Nos. 19-30 Tyrell Court as viewed from the Station Embankment
Cllr. Alan Salter says: “The FOCUS team have been pressing for many years for the 30 flats at Tyrell Court to be improved and at last the works are now well under way.”
Two recent photos taken in early April are shown in this posting.
Nos. 1-18 Tyrell Court as viewed from North Street
Cllrs. Jill Whitehead and Alan Salter recently attended a meeting with Cllr. Graham Tope, Executive Member for Leisure, Libraries, Arts and Heritage and Dick Bower, Chair of Sutton Arts Council to discuss plans for celebrating the passing of the Olympic Torch Relay through Carshalton on the afternoon of Monday 23rd July 2012.
Mr Bower is inviting local community groups in Carshalton to attend a meeting in April (details as yet are to be confirmed) to discuss how local people can take part in and contribute to a community event in Carshalton. It is suggested that this event should take apace in the Ponds area in and around the War Memorial Gardens and the shortly to be reopened Heritage Centre at Honeywood. Ideas such as community group stalls and a jazz band with other entertainment have been mooted. We understand that already Carshalton Mums, Carshalton Methodist Church and All Saints’ Church have expressed interest. Watch this space for more news.
Westcroft Centre - The New Look
Pupils at All Saints’ Primary School in Carshalton dug deep to leave a little piece of history under the foundations of the new Westcroft Leisure Centre & Carshalton Library.
As work continues on the refurbishment of the leisure centre and new library, the children made a time capsule to let young people of the future know what it was like to grow up in Sutton in 2012. Items in the time capsule, which was buried on 27 March, include a lunch menu, school tie, class photo, and stories and artwork the pupils had created. Everyone Active, which runs the centre on behalf of Sutton Council, also added an old group exercise programme, and an Everyone Active membership card. An Olympic pinbadge, featuring Honeywood Museum, Honeywood Walk, was also placed in the capsule.
The school, of which Cllr. Jill Whitehead is a Governor, is the closest to the centrewhich is undergoing a multi-million pound renovation. Work is underway and the project is on course for completion by early next year. Since the centre closed in October to allow the revamp to get under way, a team of up to 50 workers have been busy on the project. Hundreds of tonnes of rubble have been removed, the old pools have been demolished and asbestos from the 1970s building has been carefully disposed of. Sports, gym and office equipment have also been dismantled to use in the new centre. The 600,000 users who visit Westcroft every year have transferred to the borough’s three other leisure centres, Cheam, Sutton Arena and the Phoenix Centre, as well as to Carshalton College, Sutton Junior Tennis Centre and Sutton High School. Cheam and Sutton Arena have received a £950,000 refurbishment at no cost to the taxpayer to help them cope with the extra demand while Westcroft is shut. Work is now focussed on the main pool, which is continuing to take shape, and key steel works began this week. The refurbishment comes after a condition report revealed millions would have to be spent just to keep the 30-year-old centre running. Other improvements include an eight badminton court-sized sports hall, a 170 workout station gym, a creche, café, IT facilities and a new library replacing the current Carshalton Library.
Cllr. Graham Tope, Executive Member for Community Safety , Leisure and Libraries at Sutton Council, said: “With the Olympics and the Queen’s Jubilee both taking place this year, 2012 is going to remembered for a long time to come, so it’s great that in the future, children will be able to find out about life in Carshalton today. “The pupils picked some very interesting items to include in the time capsule. It marks another milestone in the refurbishment of Westcroft leisure centre, which is already taking shape.”
Abigail and Hamish discuss issues by Carshalton Ponds
Abigail Lock, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Croydon and Sutton, met EastLondonLines to discuss her campaign.
In the videos below, she explains why the borough needs its police sergeants back, why she backs the Croydon incinerator and why she deserves your vote.
Lock is campaigning alongside Lib Dem mayoral candidate Brian Paddick, and says the party has a strong record in holding the mayor to account in the London Assembly.
