WELCOME TO OUR SITE

Ed, Richard and Trish at our outdoor surgery in Brighton Road

Richard and Trish on the top of the Subsea7 building during its construction

Contact Richard at  richardclifton@suttonlibdems.org.uk and Trish at trishfivey@suttonlibdems.org.uk

and Ed at ed@suttonlibdems.org.uk

Richard’s charitable appeal, as Mayor of Sutton for 2016-17, to support Sutton Shopmobility and the Alzheimer’s Society, raised over £26 000.

R and T at station small

Welcome to our site. This site aims to tell you the latest news about Sutton South Ward and our work as your local Councillors.

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OR CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO GO TO OUR SPECIFIC PAGES

Sutton South Hello!
Find out about this pioneering local initiative to combat loneliness in Sutton

Public Art and Historic Buildings in Sutton South
Some of Sutton South Ward’s best public artwork and the important historic buildings in our Ward

Richard’s Blog
Richard reports back on his recent activities

Sutton police
Contact details and information on our local police force

Who Are We?
Trish and Richard introduce themselves

[ Printed, published and promoted by P Penneck on behalf of  Sutton Liberal Democrats all at rear of 694 London Road, Cheam, Sutton SM3 9BY ]

Trish with the Leader of the Council, the Mayor, Tom Brake MP and others, at the Sutton Peace March on 1 July

Richard’s granddaughter Olivia, aged 11 months, was christened on 4 March

The famous trumpet section of the Phoenix Concert Band – Roy, Richard, Alex, Basil – at our concert in Redhill on 3 March

A NECESSARY JOB

The Council have pruned the cotoneasters at the triangle where Mayfield Road and The Ridgway join Farm Road. Periodic pruning is an essential part of the maintenance programme for these shrubs, and if they grow too high it affects visibility for motorists. The pruning always looks severe and has a stark impact, but these shrubs are robust and grow again quickly. The snow on the day they were pruned makes the impact look particularly severe – contrast these pictures of the triangle on the day after the pruning and the triangle last summer.


 

CHECKING SPEED IN CEDAR ROAD

Jack has the speed gun

Cedar Road has a 20 mph limit but drivers often exceed it. On the last day of February Richard joined local police officers and Jack Hamilton, the former chair of the South Sutton Neighbourhood Association, in checking speeds with a “speed gun.” Those exceeding the speed limit will get a warning letter and action will escalate if they are caught again.

FREE GRIT SCHEME PROVES ITS WORTH

THE SNOW HAS ARRIVED

The last two winters have been fairly mild with not much snow, so many of us who collected free grit under the Council’s scheme to distribute free grit against icy weather in the last two years have still got the grit. This winter is, by contrast, proving severe and the cold weather at the end of February is demonstrating to all of us the value of the grit distribution scheme.

A PLAN FOR A SUCCESSFUL SUTTON

A green, pleasant, suburban environment – this is Sutton

Trish and Richard were members of the task group that drafted the new local plan for Sutton. After going through a process of public review by a Government Inspector, the plan was presented to and agreed by the Housing, Economy and Business Committee on 13 February. Richard addressed the Committee on what he saw as the virtues of the plan. The plan was endorsed by Council on 26 February and Richard again addressed the meeting, reminding Councillors that the process of public review – which can lead to major revision of such plans – left it virtually unscathed. The core policies of the plan survived without alteration, and are the central policies that have helped us maintain the pleasant, green, suburban character of Sutton our residents cherish. This is evidence of the strength of the document.

The plan supports development that is in keeping with the best in our local environment – preserving the green, suburban feel of Sutton while meeting the aspiration to have homes for our children to grow up here. The plan promotes good quality design, school places, the London Cancer Hub, surgeries, the protection of pubs, parks and open spaces, and minimum standards for housing. It also strengthens the protection of Conservation Areas and Areas of Special Local Character. It is our plan for a successful Sutton.

HISTORIC STRUCTURES IN SUTTON SOUTH WARD

At the Housing, Economy and Business Committee meeting on 13 February the Committee considered a draft of a publication that will list all the “locally listed” buildings in Sutton. Most people are aware that historic buildings might be “listed” to prevent their being inappropriately developed or demolished. This is, however, a national system, and local authorities can prepare lists of local structures that are of significance locally though not grand enough to go on the national list.

