WHY I CAME INTO POLITICS AS A LIBERAL DEMOCRAT – TO HELP THE DISADVANTAGED

At the Sutton Council meeting on 31 March Richard set out his personal philosophy in a speech supporting the Foodbanks.

Here is what he said:

“I came in to politics as a Liberal Democrat because of a concern about the disadvantaged in society. There can be no more telling indicator of disadvantage than needing to seek help for something as basic as feeding your family.

I welcome and support the help given to those in desperate need by the foodbanks, but I feel uncomfortable with the fact that in what is still on some measures the seventh most affluent country in the World some of our families are needing to seek the help of a private charity for something as basic as food to eat, and that the foodbanks – conceived as a response to short term needs – are in danger of becoming a permanent part of the structure of welfare support in Britain.

The Council has, of course, a number of schemes to assist those who are in the most severe financial distress, including giving appropriate help to the Foodbank. Government policy has not always helped.

I am concerned with the way the Government has “localised” one of the main planks in helping those in need, the Crisis Loans and Grants Scheme. This is a scheme that assists those in real crisis situations. Many families receiving welfare support are struggling week by week and just keeping their head above water, but it can be the unexpected event that tips them over the edge – which may be into the hands of the Payday loan providers. The Crisis Loans and Grants scheme is a lifeline in these situations, and has helped over 800 individuals this year. But from the next financial year the central funding passed down when the scheme was localised is simply being axed, a cut of over £400 thousand. There is, at some point in the future, going to be a difficult debate about how the Council maintains an acceptable level of support to people in those situations.

The Council also offers help in other ways, in particular through Discretionary Housing Payments and the Council Tax Reduction scheme.

Council officers have meetings with the organisers of the foodbank. The Council has assisted with accommodation in Apple Lodge on the Sutton Court estate, in my Ward, storage (with the Big Yellow Storage company) and with limited assistance by way of food vouchers from the Crisis Loans and Grants budget. This is because I understand the foodbank struggles to provide certain types of food, such as fresh food, as the donations are mostly of particular types of food, and they do of course want to provide a balanced diet.

The foodbank also offers debt advice to help residents manage their finances better, which is important.

We must congratulate the organisers of the foodbank on the service they are providing to our most disadvantaged residents – which may include the 600 plus households affected by the bedroom tax and the 150 plus affected by the benefit cap, locally. But we need at the same time to seek to ensure that help is given to stop families getting into the position where they need the help of the foodbank. This means continuing with the assistance we currently give, trying to protect the resources devoted to these schemes, but also seeking to help people out of this situation.

A major way of doing that is helping those out of work find jobs, for which reason our successful employment generation programmes under the banner of Opportunity Sutton are so essential. These policies must run together.”

A REPORT ON MY FOUR YEARS AS A COUNCILLOR – BY RICHARD

With Mary Burstow and the bench we donated to Richard Sharples Court

A REPORT ON MY FOUR YEARS AS A COUNCILLOR – By Richard

The work of a Councillor comprises the work you do for Sutton as a whole on Sutton Council and specific work for residents of the Ward.

I have been the Vice-Chair of the Housing, Economy and Business Committee and “lead Councillor” on trading standards and on revenues and benefits. The two most challenging pieces of work I did were the re-design of the Council tax support scheme and the re-design of the Council’s committee system.

The Government “localised” Council tax support (the system of support payments to the most needy) by axing the national scheme. It invited local authorities to set up their own scheme but passed down to Councils only some of the funding. This cost Sutton £1.1 million. The challenge was to devise a local scheme which, while inevitably less generous, protected the vulnerable. The scheme I devised, which was ultimately accepted, provided support to those in most need and protected from cuts in benefit the elderly, the disabled, lone parents and families with small children. There were difficult choices and it was one of the most difficult projects I have undertaken in 40 years work in public administration.

The revision of the Council’s committee system I worked on was designed to take advantage of provisions in the Localism Act that made it possible to move from an “Executive” system to a “subject committee” system I considered more democratic. I led the group considering options and developed a scheme that was the basis for the system Sutton now has adopted.

I also did a lot of work on a scrutiny of the Council’s policies on homelessness. This issue concerned me as I felt that some of the policies being recommended to us by Conservative Councillors would have increased homelessness, and the scrutiny activity demonstrated this.

