POINTS OF VIEW
8069 - Residents - Urban Planning - Molesey 2000
[This was a plan I produced in the mid 1970s, which was widely circulated locally]
MOLESEY UNTIL 2000
Molesey Residents Association’s Suggestions For The Surrey Structure Plan
1 SUMMARY
a) Molesey is a self—contained community, with a distinct geographical character (bounded on the north by the Thames, on the east by the Mole and on the south and west by reservoirs - and physically isolated by these features) as well as a balanced population.
The Structure Plan should recognise and maintain this community identity, and reinforce the bond between East and West Molesey
b) The area is in danger of losing this identity, and becoming just another suburb of London. This is due to the relatively large numbers of new private and council houses, as well as factories, which have been introduced in recent years — without the provision of the corresponding public amenities and services (detailed in section 12).
The Structure Plan must support the basic principle that the existing local densities cannot be greatly exceeded in any part of Molesey, and should plan the necessary improvements in local facilities.
c) Due to its proximity to Hampton Court Palace, and the River Thames, Nolese3 has an important role to play in catering for tourists (4 million per annum) on the national scale, as well as providing leisure facilities for South West London and Surrey.
The Structure Plan should provide for the development of Molesey’s facilities for both tourists and leisure, as well as the maintenance of its attractive character.
2 PLANNING
a) COMMUNITIES
Within Nolesey there are a number of separate communities, which have differing characteristics (and therefore different needs);
I) EAST MOLESEY — private houses, including those in the conservation area.
II) WEST MOLESEY — mainly smaller private and council houses.
III) HURST PARIC & FLEE’rSIDE — modern private large-scale (and higher density) housing developments.
In addition there are a number of other main types of land use;
IV) FACTORY ESTATE
v) RIVERSIDE OPEN SPACES
VI) RECREATIONAL AREAS - both public and private.
VII) RESERVOIRS
VIII) UTILITY LANDS — sewage disposal works and rubbish tips. To preserve, and develop, the identity of the communities, the specific needs of each should be catered for locally, and, in addition, where necessary there should be an identifiable focus for each neighbourhood.
b) DENSITIES
Three critical densities are;
I) PRIVATE HOUSING - Since the mid-1960’s the area has absorbed approximately 1200 new private houses, including over 1000 at a density of more than 10 to the acre. Any further development or redevelopment, which results in additional housing, can only take place by denuding the area of its last few remaining open spaces, or by destroying its character with redevelopment on a denser scale.
II) COUNCIL HOUSING — The council housing units in the area represented one third of the old Esher area total. The concentration of local authority housing into one area can lead to an unacceptable and divisive imbalance in the social character of the community, Molesey has not yet, as far as can be determined, reached a critical stage, but any further influx might easily cause it to do so.
III) FACTORIES — The same imbalance can also apply to factories. in this case the problem is even more acute, since the existing factories employ more labour than Molesey can supply, and the balance has to be brought in from other areas.
It would be physically possible to increase these densities, for example to Inner London levels. However, any such increase would destroy the character and social balance of Molesey. This critical requirement, to fix the ma,cimum densities, is as true in local terms, within Molesey, as for the whole area.
There must be no additional development, or redevelopment, leading to any great increase in these densities, even on a local scale.
c) CONSERVATION AREA
The character of this area is integral to that of Molesey, as well as being part of the architectural heritage of Surrey. Therefore, in addition to to density, each redevelopment in this area should be subjected to three further tests;
I) Is it in keeping with the physical character of its surroundings.
II) Will its use maintain the social character of the adjacent community.
III) Does it make a positive contribution to the well being of the conservation area and Molesey as a whole.
The existing conservation area should be extended to cover the Kent/Bell road area.
d) RIVERSIDE
This acts as a lung for the whole of Molesey, and provides leisure facilities for a large area of London, as well as Surrey. Development of the land adjacent to the river between Molesey and Sunbury locks, as yet undeveloped, should be reserved (either in public or private ownership) for leisure/tourist use, or uses directly associated with the river. At the same time the publicly owned riverside land should be progressively landscaped to provide an attractive linear park, and development of the adjacent sites should not be allowed to intrude on this.
e) GREEN BELT BARRIER
The southern and western boundaries of Molesey are separated from Hersham by the green belt land surrounding the reservoirs. This land is largely undeveloped or derelict.
