Cllr. Jill Whitehead reports: “In September, Transport for London (TfL) submitted a planning application to Sutton Council for the replacement of the old heritage railings around the Ponds on the A232 High Street Red Route. Your local Lib Dem councillors have been fighting for over 20 years to get to this stage of development, and during this time far too many vehicles have crashed through the old railings into the Pond. TfL’s planning application was approved following lengthy discussions with and approval from English Heritage as these are statutorily Grade 2 listed.  As Sutton Council has responsibility for that part of the railings alongside the nearby North Street Bridge, the Council’s Carshalton and Clockhouse Local Committee hopes to find what are known as Public Realm Funds. If funds can be found, these would be used to make repairs and to repaint the original old Victorian railings along North Street to match the new TfL ones along the A232 High Street.  We’re hoping this work will be completed more or less in tandem with the refurbishment of the popular Honeywood Museum by the Ponds which has received hundreds of thousands of pounds of Heritage Lottery Funds to upgrade its status to a full borough museum.”  

Cllr. Jill Whitehead is pictured by the old railings earlier this year. We will try to keep you posted in local Focus newsletters and on our local web site too!