Resident served with Sutton’s first ‘Acceptable Behaviour Contract’

A resident has been served with Sutton’s first ‘Acceptable Behaviour Contract’ for the alarm and distress caused to her neighbours by her dogs.

The 24-year-old female dog owner, who lives in a block of flats in Langley Park Road, Sutton, allowed her two Staffordshire Bull Terriers called ‘Roxy’ and ‘Governor’ to:

  • Run out of control off the lead
  • Jump up and intimidate residents
  • Carry on barking for long periods

In addition, she also repeatedly failed to clear up after her pets.

Police decided to take formal action following an incident on Friday 30th March when her dogs ran out of their home in pursuit of a man making a delivery in Langley Park Road. The man was forced to run and jump onto a vehicle to avoid being bitten.

As a result the resident was sent a letter on the 13th April advising that this incident had come to the attention of police. A second letter was sent on 2nd July after her dogs had continued to behave in an unacceptable way.

This second letter included an Acceptable Behaviour Contract – a voluntary agreement between the resident and Sutton Council, the Met Police in Sutton and London and Quadrant Housing Trust – the resident’s landlord.

The contract only named one of her dogs – Governor – as she had given up Roxy at around this time. The conditions in the agreement include:

  • The dog being kept on a lead no longer than three metres in a public place including Langley Park Road, public footpaths and roads within Sutton borough
  • Clearing up after her dog
  • Regularly exercising her dog

Failure to comply with the agreement may result in an Anti-Social Behaviour Order being obtained to stop the resident causing harassment, alarm or distress and the tenancy agreement being reviewed and even revoked.

The action is part of borough’s Local Environmental Awareness of Dogs (LEAD) initiative to make owners of all breeds of dog aware of their responsibilities to their pet and the wider community.

Since August 2011 a total of 27 letters have been sent to residents whose dogs have come to the notice of police.

PC Heath Keogh, of Sutton Police station, who is co-ordinating the LEAD initiative for the borough, said: “Whilst we want to work with residents to reduce the nuisance and concerns caused by their pets, we are equally determined that we will take whatever action we need to make sure that this happens in reality.

“The bottom line for Sutton residents is a breach of an ASBO which could result in five years jail or a fine or both, and a possession order leading to a tenant’s eviction, for those in rented accommodation.”

The LEAD initiative was prompted by the fatal dog attack in Demesne Road, Wallington, on 23 December 2010, when a 52-year-old woman died after being attacked by a dog.

LATE NIGHT NOISE DANGER AVERTED

We were recently approached by residents in Worcester Road concerning the licence application to re-open the former “Academy” public house in Grove Road as a nightclub. They were concerned at a likely impact on late night noise problems in the area.

Following discussions with residents, Richard submitted representations on the prevention of public nuisance to Sutton’s Licensing Committee, and spoke at the public hearing held on 28 March.

He pointed out that it would be a matter of concern for premises so close to many residential properties to be offering music, dancing, films and sale of alcohol (for consumption on and off the premises) until 4.30am, seven nights a week, and then – after a break of just a few hours – starting again at 9.00am.  The application, if approved, would lead to an unacceptable degree of public nuisance, particularly due to noise from people coming away from the premises into neighbouring streets in the early hours of the morning.

Although the premises are not in Sutton South Ward, some of the people coming away from the club in the early hours would walk through our Ward. Concerns had been raised by the police about disturbance and noise late at night, drunken people walking home, alcohol-related brawls and anti-social behaviour. The application should be refused. 

We are pleased say that the application was refused, the Committee citing in particular problems with noise, community impact and alcohol-related crime.

ON YOUR SIDE …..

The new "disabled" car bay outside Fiske Court

As active Councillors, we are continually taking up problems brought to us by local residents. It gives a warm feeling if we can solve the problem.

Two recent examples illustrate the range of issues we deal with. A disabled resident at Fiske Court in Cavendish Road has had the problem that she parks her mobility car, which she depends on to get around, in the “disabled” parking bay outside Fiske Court. This is right under a lime tree and the sap means the car gets very dirty. She is unable to wash the car herself due to her disability and has to get it washed frequently, which is expensive in terms of time and money. We have now got the bay moved so it is no longer under the lime tree.

The other example is more problematic. We were alerted by residents to problems with the waste bins at Grosvenor Court in the Brighton Road. This is not the first time there have been such problems. Grosvenor Court is a large block of mansion flats above a row of shops and restaurants in Regent Parade. A set of waste bins at the back of Regent Parade are used by both the businesses and by residents. However, the businesses have their own bins for trade waste. There have been instances when the trade waste has wound up in the bins meant for residents and the volume has meant there has been a dreadful problem of overflowing rubbish.