Her pledges
• Lib Dems have a strong record of holding the Mayor to account.
• Investment in cheap housing and a new landlords’ charter to protect tenants
• In favour of the Croydon and Sutton incinerator: “The reality is that local authorities are now charged (by the EU) for any landfill that they put into the ground…everything that can be done to mitigate these risks is being done.”
• One hour ‘bus-hopping’ pass and ‘early bird’ fares for a dawn discount
• Keep three police stations open in both boroughs and return previous numbers of police sergeants to their streets
Below, she backs the Conservative-led incinerator proposal, which will see a waste facility built on the border of Croydon and Sutton, and explains why it’s necessary.
Lock also discussed the Lib Dems’ fare policy and urged more investment in affordable housing. She took the Mayor to task on his record of managing Transport for London and his handling of police numbers in the city.
Lock has been a council member for Sutton. She works for a social housing company and has previously worked for disability charity Scope.
She said: “None of my family are political, but I grew up as a child carer for my father who had multiple sclerosis, and I really felt I wanted to do something to support people who were in difficult situations.”
There was a recent debate at the Full Council meeting about the Council’s spending plans for local libraries. The budget papers indicated that total target savings for Libraries and Heritage amount to £913,000. And yet, not a single library has been closed in the borough of Sutton.
In fact, listening to what residents want has meant that Sutton was actually investing in new library services rather than closing them down to great uproar, as was the case with many other councils.
One Lib Dem councillor commented on her recent visit to the library in the Sutton Life Centre, which was exciting, well used and, with moving stacks for the books, very flexible. The computers there had been fully used and families were gathered around the computers, using them together.
As has been reported in FOCUS, we hope that residents will agree that the relocation of the Carshalton Library to the soon to be refurbished Westcroft Centre will be another imaginative development and residents would be able to choose books and other library services after having a swim or using the gym.
At the main Sutton Library residents have found that there is an innovative investment in e books, plus advice for beginners as to how to use the 16,000 books in electronic form.
Finally it has been pointed out that in spite of all the scaremongering by various people, the mobile library still served those who found it heard to leave their home. Jill, Alan and Hamish are so glad that the Council have not had to close any libraries.
St. Philomena's School, Carshalton
Lib Dems in government are doubling the money available for the ‘pupil premium’ which targets money at the children who need it the most.
MP for Carshalton and Wallington Tom Brake said, “It is a shocking fact that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are three times less likely to achieve five good GSCEs than their more well-off classmates. That is why Liberal Democrats have ensured that this Government has extended free early years’ education. This school year the Carshalton and Wallington constituency is expected to receive £1,163,000 as part of the pupil premium. For instance, locally St Philomena’s School received £20,496 from the pupil premium.”
The planning application for the proposed care home at Westmead House, 123 Westmead Road was discussed by the developer’s team at a meeting held with Jill, Alan and Hamish recently.
The developers have advised us recently that they are proposing to hold a public question and answer session on Thursday 5th April between 5pm and 8pm at the site. The councillors have been invited to attend and a number of us will be in attendance at different times during the evening. The developers are proposing to send letters out to local residents and businesses. We have asked the developers that the roads near to the site are leafletted accordingly.
We hope that these roads will include: Kingsley Avenue, Cowper Avenue, Byron Avenue East, Byron Avenue, and Westmead Road on both sides in immediate vicinity (approx. from Harold Road to Milton Avenue on one side and from Carshalton Grove to Ringstead Road/Meadow Road on other side).
Westmead Business Centre frontage - site of proposed Care Home
Jill and Hamish attend the meetings of the Friends of The Grove Park, when they can.
Carshalton Water Tower - Venue of the Friends of The Grove AGM on 21st April
We have been informed that the Annual General Meeting of the Friends of The Grove Park will take place on Saturday 21st April, starting at 10.30am at the Water Tower, West Street, Carshalton (for those who are Royalists – it’s also the Queen’s Birthday). The AGM will elect a new committee for the year ahead and hear about recent improvements, concerns and other matters relating to this award-winning park – the “jewel in the crown” of the borough!
