Morning. The notice pinned to the Victoria Road tree answers the question Helen has spent a fortnight asking the council. St Mark's Hill is clear. And two hockey clubs open their gates on Sunday, a mile apart.
I promised you this one. Going through the council's registers to build it turned up something I did not expect: in the last twelve months not one application has been made to turn a Surbiton unit into a restaurant, a café or a takeaway. Not one kitchen extraction flue either.
That is not because nothing opened. It is because everything that opened went into a unit already permitted to sell food, which needs no permission at all. The council mostly finds out when someone wants a sign, an awning or a new shopfront. Which is why nobody can give you a list of what is coming.
BORDELAISE, 97 Maple Road KT6 4AW, 0208 412 1002. A French bistro steakhouse with a downstairs bar and a patio. Midday to 11 Tuesday to Thursday, midday to midnight Friday and Saturday, midday to 9 on Sunday, closed Mondays — worth knowing before you walk down.
SUSHI DAILY opened on the counter inside Waitrose this summer, which several of you have walked past without noticing.
THE FOX & HOUNDS, 60 Portsmouth Road, has an application in right now to repaint the pub and put a mural on the side elevation, and a new food registration alongside it. It is open for comment on the planning portal as you read this — reference 26/01647/FUL. If you have a view on a mural on the Portsmouth Road, now is when it counts.
The unit on Victoria Road with the paper on the windows, I still cannot tell you about. Nothing lodged, and the gym everyone mentions has nobody's name on it yet.
Helen has been chasing the council since 21 August about the tree on Victoria Road, outside the Princess Alice Hospice shop — two email addresses, the phone number off the notice, no reply from any of them. It is in full leaf, which is what prompted the question.
Why it is coming down. The council's arboriculturist has inspected it and found it “either dead, diseased, decayed or structurally unsound”. It does not say which of the four. That is the standard wording on every one of these notices.
Why nobody consulted you. The Environment Act 2021 requires councils to consult before felling a street tree — but not when it is dead, or judged likely to become dangerous before its next inspection. Both are written exemptions.
Why the emails went nowhere. greenspacesteam@ is the inbox for responding to a consultation, and there was not one. The notice does commit the council to adding the spot to its planting list, so something goes back in.
The process was followed, then. Though a notice offering four possible reasons, with no way to learn which one applies to your tree, is a thin sort of telling.
St Mark's Hill is clear. Chris wrote in yesterday to say the works at the top had vanished overnight, and he is right. UK Power Networks were replacing a 33,000-volt cable at the Ewell Road junction, an emergency job extended three times, and their own site now marks it complete. Enjoy it: Lamberts Road closes 7 October to 14 November for the next stage.
Church Road, Surbiton is shut until 17 September for gas work — not the Claygate Church Road that has had the K3 on diversion, and that one ends at 8pm tonight.
Claremont Road, Maple to Victoria, closes overnight 8pm to 5am from Monday — the council's two pages say Wednesday and Thursday, so assume Thursday. Then Victoria Road shuts at the Brighton Road junction, round the clock, 14 to 21 September.
One for the diary. From 14 September you cannot reach the Ace of Spades roundabout from Hook Road, and the signed diversion runs through Ditton Road and Ewell Road — the two already on temporary signals until January. That is on UK Power Networks' own project page, and no council page I can find.
Weather. Today is the damp one — 22°C, breezy, a good chance of drizzle but barely a millimetre in it. Saturday dry and 22°C, Sunday dry and 25°C.
Saturday. Surbiton Hockey Club's play day at Sugden Road KT7 0AE — arrive 1pm, on the pitch at 1.30, open men's and women's hockey until 3.30, then food and a bouncy castle. Women's 1s v Loughborough Students at 4, Men's 1s v Nottingham at 6. · Corinthian-Casuals v Eversley in the Combined Counties Premier South, Armada Group Stadium in Tolworth, 3pm — my eight-year-old plays for their juniors, so I am there most weeks whether I planned it or not. · Wrestling at Long Ditton Village Hall, doors 6.30, £13.50 advance, £20 on the door. · Long Ditton CC's last league Saturday of the season, Stokes Field, noon.
Sunday, and you have a choice of two.Surbiton HC's junior fun day, Sugden Road, from 9.30 and free — under-5s at 10, under-8s and under-10s to 11.30, under-12s upward and a goalkeeper session from 11.45, Women's 1s v Birmingham at 2, plus inflatables and a second-hand kit sale. Old Kingstonian is open too, 10 to 4 and free, at Ditton Field on Summer Road. Different clubs, a mile apart.
Also Sunday. Junior parkrun at Alexandra Rec, 9am, 2k, ages 4 to 14. · Long Ditton litter pick, 10am, by the big tree on Fleece Road. · Board games at Corners on Maple Road, 5pm, £2. · And the Prince of Wales quiz is back after taking August off — 7pm, £2.50, £50 to the winners.
No farmers' market tomorrow. It is the third Saturday of the month, so the next one is 19 September.
Tom runs cricket for people who do not play cricket. Pairs, soft ball, about an hour, kit provided. The indoor season starts shortly — Fridays 6 to 7 at Esher College, Wednesdays at Wimbledon College. Booking at beardycricket.com.
One of you suggested tracking petrol prices around Surbiton — Say if you would use it and I will try and start next week.
Welcome to Elaine, Danielle and Eric.
Back Monday.
Mike
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