20mph speed limit in the centre of the village: As we have explained before there are policy rules on what can and can’t be done but Surrey Highways have shown a welcome degree of flexibility in their application. It is agreed that a 20mph limit zone will be introduced. The extent is being determined and we now expect the southern end of the zone to extend to the Danes Hill School entrance. Surrey Highways are also investigating whether the zone can be extended to include Oakshade Road, and so the Royal Kent School, but this will require additional speed measurements to be taken in the next few weeks. It would clearly be good to include the entrances to the village’s two main schools in the lower speed limit zone. We still hope this can be done in calendar 2022.

Other key projects: Funding bids have been prepared and submitted for average speed cameras south of the new 20mph zone, a night time HGV ban and pavement improvements in the High Street outside the Victoria pub. We should know by July if these are approved but they are supported by Mark Sugden, our local County Councillor. Average speed camera installation will be contingent on measuring whether there continues to be a speeding problem after the new 20mph zone is in place which will delay things by a few months.

High Street Parking: Consultation on the proposed changes to parking arrangements in the High Street area that we described in our update last July is now taking place. This has taken a long time to progress but subject to input from local businesses we hope that these changes will be in place this year. The proposals can be viewed using this link, on page 4, and comments are due by 13 May. We will provide a more detailed update on changes in a future email.

Fairoak Lane: We have raised concerns about speed limits in Fairoak Lane and are told plans are being drawn up to look at these. The  60mph zone in the central part of this road is one of the few remaining 60mph zones in Elmbridge and is anomalous. Surrey Highways expect to reduce this speed limit and have said they will also review the location of the 30mph zone boundary. We have asked to be kept informed and have input to what is proposed.