Chessington District Residents' Association
Working for the residents in the South of the Borough of Kingston upon Thames
On 9th June 2025, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a significant new initiative to modernise the planning system using AI (artificial intelligence). Its aim is to help deliver 1.5 million new homes across the country by streamlining administrative processes to speed up the planning process.
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Thank you to everyone who came along to the Methodist Church for our AGM on 17th June. It was good to see so many new faces as well as old friends. We heard from two very knowledgeable and interesting speakers: Grant Henderson from Your Healthcare and local historian and author Mark Davison. The speakers fielded lots of questions from residents and have kindly provided a summary of their talks on our website.
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The Mayor of Kingston’s Civic Service took place at All Saints Church in Kingston upon Thames on Sunday, 8th June 2025. The service was attended by the new Mayor and Deputy Mayor, along with other dignitaries and members of the community.
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We had a great time at Celebrate Chessington on 29th May 2025, and we weren’t the only ones! The event was well attended with visitors enjoying the funfair, face painting, old military vehicle display, singing and dancing, stalls and refreshments. Thanks to everyone who came by the CDRA stall. We were delighted to meet the new Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Noel Hadjimichael, and welcome him and Deputy Mayor and local councillor, Sue Ansari, to our stall.
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Do you remember the roadhouse at the Ace, or when Chessington World of Adventures was the Zoo? Perhaps you browsed through the records at Woollies on Hook Parade or remember the RAF camp? To celebrate our 50th anniversary, we want to hear your memories of Chessington past. We will share them on our website, social media and at our Annual General Meeting.
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Councillor Noel Hadjimichael, Liberal Democrat councillor for Canbury Gardens Ward, has been appointed the 191st Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kingston. Having lived in Kingston since emigrating from Australia in March 2016, Councillor Hadjimichael has been a councillor for Canbury Gardens Ward since May 2022. We are pleased that our local Councillor Sue Ansari, Liberal Democrat councillor for Hook and Chessington North Ward, has been appointed as Deputy Mayor.
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You may have noticed increased activity around the leisure centre site in Kingston recently. The enabling works for Kingston’s long-awaited new leisure centre have commenced. Carried out by the council’s construction partner, Pellikaan, early activity includes the creation of a temporary site access and pruning of trees in line with planning permission. According to Councillor Olly Wehring, chair of Kingston and North Kingston Neighbourhood: “The hoarding has been extended to include the playground (the new playground on Fairfield is now open). Construction work should start next month – just waiting on the discharge of the pre-commencement planning conditions.”
The new leisure centre is due to open in Spring 2027.
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For many south of the borough residents, Epsom Hospital is their local hospital, yet there are no regular bus services to get to the hospital. We’re campaigning for the 467 bus route to run more frequently and go to Epsom hospital every trip.
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As part of its work to keep Londoners up to date with what they are doing in local areas, the Met Police has established a new platform called Met Engage. Met Engage allows you to receive updates from your local neighbourhood officers about newsletters, crime prevention advice, updates on what they are doing, crime alerts in your area and publishing events such as crime prevention workshops, bike marking events, met engagement surveys. Please note that this is not a crime-reporting platform.
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Councillor Lorraine Dunstone tells us that TfL stopped issuing Penalty Charge Notices from 28th March and that they are cancelling all PCNs from 22nd February 2025 to 28th March 2025 inclusive. This does not include PCNs issued for stopping on double red lines. Ace Parade customers who have received a relevant PCN for this period will be notified of the cancellation. If you have already paid a PCN it will be refunded.
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