Hullo Everybody,
You need to be brought up to date on three important matters:
1) You recently signed the petition to STOP WRECKING THAMES DITTON! Our petition now has over 1,000 signatures. Thank you! More than 1,000 is a very large number of people for a small community like Thames Ditton! It shows how strongly so many people object to the amount of uncontrolled and inappropriate dense over-development that is taking place -- which is entirely disproportionate to the small size of the population of Thames Ditton (and Weston Green) and is increasingly ruining where we live. Here is the link to the petition: www.change.org/stopwreckingthamesditton
Local Elections in Thames Ditton usually get around 2,000 people who vote. So having over 1,000 people who have signed this petition on this subject represents a significant body of opinion. Therefore when the time comes to cast your vote next year, you will have to decide about which (if any at all) of our local political organisations is (or is not) acting in our interests to provide strong opposition, and is responding in an at all effective way to our increasing alarm at the over-development and ruination of Thames Ditton.
2) This petition will now be forwarded on your behalf to those same local politicians: Dominic Raab, our MP (who is himself a resident of Thames Ditton); the Thames Ditton and Weston Green Residents' Association and its councillors: Caroline James, Tricia Bland, Karen Randolph, Tannia Shipley, Janet Turner and Nigel Haig-Brown ; the Leader of Elmbridge Council, Stuart Selleck; and the Leader of Surrey County Council, Tim Oliver. The petition will also be sent to the Elmbridge Council Town Planning department. (This is the same department that receives and processes all residents' objections to individual planning development applications.)
Contact emails are listed on the petition itself, if you would also like to send your views to these authorities yourself.
3) This online petition must not be allowed to be just a one-off event. It is really vital that this group we have formed of over 1,000 like-minded people now maintains the strong momentum we have created. So for that reason, we have now set up the STOP WRECKING THAMES DITTON! Group on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/groups/StopWreckingThamesDitton/ The purpose of this new Group will be as a discussion forum, information centre and meeting place for over 1,000 of us to maintain pressure and opposition and to keep in touch about this important matter on which we all feel so strongly.
So please join us and get to meet and talk with the other local people who signed the petition who feel just the same way you do! If you are already on Facebook it is very simple to join by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/StopWreckingThamesDitton/ Once you have joined, please click the "Invite" button on your own Facebook page next to your own local contacts on Facebook in order to bring them into the new Group as well! That is really simple to do!
If you are not yet on Facebook, please do join it (that is very straightforward) -- and then you will be able to join the rest of us in the new Group.
We look forward to seeing you there and continuing the conversation!
Once again, thank you so much for your support.
With all good wishes,
Tony Charlesworth