| Welcome to all at local schools or living nearby from ABC - A Better Caterham Have your say NOW! http://www.caterhamabc-schools.org.uk or http://caterhamabc-schools.blogspot.com | ||
Last update 7th March 2007
"Do it now" campaign asks for your feedback by end of March - so don't delay do it today!
ABC at De Stafford. Collects 160 + responses between March 5th & 7th
The survey below asks you about a number of different subjects and also gives you a chance to tell us what you think in your own words. There are no right and wrong answers but we need to know what you think - and your parents too. So see if you can persuade all the family to take the survey here, or visit us on the ABC Tour. Next stop Caterham School the week of March 19th.
Its purpose is to help us discover the main issues about living in Caterham. Tell your network of contacts and lets see if we can get more than 10% of Caterham and surrounding area involved in 2007.
We hope to make a difference. You can help!
Click Here take our Up to 11 survey, or you are at a Primary School.
Click Here to take our Up to 18 survey, or you are at a Secondary School
Click Here for the parent survey, or if you are over 18
Its purpose is to help us discover the main issues about living in Caterham.
Click Here for our January Newsletter.
Stop Press 26th January 2007
Local Schools invited to participate.
All local Secondary & Primary Schools are being invited to take the ABC survey via the internet. A special web site allows each school to take part, together with parents or carers. There are also opportunities for schools to select areas for projects for pupils to study and make their own suggestions about. The web site is open all the time, so please do help us by taking the survey at school or at home if you can, and make sure your ideas get heard.For Parents, there is access to the main ABC study. Each child will bring home a leaflet explaining the project and a survey form. Please do take this opportunity to tell us what you think about Caterham. This is an independent exercise and by getting as many views as possible, we hope we can make a difference to Caterham. The survey can be taken on the internet - the link is above, or by returning the paper version via your child's school.
Caterham needs You!!
Thank you to the 1,000+ people who have already taken our survey, for the many helpful comments and to the increasing number of volunteers who are starting to look at the issues being raised and help with events. BUT we still need more of you to take the survey and help us, so if you can spare some time we would like to hear from you. Contact details are in the panel above, where you can register to be kept up to date. Please do drop in and see us between 10.00 and 17.00 on Saturdays and 13.30 and 18.00 Tuesdays & Thursdays. See the shop for the schedule too.
"Have you done it yet " Campaign
From all your replies to our survey so far, several issues get highlighted, which are:
Overall Caterham is seen as positive especially the surrounding Green Belt & attractive countryside....concern over a proposal to fence Kenley Airfield.
Areas to concentrate on:
• Town Centre...Rose & Young needs improvement! Raglan too.
• Community facilities including Sports & Leisure, Schools, Healthcare and Safety to match your needs
• Encouragement of Greener Lifestyles
• Residential Development preserving local character
• Improving Caterham Image and encouraging a wider range of shops & businesses.
• Traffic, Parking & Public Transport
• Facilities for young People
• A variety of places to "Clean Up"
As a result of feedback and our overall objectives we have formed some teams to look into these in greater depth.
Town Centre
We have set up a group to look at Caterham Town Centre, to gather facts & information, identify the major issues and try to develop some ideas for the future. We hope some earlier exercises will help us get started.
The group will aim to develop three general concepts:
1. Cosmetic Change....general tidying up including potential traffic and parking schemes.
2. Piecemeal changes affecting individual sites.
3. "Ideal" blueprint for the future.
As we expand the number of people we talk to, we are checking to see which of these three general concepts you would support. Perhaps we can be a catalyst for change if we can show a large majority are in favour of one option or another.
Residential Development
General feedback over residential development in Caterham raises much concern. We are taking a close look at the new Local Development Framework(LDF) regime that Tandridge , along with all other councils is implementing. It is a part of Government revisions to the planning process and is intended to make things simpler, better etc....however the first impact is that previous rules that could restrict density are no longer valid except for conservation areas and Green Belt. We intend to look at what recommendations to guide local development could be made for Caterham, based on the feedback we have received and are starting a group. The timetable Tandridge are working to has slipped back and we now have a window to provide comments and any proposals up to around Easter.
Changes affecting new planning applications were introduced on Nov 1st by Tandridge District Council, which affect any new applications for developments of more than 10 houses or just under an acre. Hopefully these will ensure larger developments are considered with additional safeguards. It should strengthen the ability to restrict development where there is already a supply well beyond any reasonable target, or where such a scale of development threatens the character of an area.
Other Teams
There are groups looking at other aspects of the overall environment including protection of our "Green Environment", covering open spaces and green belt, plus helping to recycle more, pollute less and be more energy efficient.
Social & Community group is gathering information and looking at good and bad things in their area too. Facilities for young people, sports & leisure, schools, healthcare, arts & culture, public safety, community groups all fit here. There is major concern over the lack of facilities for younger age groups, following the closure & sale of the centre in the Valley. We are asking for details of plans for reinvestment and our ABC exercise can help identify facilities the community would want or support.
Local Schools. We extended the survey to include children & their parents via local schools. Primary & Secondary schools are invited to provide access to our web surveys from school and to pass on to parents a leaflet and survey form for them too. We will continue this initiative in January & February. Families can all access the surveys from home as well, via the links at the top of the page.
Transport team has started looking into public & private transport and all the issues that arise. We are looking particularly at parking and will be collecting information, so please help us if asked about that. We could also do with some more volunteers in this area. This may be an area for a project including local senior schools.
Lastly a Business group is active too and looking at how we could encourage new business to Caterham and support those already here. We particularly need participation from businesses in Caterham on the Hill, to help cover all of the Caterham area.
Active helpers very welcome to any of the above areas. Time commitment about an evening a week.
Contact us via: caterhamabc_schools@mac.com
Other News:
January 15th 2007 - ABC Drop in Shop a great success.
Our drop in centre at 11 Church Walk, opposite Morrisons, which was opened by Peter Ainsworth, will remain open until early in February. It is manned by volunteers helping with the project.
Wider community is invited to get involved throughout all of Caterham and nearby areas. Survey forms are in local shops, libraries, the drop in centre and will be included with some local newspapers. Goal to reach between 1,500 and 2,000 responses.
January 23rd 2007 - ABC Calls for review of MOD proposal to restrict access to
Kenley Airfield, on amenity, conservation and environmental grounds.
Peter Ainsworth , Chris Windridge and several local residents featured in BBC Southern Counties breafast Radio on J
an 22nd, to call for a review of proposals. Kenley Airfield is probably the best preserved example of a WW2 airfield and has been featured in a number of films. The MOD applied for approval to install a 1.2Metre high fence around the whole airfield on saftey grounds, to restrict access. It would prevent people from walking, cycling and otherwise being able to walk around the old perimeter road and be visually intrusive.Here is a link to the ABC pages on Kenley
