Why say something like that?

Dear Neighbour

Attached (Document 78) is an exchange of correspondence amongst a Sunbury resident, our local MP, and the Chief Executive of Surrey County Council. The exchange concerns almost 70 CCTV cameras which suddenly sprang up between Halliford and Hampton Court Bridge at the end of September. And then, just as suddenly, disappeared again.

Our neighbour wrote to Mr Kwarteng, trying to find out who had put up all these cameras. Are these cameras, he asked, connected with the development of Kempton Park, the London Irish development, gravel extraction or the Halliford Incinerator fiasco?

Mr Kwarteng wrote to the Chief Executive of Surrey County Council, who replied saying they had been put up on behalf of Surrey County Council as part of a traffic survey, suggesting its purposes might be along the lines of the ‘Spelthorne Freight Review’. His reply was dated 21 October.

Look at Document 77, however. These are replies received on 4 and 6 October from, respectively, Nick Kilby of Cratus Communications (PR consultants to The Jockey Club regarding Kempton Park) and a representative from Surrey County Council Highways. Both confirm that the CCTV cameras, and the ATC cables, and all the other survey work, was being done on behalf of The Jockey Club. (Mr Kilby later telephonically corrected his comment about the road markings – those, too, were part of The Jockey Club’s survey work.)

So, the purpose of the CCTV cameras was for something along the lines of the ‘Spelthorne Freight Review’? Why say something which is so patently misleading?

If we were Mr Kwarteng, we’d be more than a little peeved to have been put in this position by the Surrey Chief Executive. Not to mention our neighbour who asked the question in the first place.

Recently released FOI documents confirm that a planning application is expected to be made by The Jockey Club after the general election in May 2015. We will need funds to fight it.

Donations to the Keep Kempton Green Fighting Fund can now be made through PayPal. Just go to http://www.losra.org, scroll down a little, and click on the button marked “Donate to the Keep Kempton Green Fund”. You can also donate by cheque. Please make your cheque payable to LOSRA and send it to:

20 Green Street, Sunbury, TW16 6RN

As you would expect, the identity of all donors will be kept confidential.

Remember: Keep Kempton Green began as a campaign to protect Green Belt at Kempton Park. That campaign has now been forced to expand to protect Green Belt throughout Spelthorne, which is all at risk in a forthcoming review of our Local Plan. This threat is against the whole Borough.

Visit us at http://www.keepkemptongreen.com, Like our Facebook page, and Follow us on Twitter (links to both on the website). Leave your comments at all three.

Kind regards, and thank you very much in advance for your generosity.

Keep Kempton Green