The most recent problem seemed to arise from one of the businesses in Regent Parade putting its trade waste in bins that were not for this waste. We arranged for the Council’s enforcement team to make an inspection and they concluded that due to the failure of previous attempts to encourage the owner to manage his waste in a responsible manner they would issue a Fixed Penalty Notice. We hope that this will be enough to prevent this issue from re-occurring in the future. Everyone is sorry that things reached this point, but it seemed that the problem would not go away unless it became clear that action would be taken, and it important people know that as active local Councillors we will prompt the Council to take action to protect the interests of residents when problems like this occur.

ACTION ON SAFETY PROBLEM AT MAYFIELD ROAD / RIDGWAY TRIANGLE

The Triangle

Richard has intervened with Council officers to sort out a potential road safety problem at the triangle in the middle of the road where Mayfield Road meets The Ridgway. The opportunity was taken, at the same time, to confirm with residents whether they want any changes made to the layout of this attractive local feature.

The small triangle of land at this road junction is planted with cotoneaster bushes and three flowering cherry trees. It is understood that up to about the mid-1980’s the area was grassed, though with the trees, and it was planted with cotoneaster bushes at the initiative of local residents. It is believed that there was an understanding that the residents would maintain the bushes, but the bushes have always been maintained by the Council.

Correspondence between residents about the maintenance of the cotoneaster bushes led Richard to convene a meeting at the triangle on 9 August 2012, attended by Bill Bailey, the Council officer in charge of the maintenance of hedges, and several local residents.

Mr. Bailey explained that the Council treated the cotoneaster bushes as a slow-growing hedge and cut them twice a year, normally in July and September. The difficulty arose with the first cut, as advice from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds was not to cut any hedges till August, and by then it is likely that the cotoneaster bushes will have grown to a height that means they are interfering with the visibility of drivers. Drivers coming from Mayfield Road have difficulty seeing cars coming down The Ridgway, from the left, as they are obscured by the bushes. In recent years the cut had been scheduled for July but he had usually been alerted by a local resident to a developing safety problem and had immediately arranged for the bushes to be trimmed, ahead of their position in the schedule. The Council would be happy to adopt any solution that was acceptable to the residents.

In discussion the following points were made:

– it seemed unlikely that birds would nest in these bushes, and residents did not believe that this was a real likelihood. Mr. Bailey said that the contractors would always check in any case, and he had no problem about arranging that the first cut would be earlier

– options such as paving the edge of the area or reverting to grass had been proposed but were unpopular with residents, who generally liked the layout of the triangle as it is

– an option would be to cut back the cotoneasters at the corners or along the part of the triangle fronting The Ridgway, but these solutions too would be unpopular

– the problem could be avoided by scheduling an earlier cut, with the additional safeguard that any resident who felt a problem was arising before the first cut could contact the Council or a local Councillor (three LibDem Councillors live in The Ridgway), and the Council would arrange an immediate inspection and cut (if necessary). This was agreed to be the best solution.

Mr. Bailey has now written to the Council’s contractors instructing that next year the first cut will be in June. This will eliminate the potential road safety problem but without making more radical changes to the triangle that residents do not want.

Richard said “There was a potential road safety issue here and I was pleased I was able to sort it out. It was good to take the opportunity to take views on the layout of what is an attractive feature of the area. I am glad we are not going to change it but can at the same time deal with the problem these bushes can cause.”

ENDING THE SCOURGE OF EMPTY HOMES

Sutton Council has launched a consultation on proposals to change Council tax payment requirements and entitlement to Council tax benefit. This results from changes proposed by the Government to “localise” Council tax benefit payments.

The Government’s proposals provide opportunities but present major problems. They enable Sutton to adopt its own scheme of entitlement to Council tax benefit (paid to those in hardship to help them make Council tax payments) but since the funding provided by the Government has been cut to 90% of the previous level the scheme Sutton will be required to adopt is bound to be less generous than the current scheme.

You can see the full proposals by clicking on this link.

The one positive aspect is that it will enable Sutton, subject to consultation, to remove incentives for people to keep properties empty, by removing discounts that enable people with empty homes and second homes to pay less council tax. 

While the new scheme for paying Council tax benefit is less generous, the Council has sought to protect the elderly, the disabled and those with small children. This is in accordance with our principled belief, as Liberal Democrats, in fairness and helping the disadvantaged.

