Quite a few people in the village have been expressing concerns over the long power failure following the heavy snowfall and the lack of gritting and clearance of local roads. They are asking what can be done as a community, as well as taking the matter up with Southern Electric and Surrey Highways Dept.

So what do you think? What were the problems and what could be done to minimise the disruption next time? Please post your comments below and maybe discuss the suggestions.

What I do know is that about a year ago we were told to expect a day without power in Hambledon so that the area would be swamped with engineers carrying out routine maintenance such that we would not experience major power failings in the future.Guess what,it was cancelled and as far as I know this maintenance did not take place,as we had no further notification.Therefore,could the recent failings be deemed negligence.Can we sue them as a village?Over to the legal ones.
P.J.U.

Re the snow.
When I was a boy I remember the snow ploughs out within a few hours of a heavy snowfall.At that was at Clacton-on-sea in Essex.The council offices were small and their pensions meagre.Now all we seem to have is too many chiefs all on fat pensions funded by us and not enough action on the ground.This is how civilisations are destroyed.Watch out for the rats and plague next!
P.J.U.

We agree that there is a need for action to be taken by Southern Electric. Hambledon suffers more, and longer, electicity cuts not only than other villages in the surrounding area but than most places in the country nationwide. We are told by friends and neighbours who grew up in the village that they used to maintain the lines much better in the past, regularly cutting back overhanging branches etc. We think that pressure should be brought to bear on Southern Electric to do this in the short term, and to speed up plans to put the lines below ground. Not everyone can buy a standby generator- and nor should they have to. The fact that people coped with the prolonged lack of power after the hurricane over twenty years ago is no reason to put up with the cuts now! We were pleased to hear that the Parish Council has already written to Southern Electric to this effect. Would it help if residents were also to write?

It would be easy to let the moment slip by, and just leave it to the Parish Council to await a response to its letter to Southern Electric. But I think Pippa is on the right lines when she suggests that people who lost power should write individually to express their dismay over the long loss of electricity and the hope that underground cables will be installed as soon as possible. What is needed is a written commitment from Southern Electric, which we can then hold them to. What about a parish petition, in addition to individual letters?
As far as ungritted roads are concerned, I know some local farmers and contractors did use their machines to clear some of our lanes. But to have a formal arrangement by way of an emergency plan may raise issues about who pays them and who insures them. And I would bet that although Surrey County Council highways department will not clear rural roads it will also tell us that we do not have the authority to do the job ourselves. Perhaps we should ask SCC to find out what our legal position is. Or would it be best to get on and make our arrangements without alerting them?

With the economic mess the country is in and the budget cuts which are inevitable in the next few years, I believe we need to do something as a community to help ourselves. Please could we have an emergency plan in place so that we are not snow bound, able to get our cars out and that the Postman is able to get to us. I think asking our local contractors to let us know what they could do and how much it would cost is a great idea. I think I heard a rumour that Waverely might even refund us the money? Also why are there not piles of salt strategically placed so that we can help ourselves and spread some salt over lanes like Woodlands road.

With regards to Southern electric, I think we all need to write to add weight to the campaign as there really is no excuse to be cut off for so long in this day and age.

It would certainly help to have more grit boxes (full of grit!!) in the village. At least then villagers could use their initiative and help grit their own roads because it is obvious that the council are NOT going to.

The other problem seems to be getting the council to clear debris (trees, branches, leaves and mud)off the Hambledon Road, caused by the snow and heavy rainfall and maybe do some proper shoring up of the banks. Also,the potholes are currently lethal. Perhaps the Parish Council could throw their considerable weight and get something constructive done - it is, afterall, the 2lst century and not the dark ages (although one could be excused for thinking it was the dark ages after experiencing 3 days of power failure after the overnight snowfall in January).

As per the Parish mag, we need a disaster recovery plan. We also need to do it in secret so that Waverley and Southern Electric don't think we can look after ourselves and ignore us completely.

What we'd do is
- identify the issues - roads need ploughing; no heating/cooking facilities; vulnerable people; trees down etc etc
- put a committee in place to draw up the plan and decide when it needs to be put into action
- invest in a couple of second hand generators.
- arrange with Richard Field or someone else local with a digger to put a snow plough on it and drive through the village
- instal the generators at some or all of the pub, the village hall and the shop
- keep a list of villagers with stoves
- keep another list of vulnerable people and have someone detailed to phone/trudge round them all
- make sure everyone has the option to get to somewhere warm with cooked food.
- keep someone else on the back of Waverley and Southern electric
- have a local plumber stood by for burst pipes.

The Parish Council has received replies from Southern Electric and Surrey Highways Department in response to its letters expressing concern over the disruption caused by the heavy snowfall in January.
The response from Southern Electric, in particular, is not encouraging. Please see the News section on this website for details of the replies.
It would seem that Southern Electric has no plans to put power cables underground. So what do we do now?