Staines-upon-Thames & district · Local news you can trust
Halloween is Saturday 31 October: a free disco and pumpkin carving on Staines High Street, 11am to 3pm, plus pumpkin patches from £7.50 and Fright Nights.
Read the full story
Planning
Stanwell Hotel Approved: 53 Bedrooms Become 96
Spelthorne approved the Stanwell Hotel expansion on 10 September. Bedrooms rise from 53 to 96, parking stays at 42 spaces, and 22 residents objected.
Remembrance
Remembrance Sunday Staines 2026: Services in 7 Villages
Remembrance Sunday is 8 November 2026. Last year Staines formed up at 10.15am by the Elmsleigh Centre; here are all seven Spelthorne services and road closures.
Christmas
Santa's Grotto Staines 2026: Santa Trains, Free Grottos
Santa Specials run 12, 13, 19 and 20 December 2026 at the Kempton waterworks railway, £11 a child with a gift. Plus the free grottos in Shepperton and Staines.
Council
Spelthorne Charter Trustees Vote: Mayor Ends 2027
The Office of Mayor of Spelthorne ends on 1 April 2027 unless ministers agree. Councillors vote on Monday, and a precept could reach bills from 2028.
Planning
507 Homes on Sunbury Golf Club, Shepperton: 7 Oct Deadline
Comments close 7 October on 507 homes at Sunbury Golf Club, Shepperton. The council's own Green Belt study scored the site 5 out of 5 against merging.
Data
Spelthorne Claimants Hit 2,400: Sunbury Common Tops Surrey
2,400 Spelthorne residents were on the claimant count in August, the highest August since 2021, and Sunbury Common is now joint top of Surrey's 172 wards.
House prices
Staines House Prices Up £9,617 in July, Still Down 2.9%
Spelthorne's average home rose £9,617 in July to £439,609, the biggest monthly jump since August 2024. It is still 2.9% down, and Woking is £307 dearer.
Sunbury-on-Thames
Sunbury Tesco Licence Granted: Open 6am to Midnight
Tesco's Avenue Parade licence was granted despite 23 objections: alcohol 6am to 11pm, doors open to midnight. Objectors have 21 days to appeal to magistrates.
Community
Spelthorne Mum of Four Starts Overwhelmed Mums Club
Spelthorne mum of four Rachel Gully has started Overwhelmed Mums Club, with meet ups and an online group, and plans to make it a Community Interest Company.
Sunbury-on-Thames
Sunbury Tesco Licence: 23 Objections, Hearing Wed 16 Sep
Tesco wants the Budgens at Avenue Parade open 6am to midnight. Twenty-three residents have objected, and the licensing hearing is at 10am on Wednesday.
Spelthorne council
Spelthorne Council Thu 17 Sep: Surrey Authority, Office Sale
A four-member Surrey authority would take transport, skills and planning in 2027, and the public cannot respond. Spelthorne votes on Thursday.
Spelthorne Council
Ali G Staines Petition Rejected 6 Weeks Before the Film
Spelthorne councillors refused every ask in the 332-name Ali G petition on 8 September. The decision sheet gives no reasons, and the film lands on 23 October.
This is Thames-side Surrey, close enough to Heathrow that the flight paths are part of the weather. Staines-upon-Thames, which added the river to its name in 2012, sits at the middle of it, with Ashford, Sunbury-on-Thames and Shepperton downstream, and Egham, Chertsey, Addlestone and Virginia Water the other way, past Runnymede meadow where the Magna Carta memorials stand.
Staines Online covers both sides. They are in two different boroughs, which is why bin days and car park charges differ between towns a few minutes apart, and we name the right authority every time. Everything we publish comes from the councils’ own registers and papers, with a link to the document.
Every fact carries a link to the document behind it.