Knaphill Latest

Parking in the Broadway, Knaphill

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:06:00 -0400

Once again villagers are experiencing the wrath of of drivers parking on the pavement at the top of the Broadway, Knaphill outside the Simla Spice Indian takeaway. These drivers’ selfish actions are causing people on mobility scooters and mothers with pushchairs or prams to step into the road to get around the obstructions.

This issue has been a major problem for residents now for a number of years and was not helped by the opening of Pizza Domino just across the road 4 years ago. There never seems to be a policeman, community support officer or parking officer around to tackle this problem.
Perhaps some railings could be erected to discourage parking altogether. This would mean that drivers could use the free car park around the corner opposite the Vyne and keep the pavements clear for proper users – such as pedestrians!

Crown Pulls Plug on Live Music

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:40:00 -0400

It’s a crying shame that live music in Knaphill has had to come to an end because of the persistent and selfish actions of one resident. Following a series of complaints by the same person. The Crown pulled the plug on Saturday 05 June with The Coasters potentially being the last band to play at the venue. The pub has hosted the Knaphill Village Music Festival since 2007 and has showcased many great bands such as Frayed Not, Arachna, Presence, Six Miles Away, The Hitch-Hikers and many, many more. This now means that this year’s festival scheduled for October is in serious jeopardy as an alternative venue will now need to be found. Those in the seat of ‘power’ who have forced this issue should take a long hard look at themselves – there has to be a better way of scoring ‘brownie points’ rather than reacting to the claims of one single resident instead of the majority who have now had a wonderful source of entertainment in the village taken from them. This unfortunately comes just a week after the pub owner met with a local councillor to resolve alleged noise issues and it did look like some progress was being made.

The Crown Public House, Knaphill

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:38:00 -0400

Rightly or wrongly The Crown public house has been lambasted by Councillor Olly Wells in a recent item on his Lib-Dem blog page. Mr Wells may think he has a bit of a point but should be aware that pubs in the area serve cross sections of the Knaphill community. The Crown in particular is a working men’s community pub where labourers congregate after work, and yes some may appear to be brash and unsavoury in their behaviour. Like it or not you will get the same scene in any town or village across the UK. The Crown has been previously fined for noise abatement issues connected with its live music evenings because of a continued vendetta against the pub and its customers by one Highclere Road resident. The landlord has since reduced the noise levels of bands and halted proceedings at 11:30pm. He continues to provide a good community service to his clientele but is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea as he tries to keep an even keel. Contributory factors are the smoking ban, the council’s refusal to grant planning permission for a proper smoking shelter and an extention to the existing building. A simple porch would solve many of the alleged problems. The brewery are also at fault as they will not subscribe to other improvements such as sound proofing for instance!

It will now be interesting to see if our elected councillors can actually get things moving with the real things that need addressing in Knaphill rather than picking on a pub landlord who has done more for the community and local charity than they ever will!

http://ollywells.mycouncillor.org.uk/2010/05/21/crown-public-house-knaphill/

http://www.crownpubknaphill.co.uk

www.theknaphillian.com

Canal Towpath 'Race Track' in Knaphill

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:37:00 -0400

There was a time when local residents could take a leisurely stroll along the Basingstoke Canal towpath with their families and dogs and enjoy a relaxing afternoon away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Sadly, with the advent of the Cycle Woking initiative this peaceful pass time is nearly lost. We had noted some ‘interesting’ posts regarding cyclists on our Village Forum at www.theknaphillian.com and have now experienced first hand, the cause of some villagers’ concerns.

It seems that many (not all) cyclists now believe that because the towpath has been resurfaced, they can treat it like a race track. This is obviously very dangerous and it won’t be too long before someone gets seriously hurt. Add to that the total lack of manners by many riders who believe they now have ‘right of way’, a walk along the Basingstoke Canal in Knaphill is unfortunately not the pleasant stroll it used to be.

Local Business Adopts a Tree in Knaphill

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:34:00 -0400

A Surrey business, the creative design agency Something Big, has adopted a tree at Barley Mow Wood in Knaphill to further show its support for one of its corporate charities The Woodland Trust which manages the 25 acre site. The woodland area lies between Barrs Lane and Barley Mow Lane. The Woodland Trust is the UK’s principle woodland conservation charity managing over 1,000 sites throughout the country. Chertsey based Something Big became a corporate partner of the Woodland Trust in 2009 and chose to sponsor an area of woodland local to its offices as a means of offsetting its excessive paper use as well as giving something back to the local community. The company’s recent decision to adopt a tree in Knaphill is part of the trust’s tree dedication service – which assists with the long-term care and well-being of specific trees – further demonstrates this support.

Sally Pritchett, a director at the agency states: “As a design agency, we use our fair share of paper which is why we chose to sponsor an organisation committed to conserving and replenishing trees and woodland areas. And being a Surrey-based business, we also wanted to give back to the local community which is why Barley Mow Wood in Knaphill was the ideal choice. The emergence of e-marketing and social media has considerably reduced the amount of paper businesses now use, however, there is still a need to offset that paper use and supporting the Woodland Trust is a great way of doing this.”

Katherine Jaiteh, corporate fundraiser of the Woodland Trust, added: “The Woodland Trust’s vision is to see the UK rich in native woods and trees enjoyed and valued by everyone. We are therefore delighted Something Big is supporting us by sponsoring an acre of Barley Mow Wood and adopting a tree within it.” – Barley Mow Wood is open to the public and home to 48 different tree species. For further information visit www.woodlandtrust.org.uk.

Courtesy: Claire Dee