I have also been a member of the Audit Committee, the Scrutiny Committee, the Standards Committee, the Development Control Committee and the representative of Sutton on numerous external bodies and boards, such as the Downland Project (which organises volunteers to, for example, clear scrubland in local woods).

When I was elected I obtained an exercise book (I do not trust computerised systems) and wrote on the cover “Casework.” Item number one was an issue raised by a resident of Copse Hill about a tree in the road demolished by a car. I got it replaced. My most recent entry in the Casework book (a disputed parking ticket I got rescinded) is item number 413, but this does not quite do me justice as some of these entries are multiple issues and some issues I was able to resolve almost immediately without resort to the “Casework” book.

There are some issues affecting the Ward as a whole that I have worked on that give me particular satisfaction – including the extension of the “no drinking zone” (controlling the drinking of alcohol in a public place) from the town centre to cover most of the Ward, the improvements to the Devonshire Avenue Nature Area while retaining its central purpose as a nature reserve, the safety improvements to the Grange Vale bridge, opening the side entrance to Sutton station (work now underway), getting more trees planted, helping found the Sutton South Hello! Project to tackle social isolation, getting funding for measures to combat speeding in Cavendish Road and Cedar Road, and securing 780 local jobs through the Subsea7 project (jobs are gold dust). The regular surgeries we have held have convinced me that there is a real issue for people in their 50s made redundant from work in getting back into the labour market, and the really big difference you can make to an area is ensuring there are local jobs. There are very few Councillors in Britain who can claim they have been instrumental in getting so many jobs for their area, given the massive competition between local authorities for such job-creating inward investment.

There were also many things I did for individual residents. Some of these projects gave me great satisfaction – such as getting a disabled parking bay moved so that it was not under a tree and thus the disabled resident did not get her car covered, every day, with droppings. For another resident, I got her over £2 000 in a compensation payment through pursuing her case. Some of the issues I dealt with, particularly those involving anti-social behaviour, were difficult and sometimes harrowing.

The background I brought to my period as a Councillor was that I am a retired civil servant who was, at one time, Chair of the Board of a European Agency (the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, based in Bilbao, Spain) and at another time Chair of the Channel Tunnel Safety Authority. After a long career in public service at a European and national level it was a priviledge and a pleasure to use the skills I had obtained, in the service of my immediate, local community. My wife Gloria and I have lived in our Ward for 26 years and both our daughters went to local State schools. I like Sutton, which has a pleasant suburban atmosphere, low crime, good schools, affordable housing and low unemployment. I have been motivated by a desire to play my part in keeping its many benefits. And the values I bring to being a Councillor are those of a concern to use the skills I have acquired in life to benefit the disadvantaged in society – in society as a whole and, in my work these past four years, in the immediate community around me. And I have still managed to find time to play the trumpet in a Sutton-based concert band, playing last year in a concert at Christchurch for the 125th. anniversary of the church, and playing Christmas carols at the Friends’ Meeting House for the past two years.

There has been hardly a day in the last four years when I have not been engaged on some activity on behalf of the residents of Sutton.

RICHARD CLIFTON

COUNCIL TAX FROZEN FOR THE FIFTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR – AND PARKING CHARGES FROZEN

On 3 March Sutton Council adopted its budget for 2014-15 and froze Council tax for the fifth consecutive year. The budget also freezes parking charges for the next financial year.

Richard and Heather both spoke in the debate to congratulate our lead Councillor on finance, Simon Wales, on the budget and draw attention to the positive developments in Sutton South Ward with the Sutton Gateway project and the new Subsea7 office bringing 800 local jobs. Both are described below.

SUTTON TOP COUNCIL IN LONDON FOR FREE VISITOR PARKING

Figures presented to the South Sutton, Cheam and Belmont Local Committee show Sutton is the most generous Council in London for providing free visitor parking in the controlled parking zone.

Of 32 London Boroughs 28 provide no free visitor parking atall. Only four Councils provide any (Newham, Wandsworth, Hillingdon, sutton) and of these four Sutton is the most generous with 50 hours of free parking annually.

NEW STREET TREES PROGRAMME ANNOUNCED

Richard planting a tree in Farm Road.

Richard, Nali, Heather and Sue with trees

There is a new programme of tree planting in our Ward, over the winter. Exciting news. Some of these are already planted. Here is a listing of sites. Contact us if you have other nominations to make.

