We have actively campaigned against the planning application for 54-58 Overton Road and were delighted when the Development Control Committee, after considering a paper in which our objections were recorded, threw it out, on Wednesday 5 September.

Although the development is not in Sutton South Ward it is right next to the Ward, as the Ward boundary runs down the middle of Overton Road. Our residents are among those affected by and objecting to this proposal.

We objected to the proposal on the grounds that it is overdevelopment of the site, with 50 dwellings crammed in. It is the type of low-quality accommodation that we continue to oppose in Sutton South Ward, where so many houses have been demolished to give way to flats. There is as a result a shortage of larger family homes and many children grow up in a flat with no garden. In addition, as many objectors pointed out, the provision for car parking (33 car parking spaces for 50 dwellings) was inadequate and will lead to great pressure on parking, with additional demand for parking in an area that is already fully parked up much of the time.

We will continue to oppose this type of development. We oppose the demolition of family homes to make way for blocks of small flats as it is leading to an imbalance of housing in the Ward. Unfortunately the developer can appeal to the Planning Inspectorate and in both Albion Road and Eaton Road (the site pictured above) there are current examples of houses demolished after the Council rejected the application but the Planning Inspectorate granted it. We cannot control that aspect of the process but will continue our campaign to protect the quality of housing, and life, in Sutton South.