Open letter to the Surrey Heath Local committee members

To all the Surrey Heath Local Committee members:

Mr Adrian Page	adrian.page@surreycc.gov.uk	West End
Mr Bill Chapman	bill.chapman@surreycc.gov.uk	St. Pauls
Mr Chris Pitt	chris.pitt@surreycc.gov.uk	Frimley Green
Mr David Ivison	david.ivison@surreycc.gov.uk	Heatherside
Mr Dennis Fuller	denis.fuller@surreycc.gov.uk	Camberley West
Mr Mike Goodman	mike.goodman@surreycc.gov.uk	Bagshot
Mr John Winterton	John.Winterton@surreyheath.gov.uk	Lightwater
Mr Paul Ilnicki	Paul.Ilnicki@surreyheath.gov.uk	Heatherside
Mr Rodney Bates	rodney.bates@surreyheath.gov.uk	Old Dean
Mrs Josephine Hawkins	Josephine.Hawkins@surreyheath.gov.uk	Parkside
Mrs Valerie White	valerie.white@surreyheath.gov.uk	Bagshot
Mrs Vivienne Chapman	vivienne.chapman@surreyheath.gov.uk	St. Pauls

As a member of the Surrey Heath Local Committee I am contacting you in regards to an issue I raised at the 3rd July committee meeting.
My original preamble & question to the committee, and response is repeated below:

Q. Written question from Mr Jon McClelland, Local Resident

The Hatches path, officially referred to as Bridleway BW19 by the Countryside Access Team, is long overdue maintenance. The path is overgrown on each side and is now a narrow strip of tarmac, much of which is badly potholed. In winter the path is muddy and flooded making it very difficult for pedestrians & cyclists to navigate.

Many people would like to see the path properly tarmacked across the full width of the path (approx 7-9 feet) and treated as a "Shared Use route for Pedestrians & Cyclists". I have started a blog and petition to raise awareness of this, which has 89 signatures to date. I expect more signatures as conditions get worse in the autumn.

Blog: http://thehatchespath.blogspot.co.uk/

Petition: http://petitions.surreycc.gov.uk/TheHatches/

I have been in correspondence with Luke Dawson of the Countryside Access Team who has visited the path and confirmed it needs maintenance work carried out. He has requested funds "from a bigger pot" to fund improvement works but was unsuccessful this year. He has investigated interim solutions to fix the worst of the potholes and improve drainage. He also suggested "a scrape of the surface mud to allow the full available width". I noticed this was done recently (by Mon 23rd June) but this has only cleared the existing 4 foot wide path. Potholes still need to be fixed and drainage improved.

My blog has full details of my discussions with the Countryside Access Team and sustrans. I will also update with the committee's feedback. Thank you for your time".

The question:
Can the committee help the Countryside Access Team with funding to upgrade the path properly to a Shared use route for Pedestrians & Cyclists?

A.    Response from Chairman on behalf of the Committee:

The Countryside access team have been working with Mr McClelland on this issue and initial remedial work has taken place as mentioned above.  The team are working with Highways officers and the cycle strategy group to provide options and costings for the committee to consider. 

A report will be produced for the next meeting.

So, at the next meeting on Thu 2nd Oct, the Countryside Access Team will present you with a report on the costs for resurfacing the path, improving drainage, etc.

The petition requesting these improvements has reached 197 signatures (to date), with 191 separate Facebook likes too. An article has also appeared in the Camberley & Sandhurst News & Mail. So, there is a lot of interest from the public in the improvements to the path.

The path is currently dry, but the winter months are soon setting in and the path will return to a terrible state...

We would ideally like the above improved to something similar to the scheme they did in Winchester (a shared cycle/pedestrian path)...

We can understand that a fully resurfaced shared pedestrian/cycle path would be costly. Would you therefore please consider some of the following approaches:

~ introduce the improvements in phases. e.g. resurface the worst half of the path in year 1; then resurface the other half the following year?

~ work with Network Rail to see if they can contribute to costs. This path provides access to their customers commuting via Farnborough North & Main stations.The path approaching Farnborough North is particularly bad, e.g.

~ Work with Michael Gove who I recently wrote to, to see if these improvements fall under his campaign to improve rail services (and access thereto?) in Camberley.

~ The CAT is aiming to make temporary improvements  by the end of Oct to cut back the grass verges widening the path, and improve drainage. This will help with the winter 2014 but a more permanent solution is required.

We would therefore greatly appreciate your support for any improvements which can be made over the next year or two...