At the full Caterham Valley Parish Council meeting on 10 November 2021, the following items were considered and decisions made:
A decision was made in principle to form a Joint Committee with Caterham on the Hill Parish Council, and Whyteleafe and Chaldon Village Councils, in order to implement the Neighbourhood Plan. Research shows that few councils effectively monitor and review their plan, potentially leading to them not being treated as a sufficiently important part of the Local Development Plan. There are a number of jobs the Implementation Team is needed for, to carry out on behalf of the councils. Residents will be aware of the continuing development pressures on the Neighbourhood Plan Area. In order to raise awareness of planning issues and to link these with current climate and environmental pressures, the Neighbourhood Plan ran Church Walk pop-up shops on 6 and 13 November. This was well supported, and results from the questionnaire circulated at the event will be published soon.
The council also discussed the regeneration bid for Caterham Valley’s shopping area. While we were not successful in securing money from the first round of the government’s Levelling Up Fund, we are hopeful for future rounds. The widespread flooding caused by a downpour on Sunday 31 October illustrates the need to improve parts of our infrastructure and work is now taking place between various local authorities to see if there are more substantial grants available to address these issues. In the meantime, a successful bid has been made to TDC for money from the Community Infrastructure Levy Fund, so the town will begin to see improvements to its main shopping area in 2022.
A decision has been made in principle to allocate resources to the St Johns School/Markfield Road area. Plans are being developed to take this project forward.
Caterham recently experienced Christmas comes to Caterham: a tripartite event involving the parish council, Church Walk and Soper Hall. A lot of people have contributed time and effort towards making this event a success, after a one-year layoff.
The council clerk is assiduous in ensuring our three notice boards are kept up-to-date, and has lately added additional information, indicating which local bodies and causes we support.
