Cllr. Hamish Pollock reports: “Planning permission was granted last Wednesday (19th March 2014) when I attended and voted at the Council’s Development Control Committee for the new two storey block at Carshalton High School for Girls. The block will be built close to the boundary with the Carshalton Athletic Football Club. The block would be substantial – about 40 x 24 metres in size, and about 11 metres in height and will house the new school canteen, plus classrooms and dance and drama studios. It will be mostly painted render in appearance.”

He adds: “The existing canteen buildings will be demolished in the south-east corner of the school grounds near the West Street and Colston Avenue junction… The committee agreed with the planning officers’ recommendations that the scheme would not have a detrimental impact on the surrounding area. A resident from Colston Avenue in favour of the development addressed the committee. Councillors present were however concerned over the proposed loss of a group of some existing hornbeam trees near the west boundary, but they were reassured that their replacement by 15 new hornbeam trees about 4 to 4.5 metres high would help to substantially mitigate this loss”.

Sutton Council has started a programme to renew heritage plaques in the borough after a recent audit identified 34 that are in need of restoration.

There are 60 plaques across Sutton that pay homage to people of historical importance to the local area or mark the historic value of buildings. A specialist contractor has been appointed to undertake the work which is expected to be completed by the end of May 2014. The plaques will be cleaned and re-painted to give them a new lease of life.

Cllr Jill Whitehead, Chair of Sutton Council’s Environment and Neighbourhoods Committee, said:

“Sutton has a rich history and it’s important that we preserve it. We are committed to promoting our borough’s heritage and ensuring that it is accessible and inspirational for local people, and fosters citizenship, civic pride and a sense of belonging. The plaques are tributes and reminders of Sutton’s past and I look forward to seeing them returned to their former glory.”

Old Carshalton Post Offices sign by the old bank, 3 High Street as photographed by Hamish

Cllr. Jill Whitehead with a resident and Tom Brake MP in the former Carshalton Library

Message in from Tom Brake, Lib Dem MP for the constituency of Carshalton & Wallington:-

Sutton has some of the best schools in the country but for far too long they haven’t had the funding they deserve.
Over the last few years I have been lobbying the Education Secretary for a better deal for Sutton’s students.
I am really pleased that, as part of a change to the allocation of funding, Sutton schools will receive an additional 6.4% funding per pupil – that’s nearly £8m – from April next year.
This is great news for our fantastic schools and comes on top of the extra cash Sutton already gets – through the pupil premium – to support children who are struggling in class.
The next step to improve education locally is to secure the necessary funding to build a new school in Sutton to deal with an expected increase in the secondary school population.
I am pressing the Education Minister to push the Government to provide the funds we need. If you would like to be kept up-to-date on this issue, please click here to join my education mailing list.

Regards
Tom Brake

Sutton Council

Cllr Jill Whitehead says: “The London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) has awarded over £100,000 to Sutton Council, to boost waste recycling in the 34,000 flats in the Borough.  We will be investing the money in reusable waste collection bags, following extensive dialogue with residents who asked for recycling to be made easier. Improved signs on the bags will detail what residents can or cannot recycle. Research by LWARB has shown that reusable bags have increased the participation in recycling by those who live in flats.”

Cllr Hamish Pollock adds: “This initiative will make recycling easier for our residents and could produce an extra 21kg of recyclable materials a year, as well as divert around 700 tonnes of recyclable material away from landfill. This would bring both environmental and financial benefits. This will help increase our recycling rate in the next few years as well as achieve our One Planet Sutton Targets to substantially reduce waste to landfill.”

Cllr Alan Salter adds: “With so many households living in flats in Carshalton it’s vital that they get help and encouragement to recycle. The scheme will make recycling more convenient for thousands of people locally, as well as increasing the recycling rate, saving money, benefitting the environment and taking us a step further to becoming a zero waste borough.”

A message is just in from the Council’s Environmental Health Inspector…

Dear Cllr Whitehead

Environmental Protection Act 1990. Re: Complaints about Dust and Noise. Westmead House, 123 Westmead Road, Sutton SM1 4JH

Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding potential dust and noise nuisance arising from the construction/demolition works taking place at the above address.

