Borough of Spelthorne

Spelthorne is a local government district and borough in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Staines-upon-Thames; other settlements in the area include Ashford, Sunbury-on-Thames, Shepperton, Stanwell and Laleham. Spelthorne forms part of the historic county of Middlesex.

This article is about the district. For the constituency, see Spelthorne (UK Parliament constituency). For the hundred, see Spelthorne Hundred.

Spelthorne Borough Council
Non-metropolitan district, Borough
Coat of arms
Motto(s): 
Ad Solem Prospicimus
(Latin: We look towards the Sun)
Spelthorne shown within Surrey County Council
Coordinates: 51°26′N 0°30′W
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Constituent countryEngland
RegionSouth East England
Non-metropolitan countySurrey
Historic countyMiddlesex
StatusNon-metropolitan district, Borough
Incorporated1 April 1974
Admin HQStaines-upon-Thames
Government
 • TypeNon-metropolitan district council
 • BodySpelthorne Borough Council
 • LeadershipLeader & Cabinet, chamber politically: No overall control (Conservative-member leader)
 • MPsKwasi Kwarteng
Area
 • Total19.75 sq mi (51.16 km2)
Area rank272nd (of 317)[1]
Population
 (mid-2019 est.)
 • Total99,844
 • Rank243rd (of 317)
 • Density5,100/sq mi (2,000/km2)
 • Ethnicity
91.8% White
3.8% S.Asian
1.3% Black
1.7% Mixed Race
0.7% Chinese
0.7% Other
Time zoneUTC0 (GMT)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code43UH (ONS)
E07000213 (GSS)
OS grid referenceTQ045715
Websitewww.spelthorne.gov.uk

Spelthorne borders the London Boroughs of Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames to the north and east, the boroughs of Elmbridge and Runnymede in Surrey to the south, and the unitary authorities of Windsor and Maidenhead and Slough in Berkshire to the west.[2]

History
See also: Staines Urban District and Sunbury on Thames Urban District

Spelthorne appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Spelethorne, in Middlesex. Spelthorne was a hundred, where local landowners met about once a month. The Spelthorne hundred covered Poyle, once a farmstead of the parish of Stanwell,[3] Hatton, Bedfont (also called East Bedfont), Feltham and Hanworth in the modern London Borough of Hounslow and Teddington[n 1] and Hampton (historically including Hampton Wick, Hampton Hill and Hampton Court) in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.[4]

Hundreds dwindled in power as the medieval period drew to a close and were largely sources of revenue for certain overlords by the Tudor period, underlying freeholds and rights over their commons frequently held or divided among royalty or peers in a particular hundred. Ecclesiastical parishes assumed responsibilities for upkeep of public places and roads and apprehending wrongdoers, appointing churchwardens and constables to administer their areas. The poor law unions assumed responsibility for indoor and outdoor relief, later including workhouses:

  • Kingston Poor Law Union in the east[5]
  • Staines Poor Law Union in the west.[6]

In 1875, Sanitary Districts were created covering England and Wales.[7]

In 1889, Middlesex County Council was elected and formed pursuant to the Local Government Act 1888 and principally administered the area until 1965.

Under the Local Government Act 1894, in the area of the current borough responsibilities such as planning, sanitation and surface water drainage were conferred on the new bodies Staines Urban, Sunbury Urban and Staines Rural districts.

The 20th century saw the construction of the Two Staines Reservoirs (1901), Queen Mary (1931), King George VI (1947), and the Wraysbury Reservoirs (1970) in what is today's borough.

In 1930, most of Staines Rural District merged into Staines Urban District, with the remainder given to West Drayton and Feltham Urban Districts.

In 1965, when the rest of Middlesex, except for Potters Bar Urban District, was absorbed into the new county of Greater London, Staines and Sunbury-on-Thames Urban Districts were transferred to Surrey.

The Borough of Spelthorne was formed on the abolition of the urban districts and rural districts nationally in 1974.

The borough ceded a small amount of land in 1995, when Poyle was transferred to the Borough of Slough, as it was the only land outside the M25 motorway. Spelthorne, like Potters Bar and South Mimms, remained inside the Metropolitan Police District whose jurisdiction was aligned to Greater London in 2000; it then transferred to Surrey Police.

Spelthorne remains part of the Church of England Diocese of London and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster. The rest of Surrey falls into the Anglican dioceses of Guildford and Southwark, and the Roman Catholic diocese of Arundel and Brighton.

