A reminder of times past!

Cash fares set to end on London buses from this Summer – Lib Dem GLA councillor Caroline Pidgeon sets out her concerns that remain for night term bus users
 
The beginning of the week saw the Mayor announce that later this year cash fares will end on London buses from this Summer.  Commenting on his announcement Caroline said:
 
“The long term decline in use of cash fares on buses cannot be denied.  Nor can we overlook the fact that cash fares are a bad deal for passengers while at the same time are very expensive for TfL.
 
“It does also seem that TfL have listened to some concerns raised in the recent consultation about these changes.  I especially welcome the provision of a ‘one more journey’ feature on Oyster, as well as a review of the Oyster Ticket Stop network to see if additional locations might be necessary.
 
“However, I remain concerned about young people facing problems travelling on night-time buses if cash fares are completely ended this Summer.

Hamish, Jill and Alan have been taking up your concerns about flooding issues. The historic canals in Carshalton Park, Carshalton Place and The Grove Park in Carshalton Village have filled up for the first time in many years. These are tributaries of the River Wandle which rises in Carshalton Park and some other areas. In recent years the water has been underground, but the recent heavy rainfall has led to the waterways filling up again, and they have been flowing in Carshalton Park and Grove Park, and in the canals which link these two parks. Those living close to the canals have said they are worried about overflows and possible flooding of properties, if the wet weather continues.

Carshalton Place canal’s waterfall

In recent weeks, the Council has been working with its partners Thames Water, The Environment  Agency and Transport for London (who are responsible for the A232 Carshalton High Street) to put measures in place to prevent flooding occurring and to reduce the level of water in the canals. As part of this work, a blockage in the sewer under the A232 has been removed and this has also been dredged of silt. Obstacles such as litter and leaves have been removed from the canals, and from drains and sluices in Westcroft Road, Carshalton Place and the “Hog Pit” (the very deep excavation) in Carshalton Park. A divert has also been cut into the Westcroft Canal so that it can drain into a ditch in the Grove Park, with the waters flowing into the canal on the Westcroft Centre side of the Grove Park. As a result water is now flowing freely and water levels have started to reduce.

If you have any concerns please see Sutton Council’s Winter Information Centre website https://www.sutton.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=19003  or contact the Environment Agency Floodline on 0845 988 1188 or see their website www.environment-agency.ov.uk for local water level information.

More in a future FOCUS and watch out for updates on our web site: http://carshaltoncentral.mycouncillor.org.uk

Cllr. Jill Whitehead has reported some pot holes due to the wet weather and has asked council officers if they could be attended to please?

 1) A very deep and large pothole in the road at the bottom of Colston Avenue close to the West Street roundabout and railway bridge.

 2) Two deep potholes in Shorts Road close to the alleyway between St Mary’s Infants School and St Philomena’s School.

Additionally, some yellow and white road linings have faded including in Carshalton Place, Carshalton at its junction with Talbot Road. Could this be repainted please?

Cllr. Hamish Pollock has asked the council’s highways officers to reinstate the missing street name plate in Pound Street at the “Windsor Castle” junction that used to be fixed to the high brick wall around St. Philomena’s School.

Please let us know if you see something that needs mending or replacing on the “street scene”.  Thanks!

Some photos taken today 9th February 2014 by Hamish of the historic Hog Pit Pond, Carshalton Park, Ruskin Road.

Yesterday some operatives were observed by Hamish and Jill clearing debris from the grilles at the northern end of the Hog Pit pond to ease water flow.  The water table is obviously rising rapidly after the two very wet months of weather. 

Jill and Hamish undertook a tour of the waterways of Carshalton yesterday 8th February 2014 from The Grove Park/Papermill Close area southwards to Carshalton Park via Carshalton High Street and the (normally-dry) canal in Carshalton Place (again operatives from Thames Water were observed dredging and clearing debris in the large drain “outlet” at the junction of Carshalton Place and the side of the new barbers in the High Street) at about 12.30pm yesterday.

HM The Queen

Many sincere congratulations to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – she has reigned for 62 years as of today, Accession Day.  Her father King George VI died on 6th February 1952 aged only 56 years.