I visited the site on Tuesday 18^th March and spoke to Mr Freeman, the person in charge of the site at the time. At the time of my visit, no noisy works were taking place. The front of the building is still in place and the remaining walls are sheeted. These remaining walls provide some protection from dust and noise to the properties to the south of the site.

However, demolition has already taken place to the north of the site and the perimeter is only surrounded by temporary metal mesh fencing. I witnessed a workman on the site who was trying to dampen down dusty materials with water from a hose. However, I observed that dust from the area where demolition had taken place was being wind whipped and the direction of the wind was taking the dust towards Kingsley Avenue. I discussed the control of dust with Mr Freeman and asked why there was not solid hoarding around the site. Mr Freeman explained that solid hoarding is to be erected but that some demolition had to take place first in order to provide the space for hoarding. They are now in the process of erecting the hoarding but owing to the existing concrete foundations, this will take 7-10 days to complete. I appreciate that, during this period, there is the potential for dust to leave the site boundary. Therefore, it was agreed that they would:-

a)    Increase the amount of damping down of the dust with water;

b)    Carry out regular visual checks so that they respond promptly to changes in weather conditions;

c)     Phase the erection of hoarding so that those most at risk of being affected by dust are shielded first.

I have spoken to Mr Freeman again today who has informed me that they had tried to put up temporary sheeting on the metal barriers but this was increasing the risk of the barriers toppling over and thus there was a potential to cause injury. Therefore, he is meeting with the Managing Director today and will be discussing alternative options for temporary screening until more permanent hoarding can be erected.  I am satisfied that they are taking steps to control the noise and dust on site and we will be monitoring the situation. In the meantime, residents are reminded that to contact Environmental Health, they should ring the call centre number which is 020 8770 5000. 

I hope that the above answers your enquiry and hope that an improvement will soon be noticeable.

 Yours sincerely 

Dave Trew

Acting Pollution Team Leader

Veteran politician Tony Benn died at home earlier on Friday morning, surrounded by his family. He was 88.

• The former cabinet minister and formidable left-wing campaigner had been seriously ill.
• He first entered parliament in 1950 at a by-election in Bristol South-East
• Labour leader Ed Miliband has led tributes, describing him as an “iconic figure of our age”.
• Conservatives have also paid tribute. “There was never a dull moment listening to him, even if you disagreed with him,” David Cameron said.

Sutton Council has launched a new survey asking residents how they would prefer to access information and advice about issues they face in Sutton such as finding out if they are eligible for social housing, what childcare services are available locally, and who can help if they are caring for an elderly relative.

Carshalton’s first World War Memorial

Cllr. Hamish Pollock reports: “Sutton Council has announced a programme to restore the borough’s six war memorials in Carshalton, Wallington, Cheam, Sutton, Worcester Park and Belmont.”

A specialist contractor has been appointed and work will begin this month. It is anticipated that the work will be completed by mid June ahead of local events to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One.

The locations of the memorials are as follows:

Carshalton War Memorial, Honeywood Walk, SM5 3NX

Wallington Green War Memorial, SM5 3AA

Memorial Gardens War Memorial, Malden Road, Cheam, SM3 8QZ

Manor Park War Memorial, Throwley Way, Sutton, SM1 4AF

St Philip’s Churchyard War Memorial, Cheam Common Road, Worcester Park, KT4 8LF

Belmont War Memorial, Queens Road, Belmont, SM2 6BZ

Carshalton Central ward Councillor Jill Whitehead, Chair of Sutton Council’s Environment and Neighbourhoods Committee, added:

“This year marks the centenary of the start of the First World War and will be a time for the whole nation to reflect upon the events that saw so many young people of that generation make the ultimate sacrifice. It is absolutely right that we ensure that our local war memorials are a fitting tribute to the fallen.”

Sutton Lib Dem FOCUS team are holding another open-air book sale in Sutton High Street near Waterstones book shop next Saturday, 15th March 2014, supported by some of or all three of your local Lib Dem ward councillors and others.  The stall will be operating between about 10am and 4.30pm obviously subject to variable British weather conditions.  The good-condition (or better) paper back books are usually priced at about 50p each, hardbacks may be a bit more. Also on sale will be reasonably priced CDs, DVDs, jigsaws, children’s books etc. We hope to see you there…!

Cllr. Alan Salter on the FOCUS bookstall