Richard, as vice-chair of the Housing, Economy and Business Committee, is closely involved in this work. He says “no-one wants to introduce a less generous scheme for payment of Council tax benefit, but Government decisions force us to do this. The one ray of light in these proposals is that we can put pressure on people who are keeping properties they own empty to get them back into the housing market. When properties are in short supply we cannot afford to have homes remaining empty.”

CAN WE IMPROVE SAFETY AT THE KINGS LANE BRIDGE ?

While we are concerned about safety at the Hillcroome Road / Kings Lane single track railway bridge, we have some concerns about proposals to change the layout of the Kings Lane bridge currently being put to our local committee by Sutton’s traffic engineers.

As your local Councillors, we have had discussions with traffic engineers about whether some simple steps could be taken to improve the safety of pedestrians and cars at the Kings Lane bridge adjacent to Hillcroome Road, at the far north east of Sutton South Ward.

The single lane road with no pavement means pedestrians have to walk in the road. Drivers have poor visibility as to whether a car is coming the other way and are frequently uncertain as to when to advance. The picture above illustrates the problem, as the lady with a buggy and a toddler hurries to get across the bridge while a car waits at the far side for her to get out of the way. 

Some major restructuring such as putting in a separate pedestrian bridge is unaffordable and would be disproportionate. We have considered whether more minor improvements would help, such as mirrors, steps to improve visibility, better or different signage, building out the pavement at the Hillcroome Road end to alter the alignment of vehicles as they approach, etc. The changes we championed to the layout of the road passing under the bridge at Grange Vale (reported in a post elsewhere on this site, “Action to improve safety at the Grange Vale bridge”, see archive for February 2012) have shown that it is possible to make improvements through some simple steps.

We are interested in the views of local people on what is feasible or useful and would like you to contact us if you have a view.

The proposal to change the layout at the Hillcroome Road end to “straighten up” cars approaching from that end is worth considering but would probably have little impact on the risk. We favour more public consultation on possible proposals,

GARDEN WASTE COLLECTIONS RE-START NOW

Garden waste collections re-start from Monday 16 April 2012 and run until Friday 14 December 2012. Each household can put out, free of charge:

*  two Council authorised 120 litre reusable sacks, or

*  three 70 litre jute sacks (additional single use 70 litre biodegradable sacks can be purchased for £1 per sack).

Just put out the sacks on the day of your normal re-cycling collection, starting Tuesday 24 April in our Ward. 

FREE GARDEN WASTE SACKS ARE AVAILABLE FROM BOROUGH LIBRARIES.

There is a more general re-organisation of waste collection services taking place at this time. It will not alter waste collection arrangements in our Ward in that bins will still be collected on Tuesdays across almost all of the Ward, but the time of bin collections might change in some roads. The collection in Westmoreland Drive is on Wednesday.

A WORD OF THANKS TO THE NATIONAL TRUST

We have written to the National Trust to thank them for the unwitting help they gave us when we pursued our objective of installing a small piece of children’s play equipment in the Devonshire Avenue Nature Area (DANA), so the area is better used. The inspiration for the wooden play equipment came from the NT installation at Box Hill. Our letter explains all and reads as follows: 

“Dear National Trust.
In a world of grant applications and “evidencing” everything, we thought you would find the following useful.
 
The children’s natural play area in Box Hill has been imitated.
 
We now have similar play equipment in the Devonshire Avenue Nature Area (DANA) in the London Borough of Sutton.
 
This tiny, one acre reserve is surrounded by blocks of flats.  The nearest playground for children is over a mile away.  But the nature area is home to the very rare small blue butterfly.  There was an inevitable conflict between the conservationists, who wanted no “nasty modern looking stuff that looks like it has come from Disney land” and local families desperate for somewhere to take their children.
 
We were able to show that the National Trust have achieved that balance at Box Hill.  Using your play area as inspiration we were able to work with the locals and the conservationists to achieve a happy compromise.
 
The result, we hope is a much improved Nature Area, where more children come to play and the precious small blue butterfly is still protected.  But most important of all, we now have a chance to educate the visitors about the importance of nature conservation and what to look for in their area.
Thank you for your inspiration.
Cllr Mary Burstow       (Sutton Play Champion)
Cllr Heather Honour  
Cllr Richard Clifton   (Sutton South Ward Councillors)”

WHAT A WASTE!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Heather visited the Viridor Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) in Lakeland near Sough yesterday, 29th February, with Councillor Mary Burstow.

Their aim was to observe at first hand the operation of an ERF similar to that proposed on land currently used as the Beddington landfill site.  This is particularly important given their roles as Vice Chair and Chair of Sutton’s Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee.

For  more information on future plans for the Beddington site visit:    http://www.slwp.org.uk/