Morning. A 240-megawatt battery farm is proposed for the edge of Chessington, and the company behind it stands up in front of your councillors tonight. Also: the week Victoria Road disappears, and the weekend the trains stop.
Eku Energy want to build Chessington BESS — 240 megawatts, 960 megawatt-hours — on land off Leatherhead Road, KT9 2NX, storing power when the grid has spare and selling it back when it hasn't. Their own page calls it “currently in development, with planning and environmental studies underway” — so no application has gone in yet. One drop-in was held, on 30 June, at the King's Centre.
Tonight they present it to the South of the Borough Neighbourhood Committee — item six on the agenda, “Chessington BESS — Presentation by Eku Energy”. The Chessington District Residents' Association have already made their view plain, filing it under the headline “Industrial-scale battery farm proposed on Green Belt” and calling it “another threat to our Green Belt land – alongside the proposed Hook Park and Chessington Golf”.
If you want to ask them something: 7.30 tonight, St George Field Indoor Bowling Club. The meeting opens with up to thirty minutes of public questions from any resident of the borough, and the agenda says advance notice “is not required”. You can just walk in.
On Tuesday the Surbiton committee was asked for £3,000 for Voices of Hope's Baby BRITE boxes at Tolworth Children's Centre. Tonight the same charity asks the same amount of a different committee for the same scheme at Chessington Children's Centre. Ten families, six weeks, a box a week of ingredients and recipes matched to NHS and UNICEF weaning guidance, handed over by the early years team rather than posted. Piloted at Old Malden Family Hub in the spring. Each neighbourhood has £20,000 a year to give away; this is £3,000 of Chessington's.
Also up tonight: 5 Moorfield Road, a bungalow down for two four-bedroom semis over three storeys, and 3 Ellingham Road, extended into a seven-bedroom HMO. Plus the Safer Kingston Partnership's annual report.
Claremont Road is done — last night was the fourth and final night. Then Monday takes three roads at once. Victoria Road shuts round the clock at the Brighton Road junction, the 14th to the 21st, for raised table works: a full week, weekend included. The same morning Ditton Road reopens but only outbound to Ewell Road, and Kingsdowne Road closes at the Ewell Road end, until the 28th, for the UK Power Networks cable job.
And one nobody has published. Simon writes that Raeburn Avenue has temporary lights by The Roystons, with the bus stop of the same name shut both ways — two days running, a Cappagh lorry on site, no signage. It is not on the council's roadworks list, last updated 4 September. Cappagh's own site lists Thames Water among its clients, which is a hint and not an answer. If you know what they're digging, tell me.
Further out: Garrison Lane, Chessington shuts between Leatherhead Road and Chessington South station on 24 and 25 September for resurfacing, diverted via Coppard Gardens going south and Clayton Road going north. New Malden High Street has two-way lights near Sussex Road from tomorrow to the 18th, Thames Water.
South Western Railway: “the lines in the New Malden area will be closed all weekend” on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September. Waterloo to Chessington South will not run at all. Buses replace it between Clapham Junction and Chessington South via Wimbledon, and between Clapham Junction and Surbiton. Tolworth, Malden Manor and Chessington North sit on that branch but SWR does not name them one by one, so check your own station before you set off.
Berrylands nudged forward. Network Rail updated the page on Sunday: platform renewal “expected to be completed by the end of September 2026”, and the temporary staircases replacing the rotten originals went in from Monday, about a fortnight's work.
Tonight: Celebrate Surbiton on the station forecourt, free — the Partnership says 4.30 to 8, the council says 4, so turn up at 4.30 and you cannot be wrong. Tomorrow: Yu-Gi-Oh! at Surbiton Library, 4 to 7, free, starter packs provided. · A climate documentary at the cornerHOUSE, 7pm, free. · Soul disco at Alcheme, 23 Brighton Road, 7.30, free in.
Saturday is the busy one. Seething Village Fete, St Andrew's Square, 1 to 5, free, The Community Brain's doing. · Climb St Matthew's tower for Heritage Open Days, 10 to 3, free. · Meet the Neighbours on St George's lawn, Hamilton Avenue, Tolworth — bouncy castle, barbecue, 12 to 4. · A cooking course for a fiver, Save The World Club, 18 Southsea Road, 11am. · Scuba taster, Scuba Academy, Red Lion Business Park, Tolworth, 4pm — £70, a price only the Good Life prints. · Halcyon String Quartet, £21.60, opening the Thames Concerts season — the listing header says St Andrew's Square, the body says St Andrew's church on Maple Road, so aim for the church. · Fossey Tango at the Flyer, 9pm, free.
Sunday: the pet service at St Mary's, Long Ditton, 4pm. Bring a photograph if the animal won't sit still.
Someone asked weeks ago for more culture: the Rose has its autumn scriptwriting course up. Eight Thursday evenings, 7.30 to 9.30, 1 October to 26 November, adults, led by Maddie Rice and Tom Machell.
Sarah wrote from Chessington to call it “the forgotten end of the borough”. Noted. If you're down that way, send me things.
And still nobody has told me the score in Kingston FC's first league game. Third time of asking.
Back tomorrow.
Mike
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