Happy New Year and our best wishes for 2014 from Jill Alan and Hamish…. A BIG “Thank you” from local Councillors Jill Whitehead, Alan Salter and Hamish Pollock and the hard working Local Lib Dem team to all our readers who live in the Carshalton Central ward and indeed elsewhere. We hope you will visit our web site again very soon! 

Cllr Jill Whitehead says: It is now a year since the Planning Inspectorate overturned Sutton Council’s rejection of Java Capital’s application to build a 74 bed care home for elderly dementia patients on the site of Westmead House (also known as 123 Westmead Road), with integral ground floor convenience store. A site notice has recently gone up on Westmead Business Centre giving notice of a Licensing Application (26508/1729/171213103726) by Sainsbury’s in respect of the store, to sell alcohol from 7am to 11pm, seven days a week, which also states that the store will be open 24 hours per day, every day of the week. Residents are invited to send in their comments to the Council’s Licensing Department at the Civic Offices, Sutton by 15^th January 2014.

Cllr Hamish Pollock adds: “As residents will be aware, your local councillors fought the planning application partly on the basis of lack of parking in narrow roads of terraced housing, and in increase in traffic congestion. The entrance to the store is given as Cowper Avenue on the plans. Long opening hours (there does not yet seem to be a planning application for these) and licensing hours will encourage more traffic and an increase in anti- social behaviour. There are already a number of outlets selling alcohol in this shopping parade. This store is right on the edge of the residential area, abutting the popular Poets’ Estate, and to date anti-social behaviour has been low but this may not remain the case.”

Cllr Alan Salter says:  A planning application has been submitted for a non-material amendment to a scheme already approved by the council (C2011/64032 and C2012/66531). This is for the rear of Westmead House where approval was given in November 2011, amended in December 2012 for:

• Four 4-bedroom semi–detached homes on Kingsley Avenue with integral parking spaces,

• Four 3-bedroom semi-detached homes in Cowper Avenue with insetted parking spaces away from the road in Byron Avenue East,
• One four-bedroom detached house with integral parking space at the corner of Kingsley Avenue and Byron Avenue East.  

The planning amendment is to adjust the roof of the detached house planned for the corner of Kingsley Avenue and Byron Avenue East, as per the drawings supplied to the council. It will be decided by officers as it is a minor amendment. This activity would imply that the construction of these homes could be imminent, and may take place in 2014. Building has to take place within three years of planning permission being granted or the permission falls. Planning permission can of course be renewed. More in a future posting/FOCUS leaflet!

Westmead House, 123 Westmead Road

Cllr. Alan Salter says: “Here is a summary of your Bin Collections over Christmas and New Year…”

A BIG “Thank you” from Councillors Jill Whitehead, Alan Salter and Hamish Pollock and the Local Lib Dem team to all our readers who live in the Carshalton Central ward and indeed elsewhere.

We have had this web site going now for about 3 years now and recently the number of visits has increased considerably.

We hope you will visit our web site again very soon!

Cllr. Hamish Pollock who is a tree enthusiast asked the council’s tree expert for a list of the newly planted street trees recently and here it is. Sorry that it is such a long list but it demonstrates the council’s commitment over recent decades to improving our all-important street scene in Carshalton Central ward and indeed through the borough of Sutton.

Sutton is a great place to live and work

Cllr. Jill Whitehead says:

“We are delighted to report that the new library at Westcroft has been a great success one year on from its move from the Square in Carshalton. An amazing 19,207 people visited the new library in October 2013 and it has been averaging between 18,000 and 19,000 visitors every month throughout the year to date. This is six times the number of people who visited the old library in Carshalton each month during its last year.

It is clear that the new library is attracting Westcroft leisure centre users of all ages, as well as residents who live in the general area of the new Westcroft Centre, which is just off Carshalton High Street at its’ eastern end.  

Not only are there more visitors, who come to take part in different activities (such as to use the library’s computers), but the number of issues of books has also gone up substantially. This October, 6,914 books were issued and the library has been averaging between 6,000 and 7,000 book issues every month throughout the year since opening. This is double the number when compared with the old library.

The Friends of Carshalton Library (FROLIC) celebrated this success last Saturday as well as enjoying mince pies, Xmas carols and bell ringing from the All Saints Church bell ringers.”

The Winter Information Centre (WIC) brings together information from a range of council services, and those of our partners, so residents can use www.sutton.gov.uk/winter as a place to find out about any disruption, look up health advice and report any problems.

Parents can find out if the borough’s schools are open or closed; there are links to travel advice for the buses, trains, tubes and roads; advice on how to stay warm and healthy, access to five day weather reports for the area; and information about Sutton’s gritting programme including the locations of gritting routes and bins.

Sutton is already leading the way for collaborative winter planning having provided 4,200 residents with free grit to use themselves though our Free Gritting Scheme.

Ruth Dombey, Leader of Sutton Council, said:

“Winter can be a very difficult time for people when the temperature drops so we wanted to make their lives easier by creating one place to find important information. By providing regular updates through the Winter Information Centre and social media we can help our residents to make informed decisions about what action to take to cope with cold weather disruption. We have also taken extra measures to support our vulnerable residents by providing grants for warm homes, making extra checks on their wellbeing and ensuring our meals on wheels vans are prepared for the cold weather. This, along with other measures such as providing free grit to 4,200 residents and filling all of our 450 bins, means that Sutton is better prepared for winter than ever before.”

In addition to gritting, Sutton is taking extra care to support its elderly and vulnerable residents by offering grants and support through its Warm Homes scheme, Meals on Wheels and a new homeless support service. The mobile hot meals service has never missed the delivery of a hot meal and Sutton Council is doing its best to keep the record intact by fitting 5 out of the 10 Meals on Wheels vans with winter tyres and having access to 4 by 4 vehicles on standby in case of the worst.

Meals on Wheels staff and other council outreach workers will also be extra vigilant in making sure the home of elderly and other vulnerable people are warm and that they have enough information and provisions to look after themselves.

The local police newsletter dated Nov./Dec. 2013 states:-

There are a number of steps you can take to make your home less likely to be targeted by burglars during this festive season.

Our advice includes:

– keep your gifts out of sight until as close to Christmas as possible

– record the frame numbers of new bicycles and serial numbers of computer equipment and other electrical goods for future reference; if you hide or store larger items such as bicycles in your shed or garage, make sure they are locked away securely

– check your home insurance to make sure you are covered for your family’s gifts to each other: some of these may be expensive items

– remember empty packaging and boxes left outside your home for rubbish collection after Christmas are an immediate giveaway that you have new goods inside. So dispose of packaging carefully

– if you go away for the holiday period ask a trusted neighbour to watch your home.

Here are some other crime prevention tips during the dark winter evenings:

– install timers to switch on lights and radios while you are out. They are easy to use and available from all good hardware shops and stores

– lock your front and rear doors and windows when you leave

– leave your front door and vehicle keys in a secure place out of sight and out of reach of your front door to prevent a potential burglar ‘fishing’ for the key through the letterbox.

London Borough of Sutton, Carshalton Central Team

Tel: 020 8721 2898

Email: carshaltoncentral.snt@met.police.uk

Web: http://content.met.police.uk/Borough/Sutton