It is important for the conservation of the Molesey community that this barrier is maintained and is not encroached upon by housing or factories. On the other hand the land is too valuable an asset to be wasted, as it currently is. Accordingly, it should be positively developed for public and/or private leisure use, serving North East Surrey.
f) TOWN CENTRE(S)
Many of the basic community facilities have been neglected in Molesey, and the lack of these is discussed in other sections. However, this has, in addition, meant that the town has no obvious centre, the nearest equivalent being the linear development along Walton Road.
A true Molesey town centre, based on the additional community facilities together with some local shopping; carefully scaled to suit the area, should be created at a suitable point on Walton Road.
For the same reason local centres should also be created for each of the communities within the area.
g) FACILITIES
The Structure Plan should, as well as specifying future densities for housing and factories, define the ratios of open space and leisure facilities per head of population, which will be medium term targets. These should be published for each area, and progressive provision of such facilities should be required from all future developers, both private and public, as part of the planning permission obtained. At the same time a schedule must be agreed and carried through by the county and district authorities to bring areas, which are below these standards, up to the basic provisions.
3 POPULATION
For the reasons mentioned in the previous section, the total population of Molesey should not increase markedly, nor should the distribution within the town change significantly.
In addition, the demographic breakdown of the population should, where possible, be maintained. This should be achievable, in the main, by retaining the existing planned uses (with the exception of the Fleetside Sewage Works site - which should be rezoned from its existing anomalous industrial use classification). However, by the late 1980’s it is possible that the age structure will require positive policies to attract younger householders to the area.
4 COUNCIL HOUSING & IMPROVEMENT
There should be no great increase in numbers, or area, to the existing council housing.
The many council houses which have, through inadequate maintenance, have been allowed to become sub—standard should be extensively improved, to current standards.
At the same time maintenance should be drastically improved, and the estates landscaped, to make them as pleasant to live in as any other part of Molesey. This upgrading of the estates to make them an attractive feature of Molesey, as well as a decent place to live, should be completed inside a maximum 10 year period, with the plans agreed and published within 3 years. It is particularly important that these improvements should be made with the minimum of disruption to the tenants, so that physical improvements are not at the expense of the social environment.
Great care should be taken to preserve the social continuity of the coimnunity, and in particular any rebuilding of the council estates should be very carefully planned and pkased to avoid disruption of these areas. A positive campaign, based on improvement grants coupled with limited redevelopment, should be launched to improve those privately owned parts of ?4olesey which are in need of rehabilitation.
The Spreighton/Avern Road Improvement Area should be confirmed in the Structure Plan, and further improvement areas should be declared for those roads of pre-war private/council housing particularly in need of rehabilitation.
5 SERVICES & UTILITIES
a) EDUCATION
Due to the attention which Surrey has given to the education system in the past 5/10 years, the general educational scheme has received much examination and reorganisation, The Esher (and hence Molesey) area has recently been restructured, within the Surrey framework, on comprehensive lines. Coupled with this the need has also been recognised, and largely dealt with, to give Molesey new schools to meet its basic needs, including those of the new estates.
It now remains for Surrey, and Central Government, to provide the necessary finance to adequately back these new stylea and new aims of educational reorganisation. This will require a significant increase from the present totally inadequate levels, if the promise to Surrey parents in general, and the children of Molesey in particular, are to be met. Molesey still has some pressing problems, which are well recognised;
I) EDUCATIONAL
i) Expansion and academic uprating of the Bishop Fox Junior Comprehensive School has to be carried out. This is somewhat complicated, and highlighted in the eyes of the public, by the anomalous position of Hinchley Wood School with its disproportionate numbers of higher graded teaching posts.
2) Provision of the promised nursery places at Sunnymead and Orchard First Schools must take place.
3) Provision of Day Nurseries needs to be recognised as a basic needs,
and catered for.
II) FINANCIAL
1) Finance must be made available to complete the second stage of the Vine Road Middle School (and hence close the old, pre-1903, Park Road School). The temporary facilities at Church Farm Middle School should be replaced by suitable permanent buildings, fully equipped as originally promised.
2) Improvements needed for the site and buildings of the Orchard Ffrst School must be financed.
3) Outstanding work at the Rivermede School needs funding.
4) Esher Sixth Form College must be financed at the level necessary for future intake and function.
