange Road, Ermyn Way, Quarry Gardens, Hatherwood etc areas whose postal address is Leatherhead but come under Ashtead for electoral purposes.
While residents there may be most concerned about traffic from any potential new housing developments off Ermyn Way, there is a further chapter in the vital debate about whether committee members of the Ashtead Residents Association should be allowed to be members of national political parties.
This is apparently the key issue for the six Ashtead Independent councillors at the ARA AGM and their new candidate standing to replace one who is retiring – Professor Hawksworth, who has a further motion for the ARA to debate on 17 April. https://www.ashteadindependents.org/post/is-the-ara-going-political
Meanwhile in a further twist to this saga, the vacant post of ARA chairman is proposed to be filled by none other than David Harper, who was an official Ashtead Independent councillor 2016-22 but stood as an independent independent 2023 when the number of councillors for Ashtead reduced to six.
The Committee of the Ashtead Residents’ Association is very pleased to announce that David Harper has agreed to become the new Chairman of the ARA. After a period away from public service, David brings with him his experience as a valued Local Councillor at Mole Valley District Council as well as his business experience locally and nationally.
David will be proposed at the forthcoming AGM on 17th April. All members of the Residents’ Association will be welcome to attend when as well as endorsing David’s appointment there will be opportunity to ratify the result of last year’s ballot bringing about changes to the Constitution.
Hopefully the retirement of Prof Hawksworth as a councillor and the new role for Mr Harper will allow matters to move on between the two groups.
Commenting in the ARA Newsletter and AGM agenda the current Independent group leader, Cllr Chris Hunt, does refer to the Ermyn Way development issue and the need to ensure the highways infrastructure at the junction with the A24 is upgraded and improved.
“…The Government has now said that the draft Mole Valley Plan had been progressed too far for these sites to be excluded at this stage, but plans that have not been progressed
so far can have Green Belt land removed! Thanks to such decisions and subject to the final parts of the process being completed, it now looks like this land will be allocated for housing and Ashtead will grow bigger. Key issues like the Ermyn Way / Leatherhead Road junction will have to be sorted at any planning application stage.”
The ARA AGM takes place 17 April at the Peace Memorial Hall as usual. The bar is open at half time.
The Ashtead Independents are a registered political party, and have the right to use the wording Working with Ashtead Residents on the ballot paper as they have this registered with the Electoral Commission. But they are now separate from the ARA. There is a long tradition of Independent councillors for Ashtead, going back to the era when most councillors were non-political in the former Leatherhead Urban District pre 1974. A tradition that carries on in Epsom and Ewell.
Meanwhile the Leatherhead Residents Association, who have also been looking for a new chairman for some time, has a litter pick starting out from Bull Hill on Sunday 14 April. The current chair is determined to step down this autumn if at all possible, but that was also the case last year.
Residents Association chairs are afforded almost a similar status to Parish Council chairs in Mole Valley and meet with the Council officers on a regular basis for briefings and updates. David Harper will be the second experienced ex councillor to take on one of these roles, following Simon Edge in Bookham. Fetcham RA has a co-chair arrangement at present. Apart from Ashtead, the issue of whether a committee member or helper is also a member of a political party does not seem to arise.
Leatherhead Living 