A man with Kingston running through his veins is retiring from the residents' association he spent 35 years tirelessly fighting developments with.

Ken Peay is Southborough Residents’ Association’s (SRA) longest serving member and served as its chairman in the 1980s.

His experience and knowledge of planning issues have seen SRA fight tooth and nail against key, major developments in the Southborough area.

Mr Peay said: “It’s time to step down. I’m 84 now and nobody goes on forever, and it’s a job for younger people.

"I’ve enjoyed it very much, and it’s something I did for a very long time, but everything comes to an end."

In 1978, he played a key part in saving 16 Langley Avenue, a large house with two-and-a-half acres of garden.

A developer intended to demolish it, and when builders started to remove the roof before final planning permission was granted, SRA staged a spontaneous sit-in until a stop notice was produced to halt demolition.

His longest, and most difficult planning battle was against Thames Water’s plans to develop Surbiton’s historic filter bed site, where it was discovered that cholera was a water-borne disease.

Between 1996 and 2003, five planning applications and three appeals were fought there, although a new application is about to be submitted, albeit in a very different form.

He also joined forces with the Surrey Comet campaign to save the now condemned Kingston’s Magistrates Courts from closing in 2002.

Through tireless campaigning, he has reduced the density of a number of redevelopments, blocked a mobile phone mast application, devised a parking strategy that has since been adopted by Kingston Council, and prevented the building of two supermarkets.

A spokesman for SRA said: "There is no doubt that the present pleasant and beautiful Southborough estate owes a huge amount to Ken’s work over his long time with the association, and for that we all owe him our deep gratitude for his caring for this special part of Surbiton and Kingston."