5) Expansion of Bishop Fox School has to be funded.
b) HEALTH
The main clinic in West Molesey provides a good service. The services offered by this should be complemented by, rather than replaced by, the proposed Medical Centre at Molesey Hospital.
c) LIBRARIES
Again, the service from the main library in West Molesey is quite adequate, however this needs to be supplemented by other branch libraries in the separate Molesey communities. This is particularly important where use would come from large numbers of children. They should be within easy walking distance and accessible without crossing a main road.
d) COMMUNITY CENTRES
These are currently non-existent, and even when the Mole Hall centre is completed this will only provide barely adequate facilities for the West Molesey community.
There is a demonstrable need for such community centres (with meeting rooms, community halls and work areas- for use by local societies, or the population as a whole) in each of the Molesey communities.
e) FACILITIES FOR THE ELDERLY
More homes and day centres need to be made available to meet the needs of Molesey residents, and those already in existence should be reserved mainly for the local population. They should be well distributed through the area.
f) CITIZENS ADVICE
There is no bureau in Molesey, and one should be provided in the main shopping area.
g) UTILITIES
The utilities provided are generally quite adequate. However, the use of Molesey to provide waste disposal for the rest of Elmbridge must cease when the existing tip closes in 1976.
Drainage is rather archaic, and does not fully meet the needs of Molesey - though the situation will improve somewhat when the Mole scheme is complete.
h) HOMES FOR YOUNGER RESIDENTS
Provision should also be made for the younger (single or newly married) members of the community, who cannot afford to purchase private housing locally, and who do not qualify for conventional council housing,
6 EMPLOYMENT
The existing industry in ?Molesey already uses more labour than can be provided by the local population, and a significant proportion of the workforce is imported from other areas. There is, therefore, no need to increase the total number of jobs, and this should be maintained at around its present level.
However, within this there should be some encouragement to provide a wider range of jobs, particularly for women (perhaps in a higher proportion of companies employed in the service, rather than manufacturing, industries) and office workers (thus reducing commuting from the area).
7 COUNTRYSIDE
Within the area there is little that can be described as countryside, and consequently what open space there is must be protected and extended. In particular the riverside to the north and the green belt barrier to the south and west must not be encroached upon.
These areas are, however, wasted unless they are opened up to the public. Equally, they will remain visual, and environmental, slums if they are not properly developed and positively landscaped.
Accordingly, the riverside to the north of the area should be, jointly with the Thames Water Authority, developed as a linear park. This should be fully landscaped to provide visual interest, as well as screening it from the urban development to the south. At the same time future development of the land adjacent to this park should be restricted to leisure and tourist use, which does not visually intrude on the park.
The considerable belt of land surrounding the reservoirs should, again in cooperation with the Water Authority, be partly developed (either in public or private ownership) for leisure use compatible with the green belt surroundings. As a balance to this, and as a pre-requisite for planning permission, the remainder should be landscaped to develop an attractive “country park”.
8 RECREATION
Recreation is of particular importance to Molesey, as it is to Surrey, since it provides amenities for a significant part of the South east, in addition to local inhabitants, Extensions to these amenities should be developed in the green belt surrounding the reservoirs, with particular emphasis upon team activities (soccer and rugby pitches for example, which are becoming increasingly scarce f or adult use in South West London), as well as country park type recreation. A sports centre, primarily for the use of Molesey, should be developed around the “Upper Deck” - by the addition of an indoor pool (25m.), as well as a small sports hail and a pair of squash courts. This would only be on a limited scale and would not compete with the large scale one in Walton, but it would still relieve any overloads on the Walton facilities (particularly the swimming pools). In view of its position on the river the architectural treatment should be particularly sensitively handled. The existing public sports facilities throughout the area are, generally speaking, just adequate in terms of space, but woefully inadequate in terms of the facilities provided and the standard of maintenance. They should be~ brought up to standard rapidly, to utilise fully an important asset. As far as possible private enterprise should be encouraged to. accept the viability of Molesey as a recreational area, and to invest in the private amenities necessary to back up the public investment.
9 URBAN ENVIRONMENT
Molesey already has in parts (mainly the conservation area) an extremely pleasant urban environment. In addition, much of the rest of the area could be improved to reach a similar standard for a relatively modest expenditure.
