Sutton South Councillors were concerned to learn about changes proposed to the organisation of the Police Cadets, who meet at a school in our ward. Currently there are over 120 cadets. However, the decision has been made to close junior cadets and cut the remaining senior cadets to just 46. Their future programme is also being severely curtailed. This will have a major impact on the youth of this borough who will no longer have the opportunity to participate in activities such as camps, parades and Duke of Edinburgh awards.
Councillor Louise Phelan, whose son has been a Cadet, commented “I’ve seen first-hand the benefits of being part of police cadets. They learn valuable life skills, and gain self confidence. They also support the local community and get to take part in things they wouldn’t otherwise have had the opportunity to do. For many this is a stepping stone into a career within the police force, for others the Cadets help to keep them on the right path and make better life decisions. I am incredibly concerned others will now not get these opportunities.”
Richard has been trying to get Network Rail to cut back the vegetation on the railway bank adjacent to the southern bridge in Kings Lane as it obscures sight lines for motorists. Every autumn, after the vegetation on the railway bank has grown up, he has this correspondence with Network Rail. They have now cut back the undergrowth sufficiently for cars to be able to see if there are vehicles coming towards them across the bridge.
The police met residents of Sutton South Ward again on the evening of 25 September 2024, at Devonshire Avenue school. There are open, public meetings held quarterly at which the police discuss the policing of the Ward with local residents. We were addressed by our Ward Constable, Constable Robyn Skivens, who went through the crime statistics for the Ward. Sutton has a lower crime rate than most outer London boroughs and our Ward has one of the lowest crime rates in Sutton. However, crime always has a significant impact on the victim and public concern remains high. The draft minutes of the meeting are as below.
SUTTON SOUTH WARD COMMUNITY/POLICE MEETING – WEDNESDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2024
Held at Devonshire Avenue primary school
Constable Skivens gave an update on crime in the Ward since the last meeting, which was on 26 June 2024.
Burglaries: There had been 8 burglaries. Several were burglaries of garages but there had been some of houses and of commercial premises. There was a gang of four people who were now well known in the borough who had been behind a number of burglaries.
Motor Vehicle Crime: 11 crimes were reported – 3 of theft of cars (in Ambleside Gardens, Albion Road, Farm Close). The other offences were thefts from, damage to or interference with cars. There were again no catalytic converter thefts.
Drug offences: 5 crimes were reported, one of possession of cannabis and one of possession with intent to supply. The other offences were importation of drugs intercepted by Border Force where a local address was given for the consignment. Ward police would then have to visit the address but usually this was a fictitious or convenience address.
Violence against women and girls: 4 cases. These included a man exposing himself on a bus and cases of women being followed.
Major crimes: This is a broad category. There were 4 cases – two robberies, one attempted robbery, one case of a threat to kill.
Other crimes: There were 11 in this miscellaneous category, including:
2 of shoplifting from the BP service station
2 pedal cycles stolen
A woman who had an epileptic fit outside Sutton station had her bag stolen
A “street drinker” at the station had vapes stolen from him
A handbag was left on a bus and stolen, and efforts were made to use the bank cards
The theft of a wedding ring through distraction techniques (engaging in conversation to distract),
Staffing: Although Sutton South has a cadre of 3 officers – Constable Skivens, a second Constable and a PCSO – Constable Skivens was currently on her own. The other Constable is on restricted duties due to a hamstring injury and the PCSO has an injured knee. Constable Skivens spends about half her time on “extractions”, usually to the Response Team, to undertake other duties outside the Ward. The meeting expressed concern at the staffing level.
The meeting discussed a variety of issues raised by residents:
The success of Operation Nightingale in reducing crime in Sutton by monitoring and patrolling selected crime hotspots
The reduction of crime at Sutton station by closing the side entrance at certain times
The knife amnesty, and its success
Drug dealing, including at Sutton Court and Beauclere House
Concerns about “street drinkers” at Sutton station
Fire safety, including the threat posed by batteries on scooters and electric bikes
The importance of reporting crime (it was pointed out that reports via Crimestoppers are anonymous)
Keyless cars: the need to keep keys in a tin
The police speed traps in Chalgrove Road, including on 5 June
The cuts to the police cadets, which meet at Overton Grange school, and the reasons for this action. Councillor Clifton mentioned that the Councillors with the local MP were planning to take this up with the Metropolitan police at a more senior level.
