I am pleased to report back to you following the public meeting that we held on 21 March. We called the meeting to discuss the challenging issues facing Esher town centre and to hear your views as to how these might be improved/addressed.

Many thanks to the sixty plus people who attended and thank you also to Sandown Park Racecourse for allowing us use of their premises.

We were also heartened to hear from so many residents who did not attend but who responded to our ‘Change Esher’ emails and leaflets and for the numerous informative and varied comments received.

The meeting lasted 90 minutes and we heard from ERA Councillors Richard Williams and David Young and also from ERA Committee Member Simon Smith whose vision for Esher High Street was published in the ERA’s November 2022 Newsletter (available on the ERA website). We also heard from numerous residents about their concerns and views regarding the town centre.

One of the key points that came out of the meeting is that residents want some action now rather than in ten plus years’ time!

We have now drawn all the comments together and earlier this week I wrote to the Head of Planning and Environmental Health at Elmbridge Borough Council, Ms Kim Tagliarini. I asked her to take account of the views expressed when analysing the response to the Council’s ‘Vision for Esher town centre’ consultation which ran last month. A copy of that letter can be viewed here:

We will keep you posted with further updates as and when information becomes available and we will be following up with Elmbridge to see what comes out of their public consultation.

In the meantime please feel free to get in touch if you have any further views/ comments or simply to provide us with information that may be helpful to us in our ‘Change Esher’ campaign.