Useful Info

Planning applications in Elmbridge from Monday December 8.

Taxis and minicabs in Elmbridge are set to become safer to use with new licence plates which are being introduced by the council.

Bigger square plates are being added to Hackney Carriages and private hire vehicles over the next year, as licences are renewed.

Fears are growing that residential streets could become choked with shop worker's cars once the cost of all-day parking in town centres goes up.

Shop workers may be driven out of town centres once Elmbridge Council increases its the long stay parking charges on January 5, meaning annual season tickets will go up by about £200.

Elmbridge residents have been ranked as having the best quality of life in Great Britain by a building society survey.

The third annual Halifax Quality of Life Survey, which examines data from a range of sources, was published on Saturday November 22 with the borough of Elmbridge as top out of 150 other local authorities.

A talk on the history of Walton Bridge will be held in January at St James' Church.

Nick Pollard from Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society will give a talk on January 19 at the next meeting of the Weybridge Society.

Admission is free to members and guests pay £1.

Mayor of Elmbridge Nigel Cooper helped raise an Olympic handover flag for Elmbridge on Sunday August 26 at the Xcel Leisure Centre in Waterside Drive.

Accompanying the event was free swimming, a basketball tournament, torch making, and a re-enactment of the London Olympics in 1908.

The other morning I was driving to work across Walton Bridge when I was passed on the other side by a Google Earth car. It had a large tripod camera mounted on the roof although I couldn't tell if it was filming.

I remembered articles in the press lately about Google's ambitious plans to film every street in Britain and stick the pictures on the internet. The idea is that you'll be able to not only look up maps, but zoom down to street level.

Walton Fire Station in Hersham Road is hosting an open day on Saturday July 26 to demonstrate fire safety to the public.

Birds of prey will be on display, and the event will also feature a balloon race, face painting, a tombola, and a Nando's barbecue.

Toilets at Cowey Sale in Walton Lane where a man was stabbed have been re-opened.

Elmbridge Council has cleared shrubs from around the facilities to improve visibility and there will be "regular patrols of the area" according to the council's spokeswoman.

The block has been shut since April 1 - a month after Peter Ackers, 50, suffered a fatal stab wound on February 19.

Firefighters have launched a campaign to warn of the risk of house fires caused by cigarettes,

They responds to about 30 accidental dwelling fires each year caused by smokers. In Elmbridge alone 13 incidents from 2007/2008 were smoking related, which is down by seven from the previous year.