There will be a number of different types of tree including laburnum, malus trilobata, corylus colurna, prunus sargentii rancho, crataegus laevigata “Paul’s Scarlet” and acer campestre “Streetwise”.

SUTTON SOUTH WARD	ALBION ROAD, SUTTON	Outside number 20
	ALBION ROAD, SUTTON	10 (FLATS 1-8) near FERNDOWN CL
	CHRISTCHURCH PARK, SUTTON	AMBERLEY COURT(FLATS)
	DEVONSHIRE AVENUE, SUTTON	PENARTH COURT
	DEVONSHIRE ROAD, SUTTON	10
	DEVONSHIRE ROAD, SUTTON	near junction Egmont Road
	DEVONSHIRE ROAD, SUTTON	near junction Egmont Road
	EFFINGHAM CLOSE, SUTTON	57
	FARM ROAD	7, and opposite Kayemoor Road
	KAYEMOOR ROAD, SUTTON	Outside 24/26, outside 10, outside 32/34
	PRIOR AVENUE, SUTTON	Outside 41
	STANLEY ROAD, SUTTON	3-15 ESPRIT COURT (entrance)
	UPLAND ROAD, SUTTON	Close to number 90
	UPLAND ROAD, SUTTON	Outside 45, 53/55, 76
	UPLAND ROAD, SUTTON	Outside 9, 62, 4
	MAYFIELD ROAD, SUTTON	Outside 15
	WILLIS AVENUE	Outside 15/17
	EFFINGHAM CLOSE	Outside 5, and outside 6
	CAMBORNE ROAD	4b

An additional tree has been planted outside 3 Chalgrove Road at the suggestion of a resident.

Residents have the opportunity to foster these new trees and help leave a green legacy. Under the Council’s Tree Fostering Scheme they can help look after trees that are planted near their homes for up to three years. Maintenance duties include watering the trees with three buckets of water a week in the dry months and, if they want to, loosen tree ties and trim off broken twigs. By signing up, residents will receive a tree care guide with information on how to look after their tree.

NEW POWERS TO COMBAT LITTER

Fly tipping in Prior Avenue

The latest public satisfaction survey shows most of our residents really like living in Sutton, and the Borough achieves higher satisfaction scores than most comparable London Boroughs.

Amongst the things that bug people, however, is the litter people drop. The Council has taken new powers, including to impose an £80 on-the-spot fine, enforced by new litter wardens.

An 11 tonne mountain of rubbish, one day’s worth of litter was created in the middle of Sutton High Street on 6 February as part of the anti-litter campaign to change bad habits and save council tax payers money.

The pile, over 10ft tall and just as wide in clear plastic bags, demonstrated how much street litter is collected each day at a cost of £4m a year. That is the equivalent of running a library service for a year, repairing 100,000 potholes, providing 210 residential care places for the elderly or building half a primary school.

The anti-litter event also included a display of fly tipping collected from the Borough’s streets. Despite the Council having a dedicated service for collecting larger goods, some people still fly tip at a cost of £170,000 a year to clean up. Fly tipping can include anything from TVs and sofas to large tipper trucks dumping commercial waste. There have been particular problems at certain roads in our Ward such as Prior Avenue.

NEW BENCHES AND REPAIRED BENCHES

Residents have suggested places in the Ward where an additional street bench would be useful, particularly for people struggling home with heavy shopping.

We have agreed a number of locations in the Ward for additional benches, including in Cavendish Road, Cedar Road, Worcester Road and Grange Vale. In addition a number of the existing benches that are now in a somewhat dilapidated state will be repaired and cleaned. This includes the bench pictured here in Brighton Road, which has slats missing.

NEW GP SURGERY – CAMPAIGN CONTINUES: OUR SPEECHES TO COUNCIL ON 3 MARCH AND LETTER TO NHS ENGLAND

Homeland Drive, Belmont

In earlier posts on this site we have set out our concerns about the proposed closure of the Grove Road and Belmont surgeries, used by many residents of our Ward, and opening of a replacement surgery in a building in Homeland Drive, in Belmont. This is of particular concern due to the high proportion of over 75s in our Ward (a higher percentage than for any other Ward in Sutton) and the lack of any GP surgery in the Ward. There is a problem of access to the site, which is poorly served by public transport.

