The council’s planning officers have advised us that an application was approved in February 2015 (ref. C2014/70926/FUL) for the demolition of the fire damaged rear annexe and the erection of a single storey rear extension to replace it. No residential units formed part of that approved application.

So far, no pre-application request has been submitted for this site recently, nor has any new planning application been received. The council’s planning officers have heard nothing in respect of any further development at the Village Bakery (28 High Street, Carshalton) since that approval in February.

A planning application has been submitted for the expansion of St Philomena’s school (C2015/71900) to provide an additional one- form entry of 30 pupils totalling 200 extra pupils over seven years. As there are currently 1303 pupils this will take the overall total to 1503 pupils.

In 2015/16, the first year after expansion, the number of year 7 (first year) pupils will rise from 204 to 234 pupils. The school has undertaken that all the expansion will come from Sutton Borough children. The expansion will consist of eight new classrooms in a two storey building.

At present 60% of pupils come from outside the Sutton boundaries. The 2012 School Travel Plan shows that 27% of pupils were driven or drove to school, or shared cars or “parked and strode”.  A total of 41% caught the bus, 18% used rail and 15% walked or cycled. The 2013/14 school travel survey showed a slight increase in bus users at 44%.

However, no new car parking or vehicular access arrangements form part of the application. But a parking study has been conducted by the school in the Poets Estate area  – bounded by Shorts Rd/Alma Rd, Colston Avenue and stretching along Westmead Rd from Westmead Corner to Browning Avenue and Highfield Rd. This shows an existing capacity of 84% of parking spaces when max capacity is defined as 85%.

Many residents report parents parking across their drives and on double yellow lines, especially in Shorts Rd/Alma Road, and in the area around Westmead Corner. Jill and Alan recently met the Head Teacher to discuss options. They asked that the school stagger opening and closing times, encourage more pupils to use public transport or walk/cycle, older children in particular. They asked for proactive enactment of the School’s travel plan and greater enforcement of parental behaviour at school start and finish times.

To comment on the school plans please visit Sutton Council’s online planning register at: http://gis.sutton.gov.uk/FASTWEB/detail.asp?AltRef=C2015%2F71900 or visit the Planning Dept, 24 Denmark Rd, Carshalton SM5 2JG Tel 020 8770 5070 or email developmentcontrol@sutton.gov.uk  by 17^th July 2015.

Caroline Pidgeon GLA Member

Caroline Pidgeon AM, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on a recent announcement that half of TfL’s rail and Underground stations will be step-free by 2018, said:

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has chosen the Rosehill All-Weather Pitch as its preferred site for the proposed new secondary school in Sutton.

A spokesperson for Sutton Council said:

“We have been advised that the Education Funding Agency (EFA) has chosen a site for Sutton’s new secondary school. We will continue to work with the EFA and the secondary school to take it forward.  Ever since we identified the need for a new secondary school to open in 2017 with another possibly needed in 2019, we have been working hard to find two suitable sites in Rosehill and Belmont which we offered to the EFA along with feasibility studies for each. The Belmont site will still be available for a new school should we need one to open in 2019. The exact size of the school would be decided at a later date taking into account the need for school places.

“If a school is not developed on the site then we have many other options for the land including being part of proposals to develop a world-leading Life Science Cluster for drug development and treatment with our partners the Royal Marsden and the Institute of Cancer Research.” 

Sutton Theatres Trust has taken over the running of two theatres from Sutton Council in a move that will keep the theatres open and save the taxpayer £482,000 a year. The council was previously spending £11.21 subsidising every visit to the Charles Cryer Studio Theatre in Carshalton and £6.81 at the Secombe Theatre. In total it cost £157,000 to run Charles Cryer Studio and £325,000 to run Secombe Theatre each year (2014/15 budget).

Faced with having to make £40m of savings from its annual budget due to unprecedented government cuts to funding, the council undertook a consultation as part of Sutton’s Future www.suttonsfuture.org – a campaign to encourage the community to get involved in helping the council to make savings.