Floods in 2014 caused internal damage to 891 (or 2.2%) of homes in Spelthorne due to record rainfall causing Thames flooding. This compared to internal damage to more than 30% of homes in the neighbouring settlement of Wraysbury in the borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.[8]

In August 2014 a campaign group of local business leaders called for the borough – along with others close to the capital – to be transferred from the county of Surrey to Greater London. The proposal was generally opposed, and so not tabled as a motion, by representatives in either county.[9]

In June 2020 after the resignation of six Conservative Councillors, Spelthorne Borough fell in no overall political control (NOC) for the first time in the Borough's history.[10]

Parks, lakes and the River Thames

The borough estimates it has 750 acres (300 ha) (3 km²) of parks, including, from Shepperton upstream, the Thames Path.[11] Its sixteen main parks with recreational/sports facilities[12] are supplemented by small greens and linear parks, such as by the River Thames. The largest parks have woodland and flowering meadow. These support diverse and rare grasses, invertebrates and birds on a rich alluvial soil: Laleham Park and Sunbury Park.

The final great reduction of private parks was that of the early 20th century, a sale of Laleham manor demesne by the Earls of Lucan. The Jockey Club as owner of Kempton Park Racecourse is successor to the domain of the lords of the manor of Kempton – about 40% is a large nature reserve or its internal two large ponds abutting the Kempton Park Reservoirs Site of Special Scientific Interest, on Thames flood meadow.

The borough has five reservoirs, covering more than 15% of land, which apart from their main use of ensuring a stable and energy-efficient drinking water supply to London are bird reserves and in the case of the Queen Mary Reservoir, a sailing training centre. A similar percentage of land is covered by other lakes, mostly former gravel pits no longer pumped out of water. The 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) River Ash, Surrey starts and ends in the Borough.

Of recognised high importance to nature is Staines Moor, which alongside Sheepwalk Lake and wetlands, Shepperton are the sites of special scientific interest (SSSI).[13]

Two Rivers Retail Park and Elmsleigh Shopping Centre in Staines-upon-Thames. In 2016 there were:

  • 5,365 businesses (including retailers) in Spelthorne.
  • a 10 screen cinema with Dolby Digital Surround Sound.
  • 12 miles of river frontage for picturesque walks.
  • 65% green belt land or water – a green and blue buffer offsetting local major economic contributors Heathrow Airport and the UK motorway network

Hotels, take-aways and restaurants

Hospitality is widespread in the riverside towns and Sunbury and Staines town hubs being within 6 miles (9.7 km) of top UK attractions: Windsor Castle, Thorpe Park, Hampton Court, Twickenham Rugby Stadium and Kew Gardens.

Staines-upon-Thames, a main rail stop, is approximately 30 minutes to Central London.

Other land use

A January 2005 enhanced basemap study by the Office for National Statistics managed to classify 50.8 square kilometres (19.6 sq mi), 99% of land in Spelthorne. This showed that in this borough 20.954 square kilometres (8.090 sq mi) was Greenspace (fields, verges, woods and parks) and 11.165 square kilometres (4.311 sq mi) was water. The remaining land uses were:[14]

Domestic gardens8.495 square kilometres (3.280 sq mi)
Road3.919 square kilometres (1.513 sq mi)
Other land uses2.491 square kilometres (0.962 sq mi)
Domestic buildings2.403 square kilometres (0.928 sq mi)
Non-domestic buildings1.045 square kilometres (0.403 sq mi)
Path0.209 square kilometres (0.081 sq mi)
Rail0.134 square kilometres (0.052 sq mi)

Governance
See also: Spelthorne Borough Council

Political oversight and policy-making

Elections for Spelthorne Borough Council are held every four years for the whole council, rather than third-of-council elections.[n 2]

The 2 May 2019 Spelthorne Borough Council elections resulted in

The Conservative Party thus maintained their political majority.

On the 9th of June 2020, 6 Conservative Councillors, including Council leader Ian Harvey and Deputy leader Olivia Rybinski, resigned from the party, causing the Borough to fall in no overall control (NOC). This leaves the party's councillors without a governing majority for the first time in the Borough's history.[10]

Executive

The Leader, co-responsible with the management team with operational management, is Cllr John Boughflower. The Deputy Leader is Jim McIlroy. The next elections will be in early May 2023.

The management team consists of Daniel Charles Mouawad (Chief Executive), Terry Collier and Lee O'Neil (Deputy Chief Executives).

Ceremonial matters

In ceremonial and charity matters The Mayor of Spelthorne for the Civic Year 2020–21 is Cllr Colin Barnard.

Sport and leisure
Main article: Surrey § Sport

The district has two publicly sponsored leisure centres and two private clubs with pools, and two without pools:

  • Sunbury and Staines Leisure Centres
  • the Thames Club Staines
  • Virgin Active Sunbury
  • Pure Gym Staines and Sunbury

It has two golf courses.

School-taught English sports: cricket and football are played at many pitches; the third, rugby union is played at the London Irish Training Academy and their amateur sides' pitches in Sunbury. Staines Rugby Club play next to the Feltham-Hanworth-Sunbury tripoint in Lower Feltham.