At the Council’s Strategy and Resources Committee on 11 February and at the Council meeting on 3 March Richard and Heather repeated their opposition to the proposal and pressed for improvements to the proposed community transport scheme. This would go some way to ameliorating our concerns.

In speeches to Council on 3 March both Richard and Heather expressed concern that the doctors did not seem interested in proposals from Ruth Dombey, our Council leader, to help find a better alternative site.

We are writing to NHS England and continuing our campaign within the decision-taking structures of the NHS. Here is the text of Richard’s speech to Council on 3 March summarising our position.

“Councillor Honour and I, as Councillors for Sutton South Ward, have consistently opposed the move of the two surgeries to the Henderson hospital site. Our Ward has the highest proportion of elderly residents of any Ward in Sutton and there are many residents of our Ward who go to the Grove Road or Belmont surgeries. Our objection to the site is that it is not sufficiently accessible by public transport. What has been offered by way of a community transport service, to deal with this problem, is a help but does not resolve the problem.

This motion applauds the efforts made by Councillor Dombey to resolve this issue, and I would like to warmly support that sentiment.

This is a decision taken by local doctors who work within the National Health Service. I understand from the evidence that NHS England gave to the Council’s Scrutiny Committee last year that the doctors have to put their case for the move to NHS England. Councillor Honour and I have written to NHS England to remind them of their responsibilities in this matter and ask them not to endorse this decision.

The local authority has come into this by the back door in three ways. First, as local planning authority, because the doctors need planning permission for the building. I sat through the discussion at the Development Control Committee and respect the fact that the Committee concluded ultimately that there were insufficient planning grounds to turn down the application. Its decisions are subject to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate so it cannot capriciously ignore the published planning policies. Second, I understand that the authority is a joint owner of the site but legal advice is that the Council would be in breach of contract were it not to proceed to completion of the sale – if the decision is taken, by the doctors and the NHS, to go ahead with this move. Third, the offer of Councillor Dombey to act as a mediator. I still hope that will be taken up.

So the spotlight has to focus on the decision-taking processes in the NHS.

Councillor Honour and I have written to NHS England to remind them of their responsibilities in this matter and urge them consider alternatives to this decision.”

Here is the text of our letter to NHS England.

“Unsuitable Location for Proposed GP Surgery in Sutton

As Councillors for Sutton South Ward in the London Borough of Sutton we are deeply concerned at proposals to close two GP surgeries and replace them with a new medical surgery at a site unsuitable for many of our residents.

There is at present no GP surgery in our Ward, which has the highest proportion of residents aged over 70 of any Ward in the Borough of Sutton. Our residents use a number of local surgeries but many go to the surgery at Grove Road in the centre of Sutton and to the Belmont surgery, close to Belmont railway station. These are to close, under the proposals.

The proposed new medical centre is in Homeland Drive, at the site of the former Henderson hospital. However, the site is not sufficiently accessible for the elderly and those without a car. It is rated PTAL 1b, which means that it is not accessible to public transport. It is in fact at least 300 metres up a steepish inclined road that is dark and uninviting. Our GPs state that 75% of patients will use a car. The remainder are likely to be elderly, unable to drive a car, or on a low income. They also are likely to be amongst the most frequent patients at the surgery.

There are severe limitations on the use of dial-a-ride and taxicard, so use of these services is not an option for people who find it difficult to access public transport and this site.

The statistics on the population of the Ward illustrate the problem. Sutton South has much more sheltered housing, and more care homes than other parts of the Borough. 2.94% of Ward residents live in managed residential accommodation compared to a Borough average of 0.78%. Over 75 per cent of properties in Sutton South are flats, many of them single occupancy. 46.3% of households in Sutton South are single person households, with 15.5% occupied by people over 65. The population of the Ward is elderly.

Sutton South Sutton average National average

Over 65s 17.49% 14.32% 16.74%

Over 75s 10.62% 7.07% 7.96%

Over 85s 4.13% 2.1% 2.31%

Although 73% of residents in the Borough say they are ‘well connected’, 10% of respondents in Sutton South say “they have no one to turn to locally for help”, compared to a Borough average of 6%. This means that they would not have people to assist them with transport.

We therefore consider that the proposed site for the new GP surgeries does not meet the needs of the most vulnerable in our Ward and we would prefer a more accessible site.