The date of the next meeting was set as Wednesday 15 January, at Devonshire Avenue primary school. There was a discussion of what could be done to better publicise the meeting and get a better attendance.
The meeting thanked Constable Skivens for her work and for coming in on her day off to present her report to us, and Devonshire Avenue school for hosting the meeting.
Constable Skivens, Louise, Trish and Richard with other Ward police officers at the Sutton South Hello Christmas party
As local Councillors, we responded to the consultation exercise on the closure of ticket offices in local train stations. The closure of the ticket office at Sutton station, which is in our Ward, was threatened. We responded to the consultation opposing this move.
We drew attention to instances where family members were able to get a cheaper deal on tickets than they could have got buying tickets over the internet by getting the advice of the staff at the ticket office. Having staffed ticket offices is essential to giving people advice on travel. People need advice on travel when they arrive at the station. Having these staff wandering around the station means you will not find them when you arrive at the station. There are particular difficulties for those who are partially sighted or disabled.
The consultation was, after an outcry over the limited nature of the consultation proposals, extended to 1 September. The decision has now been taken not to proceed with the closure plan but we will monitor the situation as effective closure of the ticket office by stealth, in particular the progreesive reduction of the hours of opening, is entirely possible.
The owner of Chelsea Court, 54 Mulgrave Road has had planning permission to extend the building – in effect adding two extra floors to the block of flats – refused by Sutton Council. This was the latest in a series of applications in our Ward where owners of blocks of flats have sought to extend the building upwards.
As local Councillors, we were concerned about these proposals. While there is a need for more accommodation, the changes to the building would in our view make it look incongruous, not good enough for Sutton. The block is an attractive architect-designed building (see photo), one of the more attractive blocks in Mulgrave Road, and the proposed changes would destroy the symmetry of the building. The Planning Department at Sutton Council agreed with our objections. The changes would also have involved building work that would greatly disturb the current residents of the block.
The owners used a mechanism called “prior approval” when submitting their planning application. This mechanism, in our view, was introduced by the Government to undermine the planning system. As a result, we could take the application to the Council’s Planning Committee, which Richard chairs, for decision by Councillors. We may still not be able to stop these changes taking place given the powers of the remote Planning Inspectorate based in Bristol to over-ride local decisions.
We always seek to ensure in such cases that a number of conditions are stipulated in any planning permission, if one is ever granted, to try to protect the peace and quiet of the building during construction work. These include that access to the roof should be via an external hoist with all materials for work on the roof transported to the roof by an external hoist and not brought up via the well of the building. The interior of the building should not be a storage area or building site. There should be a construction management plan to minimize disruption to existing residents and ensure there are controls on dust and noise, and on hours of work. The contractors should join the Considerate Contractors’ Scheme. There should be a liaison officer that residents can contact if they observe poor behaviour. If scaffolding is erected outside residents’ windows it should only be erected when needed and removed as soon as it is not needed.
We have successfully opposed this development but wait to see if the developer will appeal to the Planning Inspectorate against the decision of the Council.
Louise, Richard and Trish travelled to City Hall, the HQ of London Mayor Sadiq Khan, on 30 June to join other Sutton Liberal Democrat Councillors in presenting a petition to the Mayor. The petition, signed by over 10 000 Sutton residents, expressed our opposition to the extension of the ULEZ zone to outer London boroughs. Our views on why we opposed the extension of ULEZ can be found in posts further down this site.
Despite our opposition, ULEZ has now been extended by the London Mayor to outer London.
This picture shows Louise and Trish cleaning off the graffiti we found in the area outside Northumberland House in Brighton Road. We want residents to report to us instances of graffiti, which is one of the scourges of our times, worldwide. In general, the Council has a good record in cleaning off graffiti quickly. A difficulty is when the graffiti is on private property and the owners of the property have responsibility.
Here is an example of graffiti we got cleaned off, on the bridge at Kings Lane.
In support of our policies to combat global warming and reduce carbon emissions, the programme to fit electric vehicle charging points in lampposts in our Ward continues. A further consultation exercise is about to take place on the installation of two new electric vehicle charging points in Mulgrave Road, close to the junction with Worcester Road. A preliminary consultation found majority support but few residents responded.
