For Conservation
For Preservation
For another Generation

Part of a thriving village and often in the centre, is often a POST OFFICE. St John's has a post office and newsagent in the village centre. It is important to us all that it remains a successful business. The Government in its wisdom has considerably cut the amount that it pays to the individual post offices for the service provision and this has had a dramatic effect on our own Post Office.So we can all help by giving them the benefit of our local custom - so what can you do ?

BUY YOUR PAPERS THERE EVERY DAY
LOOK AT THE OFFERS THEY HAVE AND BUY THEIR GREETINGS CARDS AND OTHER GOODS
USE THE POST OFFICE - Don't use the cash machine, get your cash form the Post Office
Open a bank account that enables you to pay in and draw cash at the Post Office - such as an Alliance and Leicester Account
Use this Post Office to buy your stamps, Premium Bonds, NS&I SAving Certificates etc etc.

So USE IT or LOSE IT !

We have again moved forwards with the Hall Project. SJVS has met with the MHA a number of times and most recently with the User Groups. We have presented our plans and taken on board views from Users, MHA and anyone who has had an opinion. Where we can we have incorporated additional features into the Hall. This includes enlargement of the kitchen, provision for space for a stage, moving the disabled toilets to the area accessed by the Social and Waiting areas, and a Shower Room which will allow Brownies and Guides to hold their occasional sleepovers. All these isea are now being turned into a set of detail plans for submitting to WBC for planning consent.
We have set 31/01/08 as a deadline for getting these plans submitted and therefore approved as quickly as possible. Of course when we come to pricing the work there will be lots of the required facilities included in the new Hall, and some may have to wait for additional funding to be raised but we will only know that a little further down the line. In the meantime we are now preparing a Design and Access Statement to go with the plans and firming up on the arboricultural report. So we have high expectations of meeting the 31/01/08 deadline. As soon as we have final plans available for everyone to see, we will upload them to the Proposal page for everyone to see. In the meantime, THANK YOU for your support this year and a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS to you all.

We continue to hold discussions with the MHA and have been invited to join the Trustees to support their committee on the development. As a result of this we are inviting SSJL and SJVS members and supporters to contact us to volunteer to join in this project. We are looking for:

Committee Members
To actively support both the MHA with the day to day running of the Hall and to support the Village Society.
Facilities Group Members
This will be a group of helpers who will maintain the building for the next 12 - 18 months whilst the planning tendering and project management stages are gone through
Fund Raising Committee
We still have £440 to raise to meet the target figur3e for the planning application - we have members who have offered to loan the difference whe the application is submitted, but it would be good to have raised it all by then.
We recognise that the credit crunch will impact on the value we can get from the housing, so we may have a shortfall in available funds. It will be a manageable difference and will be a finite figure, but we will need enthusiastic people to raise some money and have some fun doing it too !

So if you think any of these activities would suit you, please contact us here by email with your telephone number and name and we will get in touch after Christmas.

SJVS attended a meeting with the MHA Trustees to review how we can cooperate with each other. A statement was issued after the meeting as follows:

‘The St. Johns Village Society and St Johns Memorial Hall Association are engaged in discussions with regard to the rebuilding of St Johns Memorial Hall.

At a meeting on Saturday 29 th November the Society made a presentation to the Board members of the Association outlining the Society's proposal to rebuild the Hall on the current site and showing how the proposed building is arranged internally with ‘working' sketches showing how it may look externally.

The Association has agreed to allow the Society to make such presentation to the current users of the Hall and group members of the Association to ascertain their requirements.  Thereafter it is intended there should be a wider consultation with the local community and it is hoped this will be concluded by the end of January.

Both St Johns Village Society and St Johns Memorial Hall Association wish to achieve the building of a new Memorial Hall as quickly as possible and are working constructively to explore the possibility of proceeding with the building together.'

Village Society meets with MHA Trustees to discuss a way forward. This meetinmg was arranged by Graham Cundy and John Kingsbury. The Village society presented their proposal to the Trustees who had not previously seen it and we discussed how we could move this project from the drawing board to the site. This was an open and frank meeting and we all agreed that the momentum we have needs to be maintained. SJVS were invited to attend a Trustees Meeting at the Hall on Tuesday 2nd December 08

Congratulations to you all and everyone for this magnificent result ! I turned up to the demo on the steps on Tuesday night but because I brought my dog could not go in. So I did not find out the result till this meeting. Was rather worried yesterday that we might lose the Lye so today am very pleased and greatly relieved.