From the information that we have received it does not appear that the GPs have considered the transport needs of their elderly patients, a growing demographic, who will need to use the surgery often, possibly as much as once a week for visits to the other services at the centre as well as their GPs. Many have said to us that they will need to change their doctor if this goes ahead.

In response to our concerns the developer of the site, Assura, has offered a community transport scheme. However, after close examination of this, it does not appear to be a practicable solution.

Once again the NHS, which declares that it is patient centred, is failing its patients by not taking account of their transport needs. This has been a major local issue in the abortive Better Services Better Value plans to change the status of our local hospital, St Helier.

It is by no means clear to us what the process is in the NHS to take a wider view of the optimum location of GP surgeries in the interests of the patients. However, we understand from evidence that NHS England gave to Sutton Council’s Scrutiny Committee last year that NHS England have a role. We would therefore like to meet you to discuss how you conside that these proposals meet the needs of our most vulnerable residents and your most needy patients.

Yours sincerely.

RICHARD CLIFTON

HEATHER HONOUR”

STOPPING SPEEDING IN CAVENDISH ROAD

On 11 February action by the police team from Merton that is helping combat speeding in our Ward led to 13 drivers being stopped and spoken to about the speed they were travelling at in Cavendish Road.

Following the speed survey we arranged in the area, funding is now in place for the coming financial year for two width restrictions in Cavendish Road – “Road narrowing with one lane and informal crossing, with pedestrian centre-refuge island” outside Fiske Court and Hampton Lodge, with the same outside Richard Sharples Court. In Cedar Road there will be “Raised zebra crossing, with road narrowing, one lane and informal crossing” close to Forest Dene Court” and “Road narrowing with one lane and informal crossing” outside Ashdown Court. We have arranged for additional 20 mph roundels in the road (see picture above) and 20 mph signs on lamp-posts (see picture below) to further reinforce the message.

IS THE “A AND E” AT St HELIER STILL UNDER THREAT ? SADLY, YES

The following statement was issued at the start of January by Six South West London Clinical Commissioning Groups – Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth.. They are the NHS decision makers for South West London:

“The six south west London CCGs are actively discussing the next steps for local health services following the withdrawal of Surrey Downs CCG from the BSBV programme. As we have made clear in the past, the BSBV business case is now invalid and the options put forward through the programme are no longer on the table for consultation. It follows that all six CCGs are in the process of dissolving the committees to which they had delegated decision-making on BSBV.

“However, the challenges outlined in the BSBV case for change remain. If we do not address these challenges, we know that local services will decline in quality and that we will not be able to meet the required quality and safety standards. We are discussing with each other and with our boards how we address these challenges and we hope to make a further announcement in February.”

The key phrase is “The challenges outlined in the BSBV case for change remain”. They are right in saying this. Too many people do go to A&E, who should instead be going to a pharmacist or their local GP. The reason they do is often because they can not get an appointment with their GP and they do not realise that visiting a pharmacist is even an option!

We are concerned that even though the BSBV business case is now invalid, the original solution proposed by the six CCGs of closing St Helier A&E and closing St Helier’s Maternity Ward still remain as favoured options, by the CCGs. We have to wait to see what they say.

An indication was given on 18 February when GPs and healthcare professionals from across South West London announced that the BSBV review that recommended the closure of key healthcare services at St Helier hospital has been scrapped.

A new strategy on how to deliver health services in our area will now be developed by local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) so that the best possible care can be delivered in the future.

We welcome that, in contrast with the failed BSBV review, healthcare services will be viewed in a holistic way and that the CCGs will be working closely with all health providers and local authorities to deliver high quality care services.

While t is good news that the BSBV review has been scrapped we still need to continue demonstrating our support for St Helier and make sure that essential health services remain accessible.

We want to see Sutton CCG working closely with St Helier Hospital, Sutton Council (Adult Social Services and Childrens Social Services) and the Royal Marsden (Community Health Visitors) to resolve the issues raised by the original BSBV plan, and not promoting the closure of the A and E Department at St Helier.

« Previous
1
…
21
22
23
24
25
…
44
Next »

Councillor Richard Clifton, Councillor Trish Fivey and Councillor Louise Phelan

Liberal Democrat Councillors for Sutton South Ward, with our local campaigners, working for you