It involved a series of meetings and workshops with potential bidders and 1,262 responses to an online and telephone survey. As a result, rather than sell the venues, the council entered into an agreement with Sutton Theatres Trust for it to take over the running and all costs for the two theatres, and put on an innovative programme of entertainment.

Sutton Theatres Trust, a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, is leasing both theatres for a 10-year period after being chosen from two bids on the basis of artistic and community value, financial stability and sustainability, governance and track record. They will be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of both theatres. The council will save around £280,000 a year it currently spends on running costs for the two buildings.

Over the past six months the council has been working with the Trust on aspects including everything from lease and legal matters to marketing and community partnerships.

Carshalton Central ward Cllr Jill Whitehead, Chair of the Environment and Neighbourhoods Committee, said:

“Today we are seeing the end of a thorough and worthwhile process which has resulted in keeping two community assets open while saving the council £280,000 a year.

“We are in tough economic times with government cuts meaning we cannot afford services we used to provide. These theatres are a great example of how Sutton Council is acting on genuine consultation with our residents and community groups to try to find a solution together.

“Now we can looking forward to an exciting programme of activity to be unveiled by Sutton Theatres Trust this summer and their contribution to cultural life in Sutton.”

Micha Colombo and Beri Juraic of Sutton Theatres Trust, said:

“We’re thrilled to be taking over management of the theatres. There has been a lot of hard work since January to reach this point and we’re grateful to the council for their collaboration and the support they have given us along the way.

“We’ll be announcing our upcoming programme for both The Secombe and The Cryer shortly and we’d encourage people to visit our website, www.suttontheatres.co.uk, to find out more.”

The Theatres Trust, the national advisory body for theatres, gave invaluable help both to Sutton Council and prospective bidders during the consultation period.

Rebecca Morland, an Adviser at the Theatres Trust, said: 

“We are delighted that the two theatres are safe for the foreseeable future.”

The work Sutton Council does to champion equality issues in the borough is being symbolised by the flying of the rainbow flag over the Civic Centre throughout Pride Week, which runs until 28 June. The flag, commonly known as the gay pride flag and sometimes the LGBT pride flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pride and LGBT social movements.

This year’s Pride Week has the theme of Pride Heroes to celebrate the people and organisations that have contributed to LGBT rights over the years, such as television personality Stephen Fry, the late lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury, German singer and actress Marlene Dietrich or former American tennis champion Billie Jean King.

Sutton Council is an Equal Opportunities employer and champions LGBT issues within the workplace. It is also part of Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme, a good practice employers’ forum on sexual orientation. The council has an LGBT Staff Network for its employees to actively promote the Council’s Equal Opportunities Policy and champion LGBT issues within the workplace.

Cllr Adrian Davey, lead member for Equality and Diversity at Sutton Council, said:

“Sutton is flying the Rainbow Flag this year at our Civic offices to mark the celebration that Pride represents. Pride also represents the need to overcome struggles that diversity can bring and Pride demonstrates the peaceful way that this can be done. I’m sure many Sutton residents will be taking part and taking pride in the celebrations. The council has also been working with the Sutton LGBT Forum, which has donated £200-worth of LGBT books to the Central Library.

Ty Ashby, Chair of Sutton LGBT Forum and Merton LGBT Forum, said:

“It’s great to see the rainbow flag flying for the week because of what it represents. Within Sutton our hero is actor Ian McKellen for the great work he has done for Stonewall and for LGBT rights.  We have donated to Sutton library £200 of new LGBT books that cover the whole spectrum from gay marriage to lesbian parenting in order to help the community in Sutton as the Library’s budget has been cut. Should this take off we hope to donate books to schools as well later in the year. In the autumn and winter we are looking to raise more money by selling calendars and staging functions to be able to buy more books for the Sutton teenage LGBT youth group, which meets every Wednesday. We’re a non-profit organisation independent of the council so we just help where we can.”

Sutton Council has set out an updated strategy for delivery of its One Planet Sutton ambitions, reaffirming its commitment to being a greener borough in partnership with organisations across the borough.

