Dear Hamish,

Lots going on at the moment. Here are just a few things that I hope you’ll find interesting:

Preventing homelessness

Sadly homelessness is a growing problem across the country. While here in Sutton it’s not as bad as some inner cities, the problem is growing and we need to do what we can to help people in difficulty and in particular to help prevent them becoming homeless in the first place.

So Sutton, Kingston and Merton councils have joined together to radically rethink homelessness prevention and together we have managed to obtain £1 million in government funding to help families avoid crisis and prevent them becoming homeless.

Only 28 out of 122 bids to central government were successful and we will be developing a range of innovative, pro-active approaches that will radically reshape the way we tackle homelessness. We will be working together with the voluntary sector, in particular, the charity SPEAR and the aim is to work closely with families at risk of homelessness so fewer people will need to be housed in temporary accommodation.

This is an enormous opportunity to provide tangible, sustainable support to people to prevent them becoming homeless and to help them stay in their own homes.

Tackling London’s air quality

The Mayor of London has announced funding for six innovative “Neighbourhoods of the Future” across London which will combine new green technology to improve London’s air quality. The Beddington Industrial Area will be one of these 6 neighbourhoods and electric vans and trucks will be loaned to local businesses to reduce pollution and encourage businesses to adopt greener business methods.

Ask Sadiq a question

And finally – if you’re fed up with the appalling train service, if you think Sutton should get better and more frequent public transport, if you’re worried about air quality, if you think the Mayor of London should spend more on policing – and you’d like to ask the Mayor of London a question, then I’ve got good news for you.

Sadiq Kahn is coming to the Borough for People’s Question Time. We think this is the first time it has happened since the Mayoralty and the Greater London Authority were first set up in 2000. Tickets are free but numbers are limited so sign up soon. It will be held at the Westcroft Leisure Centre in Carshalton at 7pm on Thursday 2nd March. You can get your tickets here.

That’s all for now. Thank you to everyone who has replied with positive comments about these emails – I really appreciate it. And if you think there are issues (good and bad) that it would be helpful to address and provide information, do let me know.

Best wishes,

Ruth

Cllr Ruth Dombey
Leader of Sutton Council