I will keep an eye out and help where I can. Although I am a Goldsworth parkie rather than a St John's resident I walk my dog their nearly every day and have always considered it the jewel in Woking's crown. It is enjoyed, as I tried to make clear in my letter to the planning department, my people from all over Woking so it is good that our efforts have saved it for everybody and we can move on to getting a new hall where it is wanted.

We can now also start to look at the what the Village Society can do for the Village. So we need volutneers and ideas. We are thinking of :

Well - what a night ! The Planning Committee heard the proposal put to them by Adrian Bishop, Chief Planning Officer of Woking Borough Council, and after a lengthy debate in which ALL Councillors spoke, the application was soundly refused UNANIMOUSLY!
"This is a good result and commmon sense prevailed" was the comment most heard afterwards. We have now passed this hurdle. and our next move is to engage with the Memorial Hall Association and see what we can do next to further their cause. Our own application, into which the MHA have had significant input, will soon be put before the Planning Committee. This is a development that will be largely self funding and will built on the existing site.
We are also hoping to meet with Ray Morgan CEO WBC to discuss our proposal in more detail.

A VERY BIG THANK YOU has to go to all of you - you turned out for our meetings, you turned out for the Rally on the Lye, you turned out for the Protest last night, and many of you have contributed to our Planning Application Appeal. AND HUNDREDS of you wrote or signed letters.
THANK YOU

Armistice Day - the day WBC want approval to pull down the Memorial Hall. The MHA Trust Deed specifies the Memorial is the Site and the Hall. If these are given away to WBC, will that action be against the Trust Deed ?

This last weekend we have met with 10/12 Planning Committee members to walk the site and explain our viewpoint. They have all seen the plans that we are proposing to put in for consent and many are sympathetic. How they will vote will depend upon the Meeting tonight. So if can GET DOWN to the Civic Offices in Woking at 6pm and protest along with the rest of us !

Our proposal - this link will take you to the presentation that is our proposal to the Memorial Hall Association, Woking Borough Council and the Village Society. The Document is quite large, so please be patient while it downloads, it is worth the wait !
This has taken us 4 months to put together, following a number of meetings with the MHA who have said that our proposal will meet their demands and needs as far as the facilities are concerned. There is one problem - A Tree.

Ths tree in question is a mature oak at the rear of the MHA site which straddles the boundary with the canal. For our proposal to work, the tree has to come out. This is the quid pro quo for saving a 25000 sq ft development on the Lye. Our supporters are of one mind in this respect - the tree has to go. It is not diseased, although it is showing early signs of such, and it has a split trunk. With the weight of the canopy the trunks will deteriorate and one day will separate. 2 Arboriculturalists have agreed that between 30% and 50% of the canopy needs to be reduced to take the weight off the trunks. This operation will render the tree smaller, less imposing and it will become one of many. By replanting we will cover the loss of this carbon sink many times over.

Should a tree be preserved and half an acre of Common Land sacrificed for it ? We think not. Anyway, have a look at the presentation document and see what we are offering.

We have recently met with Humfrey Malins our local MP. He has committed to arranging a meeting with Adrian Bishop to progress our ideas.
We are working hard to get the planning application in as noted below.

DONATE NOW >- WHY? 18th October 2008 IMPORTANT!

We NEED your help NOW ! We have a planning application all ready to be entered to go alongside the WBC application and there is the problem of the fee - £ 3500. We are asking supporters to help by donating to the St John's Village Society who are presenting the application. At the last meeting one supported offered to pay £100 towards the application.
We only need another 34 willing to do the same !
Would you ? Or would you know another 100 people willing to give £35 ?

Please send your donations to St John's Village Society, Poppy Cottage, St John's Lye WOKING Surrey GU21 7RS

WOW! What a turnout ! Over 200 people came and waved placards, shouted slogans and PROTESTED ! The photographers got lots of good photos of everyone in a group, and then lining out the size of the proposed site. Jon led us all chanting "SAVE OUR LYE!"

