SPEEDING IN CAVENDISH ROAD AND CEDAR ROAD

On 16 July last year we were pleased to present to Sutton Council the petition signed by over 70 residents of Cavendish Road concerning cars speeding in the road. We then discussed with Council officers how to deal with the concerns raised. We noted that residents of Cedar Road had also raised concerns about speeding.

We obtained funding for a survey of the speed of vehicles in Cavendish Road, and got this extended to other local roads, including Cedar Road. The survey was conducted last November and December – local residents may have seen the measuring equipment (pictured above) at the roadside and with the tubes straddling the road. The traffic engineers concluded that the volume and speed of traffic in Cavendish Road has “created an environment in Cavendish Road that is perceived to be unacceptable for pedestrians and vulnerable road users to cross the road in confidence and safety.”

In the light of this, it is proposed to introduce traffic control measures at two locations in Cavendish Road, either a crossing with “road narrowing” build-outs from each side and one lane in the middle or a pedestrian refuge centre island. One will be close to Fiske Court and Hampton Lodge, one will be close to Richard Sharples Court.

The traffic engineers also concluded that the volume and speed of traffic in Cedar Road has “created an unfriendly and difficult environment for the pedestrians and the vulnerable road users to negotiate the traffic and cross the road in a safe manner.”

As a result, it is proposed to introduce traffic control measures at two locations in Cedar Road – a crossing with “road narrowing” build-outs from each side and one lane in the middle near Ashdown Court and Cedar Court, and a Zebra Crossing with a raised table near the Friends’ Meeting House and Forest Dean Court. The Zebra Crossing is something we have long campaigned for.

The precise date for this work is not yet agreed as financial restrictions mean there is no funding available till next year, but we are working to try to get the date brought forward.

We believe these improvements will help reduce the speeding problem and help people cross the road. We are delighted to have been able to get this result, following from the petition and the concerns raised with us by Cavendish Road and Cedar Road residents.

After extensive correspondence with Council officers and raising the matter at the Local Committee, we have succeeded in getting a very good display to brighten up the crossing outside Sutherland House, in the Brighton Road. The baskets are an attractive display.

This “Gateway to Sutton” area needs brightening up. We hope to get Sutherland House sorted out and occupied in the next year, despite the current delay (see our article below). If the project to build a dramatic-looking new building on the site of the Brighton Road car park were to come to fruition (and there is a long way to go on this, including consideration of a planning application against local development policies), the gateway to Sutton from the South would be much improved. The baskets are an important contribution.

Richard spoke up on behalf of those threatened with homelessness, and supported the Council’s efforts to try to prevent people being made homeless, during a discussion on homelessness in the Council Committee of which he is vice-chair.

On 19 March the Housing, Economy and Business Committee (HEB) discussed the efforts the Council makes to prevent people who are threatened with eviction becoming homeless.

Drawing on the casework he deals with as a Councillor, Richard pointed out that being threatened with eviction from one’s home – being out on the street or placed in bed and breakfast accommodation many miles away – was a terrifying prospect for the families involved. It can lead to family break up and people losing their jobs if they wind up in bed and breakfast accommodation far away. In the recession, there are many reasons why this may happen, in particular redundancy. Every effort should be made to keep people in their homes while efforts are made to find them other suitable accommodation they can move to.

Landlords, sometimes because they are intent on jacking up rents, may try to remove tenants without going through a proper legal process. The policy of the Council is to insist the proper process is followed and to give those threatened with homelessness advice and support, trying to find them some other private sector accommodation. In most cases this is successful, but it is often quite late in the process that a solution is found.

Richard argued that people should not be pressured into leaving their accommodation early in the legal process, if no alternative accommodation had been found. If they were pressured into leaving their accommodation two problems arose:

–  it reduces the time available to the Council’s support team to find them an alternative home, and an alternative was often found quite late in the process, meaning they would have to go into bed and breakfast

– there was a danger that they might, in law, be deemed to have made themselves intentionally homeless, in which case what support the Council can provide is limited.

Richard therefore supported a policy of avoiding putting pressure on people to leave their accommodation early in the legal process, and that the Council should only accept that someone is homeless and put them in B and B accommodation before the process is exhausted if and when it is fundamentally evident that no alternative accommodation will become available.

When Richard was first was elected a Sutton Councillor for our area, in 2010, one of the first pieces of casework he dealt with concerned approaches from residents in Copse Hill about the loss of trees that had been hit by cars. He succeeded in getting several replacement trees, including one planted outside number 24.

He was upset to see, recently, that the tree had been vandalised, and lost. He has now got a further replacement planted. At present it is wet but he has asked local residents to check, if we have a dry summer, that the tree has enough water.

