Further to my A3 traffic survey, I met with representatives from National Highways on Esher High Street to discuss what we can do to reduce A3 traffic through our community. I fed back the results from the survey so far, which the team took away to discuss with colleagues, and I will be following up with the Transport Secretary. More on this, and how you can feedback your views, below.
Elsewhere, Surrey is set to benefit from £18,649,991 of funding to ensure children with SEND and alternative provision receive an education that meets their needs in high-quality environments for years to come. More on this Conservative Government's record investment to create more SEND school places, including the new Hopescourt School in Walton, below.
The House of Commons is in recess and will be returning on Monday 15 April 2024.
As ever, if you are a constituent in need of my assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Best wishes,
Dominic
Meeting with National Highways to Improve A3 Traffic through our Community
Following my recent A3 traffic survey, I met with representatives from National Highways on Esher High Street to discuss what we can do to reduce A3 traffic through our community.
The A3 runs through Esher and Walton constituency from the A3 / M25 junction at Wisley to the Hook junction in Surbiton. The existing layout of the Hook junction prevents south-bound traffic from joining the A3 at Hook. This displaces significant volumes of traffic through Hinchley Wood, Long Ditton, Thames Ditton and Esher, via the Kingston Bypass. A recent traffic study in Esher showed that around 85% of traffic through Esher town centre was “through” traffic destined for the A3.
Results from my survey so far reveal that 96.68% of people support our campaign for improvements to be made and 91.82% feel that A3 traffic is having a negative impact on their quality of life. It was useful to feed this back to National Highways to demonstrate the strength of feeling and make the case for improvements to be made.
National Highways will be taking this away to discuss with colleagues and I will be following up with the Transport Secretary to see if we can get Government support for improvements to be put on the programme for works.
£18,649,991 to Increase School Places for Children with Special Educational Needs in Surrey
Surrey is set to benefit from £18,649,991 of funding to ensure children with SEND and alternative provision receive an education that meets their needs in high-quality environments for the years to come.
This Conservative Government is investing a record annual £850 million in councils to create new places for young people with SEND and AP in mainstream and special schools, with Surrey set to receive £18,649,991. This will provide specialist support for children with autism, learning difficulties and mobility difficulties to meet their extra needs.
In Walton, the new Hopescourt School is set to open providing high-quality specialist education for both autistic children and children who have communication and interaction needs. It will give residents in Elmbridge closer access to a new special school, reducing the need for children to make long journeys to and from school each day. This new school will create 80 additional specialist school places in its first year of opening, increasing to 200 by 2028/29, as an ‘all-through-school’ for students from reception through to post-16.
In the Constituency
Work Starts to Install a Zebra Crossing Outside St Lawrence School
Meeting with staff, parents and Surrey County Council at St Lawrence School alongside Cllr Steve Bax
From this week, for about the next month, Surrey County Council will be carrying out works outside St Lawrence Junior School in Molesey to install road safety improvements, including a zebra crossing.
Following a petition signed by 1,000 local residents calling for a safe crossing outside the school, Cllr Steve Bax and I have been working alongside the school and Surrey County Council to improve the safety of Church Road for the hundreds of children and their families travelling to and from the school each day.
It was great to join portfolio holder, Cllr Clare Curran, and the Surrey County Council team for a tour of Esher Adult Learning Centre recently.
Esher Adult Learning Centre offers a wide range of courses from Art to Psychology, Pottery to Tai Chi. It was fantastic to see how valued the facility is with many people coming together to take a range of classes.
Thank you to Rachael Dalmon-Curtis and team for taking the time to show me around.
My latest pop-up surgery took me to The Heart in Walton. Thank you to all the local residents who took the time to speak with me about a range of issues, including SEND funding.
I hold regular pop-up surgeries across the constituency. You can find out more at the link below.