There are now charging points at the following locations:
Opposite 49 The Ridgway
Opposite 26 Langley Park Road
Opposite Foxley Court in Christchurch Park
Opposite 10 Cumnor Road
In Cedar Gardens
Opposite Grange Court, Grange Road
Opposite Thomas House, Grange Road
Opposite 13 Stanley Road
Opposite Fairford Court, Stanley Road
We want to draw attention to the Sutton Citizen space survey where residents should log their suggestions for EV charge points.
The photo shows the first vehicle that used the first charging point in the Ward, in The Ridgway. Given the policy to ultimately phase out petrol driven vehicles, a big and continuing expansion will be needed.
Sutton Council is working with Siemens to install Ubitricity lamp column electric vehicle charging points. Ubitricity lamp column charging points are compact and fit into the door of a lamp column. The aim of lamp column charging is to give residents the ability to easily charge electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles on the street where they live, especially if they do not have off-street parking or are unable to install their own home charging point. Installing residential charging points is important because a key barrier to people switching to electric vehicles is the concern around where they will be able to charge their vehicle.
Not all lamp columns are suitable for lamp column charging points. The lamp columns need to be “electrically suitable”, be positioned near the kerb and have enough internal space to fit the charging point. They need to be sensibly located so that a vehicle could safely park and charge next to the lamp column. The lamp columns also need to be made of metal, not concrete.
An “earth mat”, a small metal grid, is also installed in the footway next to the lamp column. This is to make the charging point “electrically safe” if there is a fault. There are signs to indicate that the lamp column has a charging point fitted, though this sign will not prevent non-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles from parking next to the lamp column.
This is a major advance in our drive to promote electric vehicles and combat global warming.
Sutton Council has declared that there is a climate emergency and at the Council meeting on 16 January we adopted a progress report entitled “Environment Strategy and Climate Emergency: Progress Report and Update.” In his speech on this important report Richard pointed out that far from being some vague affirmation of worthy sentiments the report was packed full of detailed, positive actions we had taken and could be proud of. He listed some of them
– ten new school streets
– 120 dockless ebikes (although we came quite late to the concept of ebike schemes compared to many London boroughs)
– double the number of new trees planted than our target
– seven parks received the green flag award for their biodiversity management with butterfly banks in the parks
– almost 7 000 teaching sessions on biodiversity, mostly to school age children
– the work of the Sutton Nature Conservation Volunteers, the Community Environment Champions Network, the Green Enterprise partnership
– the Healthy Homes Advice and Support Service, providing assessment of homes for energy efficiency
– promoting green spaces, energy efficiency and electric vehicles through our planning policies and decisions
– LED street lighting and electric vehicle charging points in street lamps
– promoting re-cycling of waste
– the promotion of initiatives to support locations where items can be repaired and re-used
– action to deal with extreme weather events
– promoting the cycling network and cycle maintenance and safety workshops
– travel plans for our own staff to promote cycling and walking, and switching our own vehicles to electric.
The list goes on and on.
This is an important programme based on positive, practical steps we are taking to protect the environment.
Local consultation on planning proposals is vital to maintain standards of build and design, and the street scene
Planning issues have always been a major concern in Sutton South Ward, with numerous examples of poor quality developments we have seen off but others where local democracy has been overturned by the decisions of the remote Planning Inspectorate based in Bristol.
As Liberal Democrats, we think that an effective planning system based on local consultation is essential to maintaining the quality of development in our Ward. The system has been undermined by the Government, by extension of “permitted development” rights and by new provisions that make it possible to add two storeys to the top of a block of flats by going through truncated planning approval arrangements.
There has been a growing trend for developers to try to add extra storeys to the tops of blocks of flats. We have recently seen off three such proposals in our Ward, where the proposal would have made the building look incongruous and the building work would have been a nightmare for the current residents. The first of these was a block in Mulgrave Road, which failed to meet our standards of design – not good enough for Sutton. The second was in Grange Road – Magnolia Court. The third in Brighton Road – Northumberland House.
We need more housing, but not by agreeing to buildings that will be blots on the landscape for the next fifty years.