Those that came, who did not fully understand the proposal, as well as those who did, were ASTONISHED at the size of the site that the WBC proposal encompasses.

Saturday - 11.00am MEET on Lye for a PROTEST RALLY !
We are holding a Protest Rally: please come to show your support... Also invited are the New & Mail photographer, the Informer photographer

The last 2 weekends have seen the SJVS in the Village Centre showing residents the plans that WBC have submitted and the plans that have been drawn up by a sympathetic local Architect. These plans have been inspected at some length and have raised a lot of awareness to the issues involved and have resulted in more people writing in to the Planning Dept of Woking Borough Council to voice their opinions on the plans.

You have until October 31st to make your views known and affect the outcome of this application. WRITE IN NOW - the more the better, ALL members of the house over 18 are entitled to voice their opinion. For or against, GET IT IN NOW !

This Notice and others like it have been appearing in the woods over the last week or two. This is not the work of the St John's Village Society. We do not condone such action and we do not encourage it either.

It is perhaps an indication of the strength of feeling that there is around the Village at the moment regarding the proposal to build on the Lye.

WBC have been removing these signs, and have assured us that on these poster clearing visits they will remove ALL fly posters and not just those that are opposed to the application they have submitted for this development.

A vigorous and lively meeting last night with over 120 people in attendance, including John Kingsbury one of our local Councillors. Following a presentation by a local Architect, many points were made concerning the WBC application, and the way it had been advertised by WBC. The feeling of the meeting was strong, it was unanimous and it was in favour of the SJVS plans. Mr Kingsbury addressed the meeting and agreed to have a number of discussions with Council Officers and Members to discuss a number of the issues raised.
It is vital that OBJECTION LETTERS are now sent in by anyone who feels strongly about the proposal. CLICK HERE for ideas. Similarly if you feel strongly in favour, please write in too.

Well that was a lively and interesting meeting ! For those who didn't or weren't able to come, just under 50 people turned up to share their views about the state of the Village and the need for a Village Society to represent them. There was debate about many issues, but the central issue and the one that raised temperatures was the Hall development. There were some interesting views and ideas flying around and these will firm up in the coming weeks. Without exception, everyone wants to see a new Hall and most people felt the existing site was the place for this to happen. 2 immediate neighbours were in attendance and both said noise was not an issue but the state of the Hall was.
The Village Society was formally re-opened and a unanimous vote carried the evening. Officers were elected and the evening closed on a very positive note.
Membership is now open to all residents of St John's. Please email membership@stjohnsvillage.co.uk

DIARY DATE
This coming FRIDAY 9th MAY 7.30 pm in the small Hall at the Memorial Hall
There will be a meeting to reform the St John's Village Society. Please come along and join in with your neighbours and local residents.

The temperature is rising ! More letters - check out Recent Feedback and Woking News and Mail website where there are letters regarding the Lye www.woking.co.uk.  Click on Letters and look at 17th April and 10th April - a Mr Bowser seems to have rattled a few !

Just had an interesting email from a Horsell resident. They had a similar issue over the Bowls Club and successfully fought it. Try Recent Feedback to see what is suggested.

Is this image likely - read more.... here

We have also had a picture sent in by a local resident of the Lye during the snow in the last few days. Just shows how beautiful it often looks. Check out Gallery

Have a look at Memorial Hall there is an artists impression of the new Hall. Nice picture showing the building in the best possible light although it won't look that green all the time.
It would be interesting to see the artists impression with the shutters down and the grafitti on !

Read the views of a local resident wanting to know how social trends will impact on the viability of the Hall - interesting viewpoint. Any comments ....?
And now a 14 year old - No 12

 We are hoping to get some electronic copies of the plans and "artists impressions" to put on here,  so keep checking to see if they are here. It will be announced on this page first.

This website has been developed to put  forward the case against rebuilding the  Memorial Hall on St Johns Lye.   Why ? ... It is on Common Land
 It is a Conservation Area
 It is an SNCI - Site of Nature Conservation  Importance
 Contrary to Local Government Plan (NE2  REC3  REC4)
 We will lose recreational Open Space
 and a  noted local visual amenity