Accordingly, a comprehensive plan should be produced, in conjunction ‘wtth the local amenity societies and associations, to landscape Molesey outside the conservation area - providing suitable visual interest, as well as indicating potential redevelopment.
Within the context of this plan parks should be provided locally for the use of each neighbourhood.
10 TRANSPORTATION
Molesey suffers from three main transport problems. Firstly, it is crossed by large amounts of through traffic. Secondly, a significant proportion of the residents commute to London. Finally, currently it has been selected to suffer a totally unacceptable share of th. aircraft noise from Heathrow.
a) ROADS
The major part of through traffic should be diverted to a new dual carriag~iway running from a new bridge across the Thames (linking with the proposed north/south Sunbury relief road and the M3), skirting west and south of the resevoirs, to the Scilly Isles. This would also provide a valuable orbital route and remove traffic from Walton, as well as allowing for better access to both Molesey and Hersham factory estates.
It would also be possible to construct a branch bypassing Ether to the west, and joining the A3 at West End Common. These new roads should be constructed with the minimum of demolition of houses, and with full regard for the effect on the environment - with the best possible landscaping, utilising cuttings and tunnels where necessary (for example under Sandown Park). In addition Hampton Court Way should still take the through traffic from from Kingston to the South.
Main access to Molesey, and limited through traffic to Walton, should then be confined to Hurst Road. However, this should be made safe for pedestrians by the prevision of regularly spaced controlled crossings, and a 30mph speed limit throughout, Through traffic should be discouraged from using residential roads.
b) RAIL
To ease the commuter problem British Rail should be persuaded to include through services from Hampton Court to Waterloo stopping only at Thames Ditton and Surbiton, as part of their improvement plans f or Southern Region. This would attract users to the underutilised station car park and relieve commuter loads in other areas. It would also be more attractive to visitors coming to Hampton Court, thus relieving road congestion.
c)BUS
Bus services are particularly important to a significant proportion of residents, as a prime means of transport, They must not, therefore, be allowed to deteriorate.
d) PARKING
The amount of street car parking should be reduced, by careful control and provision of further off—street parking in the critical area by Hampton Court Station. This latter parking area should be planned to cater for the increases resulting front GLC plans to switch commuters to rail travel. Improved parking for tourists visiting Hampton Court itself should be largely provided by the GLC.
e) AIRCRAFT NOISE POLLUTION
The very real pollution problems caused by restricting aircraft taking off front Heathrow to a narrow corridor over the area have been very fully documented and discussed. It is to be hoped that this is a temporary problem1 and, accordingly, it should not feature in the Structure Plan, except as a warning against similar future policies which unfairly discriminate against a section of the population,
11 SHOPPING
It is recognised that “locaP’ shopping only should be provided in )3olosey, with larger scale facilities at Kingston and Walt The prime centre, for this local shopping, should remain Walton Road, However, the smaller centres for each of the local communities should also be developed to meet housewives daily shopping needs within walking distanced The Bridge Road centre should additionally be developed to cater for the tourist market, giving Molesey an attractive shop window. Walton Road, which is currently a linear development (with the extremities rather less viable), should be reinforced to form a more compact shopping area, and at the same time form a town centre. To foster development of the the community the centre should be largely dedicated to local traders (with correspondingly low rents - perhaps even subsidised), with a bare minimum of national multiples,
Based on carefully developed plane, which should be produced in cooperation with the local amenity societies and associations, both Bridge Road and Walton Road should be progressively pedestrianised. This must be very sensitively handled, with positive landscaping of the street scene and more than adequate provisions for car parking and traders deliveries.
12 PUBLIC AMENITIES NEEDED
a) All year round (covered) swimming pool and training pool,
b) New pavilions on local recreation grounds (Walton Rd. and Hurst).
c) Community centres.
d) More, and better equipped, meeting halls.
e) Landscaping of the riverside, and provision of refreshment and toilet facilities.
t) Facilities for mooring, together with effective slipway provision.
g) Acquisition of any of the remaining large private open spaces, if it is seen to be at risk (likely candidates including Wates riverside land, Royal Exchange sports ground, and Trocoll sports ground) and its subsequent maintained use as open space (but for public use - and under no circumstance for housing, either public or private).
h) Provision of more childrens' play equipment on the open spaces.
i) Tennis courts, bowling greens and leisure facilities generally.
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