Ruskin Road/Park Lane Junction in days gone by
Jill, Alan and Hamish took up local concerns regarding the difficulty in crossing the road at this very busy junction being close to All Saints’ School, Rotherfield, Carshalton which is shortly to be expanded considerably as previously advised on the web site and on our FOCUS leaflets.
We have been informed by Council officers that funds will shortly be made available for a feasibility study at the above junction. The study will commence in April 2012 and will consider the proposal of introducing a pedestrian phase. Should the scheme be progressed to implementation, the proposals could be introduced during the early part of the 2013/14 financial year.
Sutton Council has called for the NHS to keep residents informed about the fate of St Helier Hospital after managers were unable guarantee the future of its A&E and maternity services.
NHS Chief Executive Matthew Hopkins spoke to Sutton Council’s Health and Well Being Scrutiny Committee about the future of the hospital but was unable to allay fears that NHS reviews would lead to the closure of local services.
The hospital’s future was thrown into uncertainty when a proposed merger with St George’s, Tooting, fell through. The merger would have allowed St Helier to become a foundation trust, a process which all NHS organisations must undergo by 2014. The government has confirmed that St Helier does not meet the criteria and cannot become a foundation trust alone, so hospital bosses are now looking at what support they can receive from external stakeholders and the local community to secure services at the organisation and hoping for an extension to the 2014 date.
At the meeting, Mr Matthew Hopkins stressed St Helier’s excellent patient feedback and assured councillors that the Trust is doing all it can to “work with staff and stakeholders to secure, if at all possible, a secure and financially stable future.”
However, when pressed by councillors for a cast-iron guarantee that St Helier’s future is secure, Mr Hopkins was forced to admit that currently he does not know which services will remain at the site.
St. Helier Hospital, Carshalton
Lib Dem Cllr. Mary Burstow, Chair of the Committee, said “It is extremely concerning that NHS London is unable to guarantee the future of St Helier Hospital. While it is good to hear that St Helier Hospital bosses are keen to work with the community to secure services at the site, there has been a shadow over the hospital’s future for five years now and it’s time for the NHS to be honest about where it stands.
“This has been an extraordinarily difficult time for staff and patients at St Helier, and everyone in our local community. The hospital has been working hard to secure services, but it needs NHS London chiefs to get behind it and agree plans before they can go ahead. We all want guarantees that services are secure, but until this can happen it is vital that those who will be affected most by the changes are kept well informed, even when the news is not good. The collapse of the planned merger with St George’s has left bosses without a firm plan, and the council will be pushing for honesty, transparency and community engagement from the NHS until the new plans are confirmed.”
The Government have told St Helier Hospital that they can have £219 million to build the new extension. But in the NHS life is not that simple.
The money is broken down into different elements. For each element St Helier Hospital has to put forward a business case, which must be approved by NHS London. NHS London have already approved the first £5 million for preparation work to the site.
The next £12 million will pay for the old Sutton Hospital site to be prepared, for Ferguson House to be decanted into the Old Sutton Hospital and for Ferguson House to be demolished.
We have been told that NHS london have given it “Amber Green approval”. This means St Helier Hospital have prepared a very good business case and it should be approved. But we’ve been told that they have not approved it! Why?
The mental health services at Sutton Hospital will be decanted into the soon to be completed Wallington Care Centre.
The Care Centre was due to be completed in June 2012. It has now been delayed until August 2012. The move from Ferguson House to Sutton Mental Hospital has therefore also been delayed.
NHS London have therefore decided to delay giving final approval for the £12 million.
Whilst local councillors accept that NHS London do not need to give St Helier hospital the £12 million now. We believe that they could still make the decision and say YES! We believe that the impact of this simple action on staff morale at St Helier Hospital would be immense.