Brighton Road car park

Subsea 7, the expanding engineering company that want to bring over 500 new jobs to Sutton have, after discussions with Heather and Richard, agreed to extend their exhibition setting out their proposals. It will now be held on Tuesday 26 March from 3pm to 9pm in addition to the exhibition on 19 March. Both events will be at the Holiday Inn in Sutton. 

Richard and Heather have had further meetings with Subsea7, and the following is the text of their letter sent to local residents.

“Since we learned of the proposed redevelopment of the Brighton Road Car Park site, we have been working hard to tackle the parking issues that might arise for residents in Sutton South. Although this is still very much work in progress, we thought it a good time to bring you up to date with what is going on.

As you know, the high-tech engineering firm Subsea 7 want to expand their presence in Sutton by building a brand new state-of-the-art Head Quarters for their international business. This may bring up to 500 new jobs.

The new building will be much more attractive than the existing Brighton Road Car Park and will be designed by a renowned firm of architects, ESA. It will form part of a renewed “Gateway to Sutton” along the Brighton Road from the South that, in addition to new jobs, will provide extra spending power for local shops, restaurants and hotels.

Keeping the company in Sutton will also protect over 300 jobs that the company currently have located in the Borough so that they do not move elsewhere.

Subsea 7 have considered other buildings in Sutton that are currently empty, like Sutherland House, but have found that these are not satisfactory for the needs of an international  headquarters.

The Council undertook a parking capacity study that showed that Council public car parks are only 53 per cent full during the peak weekday period.  This means that there is therefore 47 per cent spare capacity. 

But the report did not address the specific issue of increased on-road parking in the Highfields area and adjacent roads, including Upland Road and Farm Road. We immediately pointed this out to the Council and were told that its purpose was to ensure that the loss of parking in the Brighton Road Car Park would not damage the town centre’s economy. 

We have therefore asked for work to be undertaken on the impact on car parking in the Highfields area and adjacent roads.  We have also asked for financial incentives to encourage those drivers who currently use the Brighton Road Car Park to go to the Gibson Road Car Park rather than drive up to the area outside the controlled parking zone. These discussions are ongoing.  

We have discussed with Subsea 7 our concerns about on-road parking in Sutton South and, as part of any planning application, they will be required to submit a traffic impact survey. We have asked that the traffic survey also considers where commuters will park as a result of these changes, And what local impact it will have. The results of this study will then be taken in to account by the Council when it negotiates with Subsea 7 about their financial obligations to the local community.  This is part of the normal process with any large planning development.

The next steps are as follows:

• Subsea 7 will hold an exhibition on the proposed development at the Holiday Inn on 19 March and 26 March, and we do encourage you to visit it.
• The Council’s Strategy and Resources Committee (which is made up of a number of Sutton Councillors from both parties) will consider whether they can agree Heads of Agreement with Subsea 7. This is basically an agreement to go ahead, subject to planning permission. The meeting is open to the public.
• If the Heads of Agreement are agreed, Subsea 7 can then apply for planning permission and all aspects of their application, including the impact on parking, will be assessed against current planning standards. Residents have the opportunity to submit their comments on the application and the decision will be taken by the Council’s Development Control Committee, again made up of Sutton’s elected Councillors.”

On Monday 4 March Sutton Council had its annual budget meeting.

Richard and Heather both contributed to the debate – Heather talking about social service provision and the loneliness and isolation project she is leading in the Ward, Richard talking about the Opportunity Sutton programme and the fact that we had found money to provide a hardship fund for those in difficulty as a result of changes to the Council tax support scheme.

The full text of Richard’s speech is on his blog, on this site (see 4 March).

The Council adopted the budget proposed, which freezes Council tax for a fourth year while finding resources for a number of key priorities such as the “Opportunity Sutton” programme to attract jobs and businesses. Council tax in Sutton remains below the level in Conservative-controlled Croydon, our neighbouring Borough, which has increased Council tax this year.

The snow tends to bring with it a rash of potholes.

Richard and Heather will report them and get them fixed if you let us know of them. The Council will get them repaired quickly. This (above) is a picture of a pothole in Eaton Road we have just reported.

Besides reporting potholes, we have been busy getting new litter bins where residents have asked for them. Often the request is for one of the red “dog mess” bins, but while these are successful in public parks it seems that when they are in local roads people tend to just fill them with litter. You can put dog mess (in a suitable plastic bag) in these bins. Most dog owners are responsible but a few can sometimes cause a problem. Let us know of places where a litter bin is needed.