Spelthorne has three football clubs – semi- or non-professional – as the top men's sides compete in the lower leagues:

Club Ground
Ashford Town (Middlesex) F.CThe Robert Parker Stadium, Short Lane, Stanwell
Spelthorne Sports F.C.Spelthorne Sports Club, Staines Road West, Ashford
Staines Town F.C.Wheatsheaf Park, Wheatsheaf Lane, Staines

Spelthorne hosts one of the county's major Archery Clubs, Spelthorne Archers and five lawn bowls clubs.

Fishing is open to all, subject to rod licensing,[15] from the Thames Path National Trail and adjoining islands in Laleham and Staines as well as at lakes in Shepperton and Ashford. One rowing club is in the borough, at Laleham, with others nearby including Staines Boat Club across Staines Bridge from the town centre which organises a regatta to Penton Hook in July for racing shells. Sunbury Skiff and Punting Club is the newest of all six which are quite clustered on the Thames, several of which incorporate dongola racing, dragon boat racing and canoeing. It organises an August regatta with fireworks.

In May the Staines 10k charity run takes place organised by two local running/'strolling' clubs and the council. One of the more than 720 nationwide 5,000-metre running competitions of the major organiser is around the rugby union club in its borders, which has a small nature reserve it owns to one end.[16]

Other venues hosting annual events in a range of sports are Kempton Park Racecourse and Staines Lammas Park.

Towns and villages

The stated proportion of land that is absorbed by domestic dwellings tends to be housing with gardens forming suburbs to London and otherwise has mid rise urban town centres with exceptional offices (in Staines-upon-Thames) and apartments (in Sunbury-on-Thames) which are high rise, including a minority of the social housing.

The non-urban parts, inclusive of the embanked water retaining reservoirs, are today for the most part Spelthorne's parks and lakes. The bulk of the rest is mostly narrow buffering land being arable farming, horse-grazing meadows and sheep grazing on the reservoir embankments and fringes with Green Belt legal status. Shopping is available in each of the towns and in the village of Shepperton but not in the other small villages which are connected by road and bus to the nearby towns. Kempton Park Racecourse and Shepperton Studios are in Spelthorne. Staines is the largest town and has local government and judicial buildings. Each of the towns has libraries and schools.

In July 2017, Shepperton was named as the UK’s most courteous town by the National Campaign for Courtesy.

Subsumed hamlets or manors
  • Kempton
  • Astleham: see Littleton, above and Queen Mary Reservoir, above.

Twinning
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See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. Per the survey, not in 1086 a manor
  2. In districts and boroughs an approximately equal bias exists as to these methods
  3. In Staines upon Thames post town. As with the first four places, these are ancient parishes, manors and were also in local services/improvements civil parishes from 1895 until 1974.[17]
  4. [3]
  5. Former hamlet of Stanwell. In Staines upon Thames post town. Its verges, grazing and hay meadow parts have mostly become part of Staines Moor from which they have been indivisible since the 1820s when both were inclosed (privatised) from an area of common land alongside the River Colne and later transferred to the local authority.[3]
  6. Former hamlet of Sunbury-on-Thames. In Shepperton post town.[18]
  7. Covers a small area as covered most of the Queen Mary Reservoir. Of sporadic use: half-rural, half-suburban streets with trees and verges. The streets adjoin other housing across the Ash in Shepperton Green; within Shepperton post town and this is the home of Shepperton Studios.[17]

References

  1. Office for National Statistics
  2. "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  3. Susan Reynolds (Editor) (1962). "Stanwell: Introduction". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 4 July 2013.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  4. Domesday Map Archived 21 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine website with details of 13 manors in the Hundred of Spelthorne
  5. Samuel Lewis (publisher) (1848). "Teddington, St Mary". A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  6. Samuel Lewis (publisher) (1848). "Hanworth, St George". A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  7. Public Health Act 1875
  8. "No flood defence work for worst hit towns" Chris Caulfield. Surrey Advertiser/Surrey Herald newspaper group. 20 April 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-02
  9. "Calls for Surrey towns to be part of London". BBC News. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2014
  10. Phillips, James (9 June 2020). "Six councillors quit Conservative Party at Spelthorne Borough Council saying membership 'untenable'". get surrey. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  11. Spelthorne BC Archived 16 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine Park and Open Spaces. Retrieved 2013-07-04
  12. Spelthorne BC Archived 8 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine Sports Facilities. Retrieved 2013-07-04
  13. SSSIs List and Management: Surrey Wildlife Trust.
  14. Land Use Statistics (Generalised Land Use Database) (2001 - 2005) Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  15. When you need a licence www.gov.uk
  16. https://www.parkrun.org.uk/events/events/#geo=9.8/51.4/-0.5
  17. William Page (Editor) (1911). "Ashford, Laleham, Littleton [and others outside of the borough]". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 2. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 4 November 2014.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  18. Susan Reynolds (Editor) (1962). "Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury [and others outside the borough]". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 4 November 2014.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  19. "Twinning with Melun, Île de France and Grand Port, Mauritius". Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
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