Thursday, March 28Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Tag: Runnymede Borough Council

Out Of Service
News, Opinion

Out Of Service

Egham High Street’s electric rising bollars have not worked for several weeks now. The bollards were installed in March 2017 by Surrey County Council (SCC) in order to prevent drivers from entering the street between Monday to Saturday from 11am to 4pm. The High Street is therefore a pedestrianised zone during these times. In recent weeks, the bollards have not been working and many cars have been driving and parking on the street during the day. While there are signs at the entrance to the High Street stating that it is a pedestrian-only area, many drivers are ignoring this and driving up and down the street anyway. According to Get Surrey, Egham resident Anthony Houlden has “reported this porblem numerous times to Runnymede Borough Council (RBC) and SCC” but the issue has persisted. H...
Ruby Wines and Village Pizza Face Eviction
News

Ruby Wines and Village Pizza Face Eviction

Ruby Wines and Village Pizza are reportedly being threatened with eviction from their rented properties on Victoria Street in Englefield Green. The owners of both establishments told customers about the situation through notices posted in each storefront’s window. Each notice claimed that the landlord was threatening eviction upon the end of each proprietor’s lease in order to open up the spaces for a dental practice instead. This was confirmed by the owner of Ruby Wines, Vikas Sohal, better known as Nick, who stated that he and the owner of Village Pizza were given a written notice of this by their landlord earlier this month. A planning application for this “dental surgery” has been submitted to Runnymede Borough Council (RBC) by the landlord. The application also includes plans ...
Plans to build student accommodation in Egham town centre rejected by Council
News

Plans to build student accommodation in Egham town centre rejected by Council

Runnymede Borough Council (RBC) has refused plans to build 105 student accommodation units in Egham. The decision, made on December 6, comes after proposals made in July 2017 to demolish existing buildings and construct student units at 40 and 41 High Street. The accommodation units, which would have housed Royal Holloway students, have been a topic of controversy among Egham locals. Chris Fisher, planning co-ordinator of the Egham Residents’ Association, described the RBC’s decision as a “rare and encouraging victory”. Fisher has previously claimed that “Egham is relentlessly being turned into a further campus of Royal Holloway." The RBC stated that the proposal was refused because of its “scale and height compared to surrounding buildings”, adding that the units would “fai...
Residents Dissatisfied over Ashdene House
News

Residents Dissatisfied over Ashdene House

Ashdene House on St Jude’s Road, Englefield Green is being considered as new student accommodation flats. Planning application for the building to be demolished and then rebuilt as 29 student flats was registered a few weeks ago. Many residents in Englefield Green were not pleased with these proposals. In fact, at a public consultation on Oct 4 of this year, 89 people were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding the issue. 83% of the respondents did not want Ashdene House to be turned into student flats and would prefer it to be given over to social housing schemes. People in the popular Facebook group ‘Englefield Greenies’ have commented their stark objections to this student accommodation. One person said that “the green is fast becoming a campus”. Others spoke up about the noi...
Final year facts on council tax
News

Final year facts on council tax

  Beth Carr explores the practicalities for those who have to pay council tax and what the SU are doing about it. Term is drawing to a close and amongst the pizza menus and estate agent brochures, final year students are receiving another form of unwanted mail: council tax bills. However, unlike your usual junk mail, these bills are serious and they must be paid. What is Council Tax and who has to pay? Council Tax pays for services provided by the council, such as libraries, schools and the emergency services. Every householder has to pay this, and with multiple occupants each person is liable, jointly and severally - this means that they all are responsible for the bill together but are also individually responsible for paying. Full-time students are exempt from payi...