Local councillor Jill Whitehead wrote in today’s Sutton Borough Guardian (6th February 2014:-

Doing their bit:- Alan and Jill planting bulbs (picture taken by Hamish)

Surely Mr. “X” must know that trees are very important to many residents in the borough. Sutton has a larger number of trees than most other London Boroughs and our residents are very proud to live in a green and attractive environment.

As a direct response to residents’ requests, the council is planting 400 new street trees and 200 new blossom trees in parks.

It has also won £43,000 from The Mayor of London’s Trees Fund to plant an additional 200 street trees on top of this, and £3,000 to plant 90 extra trees in Cheam Park.

As Mr. “X” will be aware, we have been experiencing a prolonged and unprecedented period of wet and windy weather, which resulted in later leaf fall than usual following the St Jude’s day storm in October. Each year, the Council deploys additional teams of staff and mechanical sweepers in the autumn and priority is given to streets with a higher number of trees and therefore higher leaf fall.

As the bad weather is still with us, we are continuing to deploy emergency teams to deal with fallen trees and flooding incidents. The Council removed over 60 fallen street trees over the Christmas period, and our staff worked hard to clear roadways and paths.

Priority has been given to health and safety, clearing areas prone to both flooding and heavy footfall, and focusing on areas close to schools, medical centres and residential homes for the elderly. Since 2008 the Council has supplied local residents across the borough with clear plastic sacks, so they can clear and remove leaf fall from outside their property.

This service has grown in popularity with many residents keen to assist the Council and their local community. For the leafing period in 2013, over 3,000 sacks were delivered to 155 properties across the borough.

Many Sutton residents are very eager to help out in their local community and this initiative will only grow and expand in the coming years as people want to help and improve the area where they live.

Instead of complaining Mr. “X”, perhaps you’d like to roll up your sleeves and do your bit? We have more sacks available.

Councillor Jill Whitehead, Sutton Council is Chairman of Environment and Neighbourhoods Committee.

Residents and Carshalton Central ward councillors (and others) bulb planting in Benhill Rec

Local councillors Jill, Alan and Hamish took up local residents complaints about:-

– Introduction of a noisy generator – in fact, Jill could hear this generator from her house in the Poets’ Estate at the present time (it was 7.45pm on Monday evening) with the windows shut, and double glazing in place. Her house is two streets away.

– Introduction of large plant and equipment blocking people’s houses, their entries and exits, and taking out their parking spaces

– Working until 8pm on Sunday night (last night), with lots of noise, vibration and shaking of houses

Councillors have asked to know what will be done to enforce the building conditions for this site bounded by Westmead Road to the south, Cowper Avenue to the west, Byron Avenue East to the north and Kingsley Avenue to the east. This site is very very close to areas of terraced homes so many people are taking the pain from the demolition and building works. Residents are also concerned about dust and grit, and the possibility there might be asbestos being removed.

Dear Councillor

Thanks for the email. There were a number of conditions attached to the planning consent (granted on appeal),  one of which provides restrictions on the times of site works.  A further condition also requires the submission of a method statement for the control of site parking and loading/unloading.

I understand that my building control officers have been dealing with urgent issues relating to demolition of the current building on the site & there has been some urgency to those works due to the building being in a dangerous structural condition.  I will need to talk further to both building control and planning staff tomorrow morning regarding the detail, but it seems that this urgency may have required  operations to commence for a short time outside of  controlled hours.  We will be having an urgent conversation with the developer to establish the position regarding compliance with those conditions, and I will let you know the outcome once that has taken place.

My staff are also liaising with the Environmental Health team from public nuisance angle.

Clearly there will be some level of disturbance that will result from works on this site as they progress, but I agree that it is important that works take place in accordance with an approved schedule and that disturbance is kept to a minimum.

I will come back to you as soon as I have further details and the further discussions have taken place…

Colin Walker

Interim Head of Strategic Planning and Development Management, London Borough of Sutton, 

24 Denmark Road, Carshalton, Surrey  SM5 2JG

T: 020 8770 6217

E: colin.walker@sutton.gov.uk

Westmead House, 123 Westmead Road