At the Environment and Neighbourhoods Committee meeting on Thursday 18th June the council agreed to keep the five One Planet Sutton themes aimed at reducing the borough’s carbon footprint. The five themes are:

• Cutting carbon emissions
• Cutting waste
• Valuing our natural environment
• Supporting healthy communities, and
• Supporting the local economy.

These five themes are embedded in everything the council does, from targeting its work on community energy schemes, the growing of local food, and sustainable transport by encouraging walking, cycling and use of public transport.  The council will continue to undertake work across all of the One Planet themes to reduce carbon emissions. By targeting resources on deliverable projects within each of the five themes Sutton Council can re-endorse its vision for the borough to be London’s most-sustainable suburb.

Over the past four years, more than £8.5m of funding has been levered into the borough to help deliver projects contributing to its One Planet Sutton targets, and the council has made over £1.9m savings from council energy usage. The council has been monitoring targets annually relating to borough-wide energy reduction, waste, local food, transport, flooding and water reduction.  The council estimates the direct financial savings of the service review will be £84,700 from the 2014/15 budget.  Benchmarking of Sutton’s performance by the charity Bioregional confirms that Sutton is ranked the highest outer London borough and the third-highest London council overall in terms of having the lowest CO2 emissions.

Cllr. Jill Whitehead

Cllr Jill Whitehead, Chair of the Environment and Neighbourhood Committee, said:

“Sutton is committed to delivering a borough where residents have an excellent quality of life, and where our natural resources and wildlife are preserved for future generations.  Our revised sustainability strategy will allow the council to focus limited resources where we can provide best value. This includes increased partnership working on projects such as community-owned solar schemes and community-led behaviour change programmes.”

Sian Cooke, Senior Project Officer at Bioregional, said:

“We’re delighted to be working with Sutton Council on its refocused sustainability strategy in order to really push Sutton’s aspirations and achieve even more. Our focus will be to help local people benefit by saving money on their energy bills as well as lowering the borough’s carbon emissions. We’re also working with Volunteer Centre Sutton to find practical ways for Sutton’s volunteers to apply sustainability in their placements and bring One Planet Sutton to new audiences.”

A pedlar has been cautioned for illegal street trading and for selling unsafe toys on Sutton High Street. George Armstrong of Walthamstow has accepted a caution for street trading without a licence and for selling toys that are unsafe for young children. The offences relate to illegal street trading under Section 38(1)(b) of the London Local Authorities Act 1990 as amended and the possession of unsafe toys under Section 12(1) of the Consumer Protection Act.

After receiving the caution Mr Armstrong voluntarily agreed to surrender his illegal stock to Sutton Council Trading Standards service for it to be destroyed and recycled.  Mr Armstrong was stopped from trading on Sutton High Street on 14 May, having received a large amount of advice and numerous warnings from Multidisciplinary Regulatory Officers in Sutton High Street. He had been advised that while trading as a pedlar he had to keep moving and not stay in the same spot for any amount of time. A problem was noted with toy dogs found in his possession as the eyes and noses were detached from some and marking on their bases was incorrect. Two samples were sent to Hampshire Scientific Services for testing under the Toy (Safety) Regulations 2011 and they subsequently failed the relevant test.

Mr Armstrong has had his trolley and accessories returned to him to allow him to continue to trade and earn a living.

Cllr Mary Burstow, Chair of the Licensing Committee at Sutton Council, said:

“Illegal traders take business away from our legitimate businesses and, as in this case, may be found to be selling potentially life-threatening goods. It’s great credit to our trading standards team who have managed to get these faulty goods off our streets.”

FROM HONEYWOOD MUSEUM BY CARSHALTON PONDS……

Saturday 20th – Sunday 21st June Carshalton-on-Sea Summer Festival Join us for a weekend of seaside themed fun, market and music performances in conjunction with World Music Day. Programme of events throughout Carshalton Village all weekend
Many more details immediately below.

SPECIAL CARSHALTON LETTERED ROCK will be available from Honeywood Museum and some venues in Carshalton. Get it while you can!!