There are four such structures in Sutton South Ward.

  • the Registrar’s office (The Russetings) in Worcester Road, a Victorian house that it is believed the Walls family, famous for Walls ice cream and Walls sausages, lived in, though this is disputed
  • Stowford in Brighton Road, a Victorian house, now the Eagle House school
  • the pavilion of the Highfield Lawns tennis club at the junction of Mayfield Road and The Ridgway, as an example of an Edwardian tennis pavilion, build by local builder Percy Vere Windebank in 1908
  • a Victorian sewer vent pipe in Hillcroome Road, one of 24 in the area, manufactured at an ironworks (W. Macfarlane and Co.) in Glasgow and erected when mains sewerage came to the area in the nineteenth century.

Perhaps the most unusual of these is the sewer vent pipe, pictured above.

THE PLANNING INSPECTORATE AGAIN OVERTURNS LOCAL DEMOCRACY

The latest planning application for 7-9 Cavendish Road, for demolition of the building and erection of a block of 16 flats, was turned down by the Council. The Planning Inspectorate, on appeal, has overturned the Council’s decision.

The main objection was that the design of the building – with sixteen small flats crammed in – was unsympathetic to the pleasant, green, suburban character of the road.

The developers appealed to the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol against the decision. On 9 January Richard attended a hearing on the appeal conducted by the Planning Inspectorate, and spoke up for the interests of local residents. Richard helped the previous owner get permission for the change of use of the building from being a care home, when the care home closed, to being a residential property, as the owner said she intended to live in it. He also helped her get Sutton Housing Partnership to repair the fence at the back.

We regret that the national planning system allows developers to bypass local democracy and appeal to this remote body, whose decision is final. 

TIMETABLE SPELT OUT FOR ACTION ON RESULTS OF CONSULTATION ON THE SOLUTIONS TO PARKING ISSUES IN THE WARD

Are car clubs part of the solution?

Residents of Sutton South Ward have been consulted on problems and solutions concerning parking in the Ward. There has been a high response and the timetable for future action has been spelt out.

All residents received a consultation letter from Sutton Council relating to the parking issues in our Ward. When the Council’s Environment and Neighbourhoods Committee adopted the parking strategy in late 2016, involving a programme of consultation with residents over a period of time, we were pleased at the programme of consultation proposed but unhappy with the timescales. To undertake consultation in a way the traffic engineers could cope with, action in our area would not start till well into 2018. Following our campaign, this first stage has now been brought forward.

The consultation document recognises that there is a high demand for commuter parking near to Sutton train station and the town centre, in our Ward. The fact that part of our area is just outside the Sutton Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) means that there is more pressure on local roads, leading to parking problems being moved onto neighbouring streets.

The consultation will gather feedback from local residents in respect of parking pressures, issues and the days/times these are occurring to feed into wider analysis and development of options to progress to statutory consultation to address these issues.

The consultation ran until early January and response was via postage paid return envelope. Responses will be collated and analysed, the results to be fed back to consult on next steps. The timetable has now been spelt out and will involve analysis of responses and road-by-road results in the Spring, consultation on proposed options over the summer. If a clear consensus emerges there could be statutory consultation in the autumn and implementation by November.

There is more information at

www.sutton.gov.uk/parkingstrategy

PREVENTING SPEEDING: AND GRANGE VALE CLOSED AGAIN ON 5 FEBRUARY

Two speed signs – one in each direction – in Farm Road

Two new developments in our war on speeding – new speed indicator signs in Farm Road. These do have an impact on traffic speeds, as people are reminded how fast they are going. Where else should we have them?

And the width restriction has now been installed in Grange Vale to slow traffic passing under the bridge, which will be of benefit to pedestrians passing along the narrow pavement under the bridge against the flow of traffic (in particular if pushing a buggy).

Almost as soon as the width restriction was installed on 22 January it was vandalised, with one of the bollards being removed. This must have been done by someone with sophisticated cutting equipment. the road will be closed again on Monday 5 February for the bollard to be replaced.