I read with interest the notice from Surrey about the danger of icy roads in Chipstead. It is very plausible. However I would like to point out that I rang Surrey about the state of Hazelwood Lane before Christmas and enquired why it had not been gritted.
In the old days when Reigate and Banstead were in charge, Hazelwood Lane and the High Road always seemed to be top priority and from a personal point of view this was marvellous but did not help the residents in the surrounding roads; but at least there was a way in an out of Chipstead.
I was told by Surrey that Hazelwood Lane was not classed as priority and was not even listed as being of secondary importance. I lodged a strong complaint and suggested the engineers looked at the High Road and Hazelwood Lane again. I also wrote to Councillor Wagner because I was not impressed by the response I had received from the deputy chief executive who attempted to avoid all responsibility of talking to Surrey himself and suggested I should do so myself.
I feel R & B have a duty to care for us. I was equally appalled by the fact that he did not even know Hazelwood Lane despite sitting in an office which is what - three miles way. I rang the Corner shop today to thank them for delivering the paper. Yesterday George personally delivered most of the papers and I trust everyone showed their appreciation to him. Out post has also been getting through but then Mark our postman has always been a star.
I am in my seventies and not a lot of use and am staying indoors but it does occur to me that there might be a lot of people in Chipstead in difficult circumstances and I wonder what we are all doing as a community. My daughter lives with us and is able to walk down to the station to work and keep us in provisions; however there must be a lot of elderly people who are reliant on families who do not live close by that are having difficulties reaching their parents because of the state of the roads.
Does the community need to put its thinking cap on? We are fortunate in being a fairly wealthy community and ought to be able to find some way of keeping our roads open if we are going to be ignored by Surrey every time there is heavy snow.
Could we not insist that R and B take responsibility provided we agree to a special surcharge on the community charge. Endless red tape would be incurred I know but there must be away. If we could be sure that the money was spent correctly I am sure the community would want to provide the funds. Not an easy task to contemplate but if we are a strong community then shouldn't we do something.
Jenny Graves