Click on the programme pages above to view larger copies

Lost Child Point and St John’s Ambulance Saturday and Sunday 10am-5pm at Honeywood

Honeywood will be very busy; to ease space for all our visitors there will be no access to the house with buggies during this event. There will be a buggy park provided outside in front of the building which will be manned by volunteers. Please note buggies and other items are left entirely at the owners risk; this is not a monitored security area and Honeywood Museum, The Friends of Honeywood Museum and LB Sutton cannot accept any responsibility for your personal property left in this area.

Please note activities do not require pre-booking but space is limited.

Saturday 20^th and Sunday 21^st 10am-5pm. Free. Donations are very welcome

We Do Like to be Beside the Seaside Exhibition

Face painter at Honeywood 10:00-12:30, 13:00 -14:30, 14:45-17:00. Not suitable for children under 3 years of age. £2.00 per child

Traditional sideshows –Coconut Shy, Hook a Duck, Ball in Bucket, Flip a Frog, Hoopla, Lucky Dip, try stilt walking (small charge for sideshows, with a chance to win a small prize)

Drop in crafts on a seaside theme

Sandpits and a chance to make sandcastles, beach toys in the garden

Saturday 20th June

2.00-2.30pm and 3.30-4pm Mr Smelly Socks magical fun show (Available for children’s parties etc. stevedaymagician@aol.com)

2.00-3.00pm and 3.30-4.30pm End of The Pier Show. A taste of Music Hall with members of Avalon Theatre Company and Sea Songs with the Zero Carbon Band

Sunday 21st June

11.00-11.30am, 1.00-1.30pm, and 3.00-3.30pm Mr Smelly Socks magical fun show

11.30am-12.30pm I Can See the Sea! A family writing workshop with Lucy Furlong, where parents and children can try out different activities and exercises for writing poems with a Carshalton-on-Sea theme. These will include: Poetry Lucky Dip, X Marks the Spot, The Creature of Carshalton Ponds, There be Pirates! And more….. Find out more about Lucy Furlong HERE.

2.30pm Penny Royal Clog Dancers With a chance to join in

3.30-5pm Clarisma Clarinet Quartet playing music from classical to jazz

Sutton Council has agreed to jointly deliver its highways, transport and regulatory services with Kingston Council in a move that will safeguard services and save both councils more than £500,000 between them by 2017/18. The plan, which was passed by the Environment and Neighbourhood Committee last night (Thursday), will see a streamlining of these frontline services and a better deployment of resources leading to improved efficiencies in the borough, with Kingston acting as the“hosting” authority.

The move is part of Sutton Council’s continued approach to find ways to save £40m from its annual budget in the face of unprecedented government cuts. The council already shares services including legal, ICT, HR, Community Safety (Safer Sutton Partnership), and elements of its adoption service. As well as achieving savings in the medium- to long-term, the delivery of a shared service with Kingston will maintain the current service performance and satisfaction levels and provide Sutton Council with a more resilient service model, which is both flexible and able to respond to future changes. The agreement is subject to Kingston’s Infrastructure Projects and Contracts Committee, also agreeing the plans at a meeting on 25th June.

Carshalton Central ward Cllr Jill Whitehead, Chair of the Environment and Neighbourhood Committee, said:

“The case for Sutton and Kingston Councils pooling resources and working together with their Highways, Traffic and Regulatory services makes sense strategically and will save the taxpayer money. Both councils are taking an innovative approach to these services and we will be among the first councils in England to take this step. The arrangement will cover highways and footway maintenance and street lighting as well as sustainable transport, environmental health and trading standards. Sutton and Kingston are focusing on a number of opportunities with partner organisations for strategic collaboration. This is more than sharing services and will involve exploring new and innovative service delivery models while recognising the needs of both our communities and service users.”

Cllr Richard Hudson, lead member for capital projects and infrastructure on Kingston Council, added:

“This shared service agreement makes sense for local people of both our boroughs. The truth is that with our funding continuing to be reduced all of us in local government need to find smarter and more efficient ways to do things so we continue to deliver the important services that local people need. I’m delighted we have hammered out this agreement with Sutton – the residents of both our boroughs will be the winners.”